| | November - 201919Cloud Computing- Revolutionizing the Education Industry By Nelson C. Vincent, EdD, VP for IT and CIO, University of CincinnatiBenefits of cloud computing for the education industry Cloud computing allows students, faculty and staff to easily store, share, manage and access important documents and systems online anytime, anywhere, from any device. The decision to move to the cloud, however, is as much a financial conversation as it is a technical and security conversation.Cloud providers are maturing their security to meet the needs of the research extensive university. At the University of Cincinnati, we are incrementally--and securely--building our way into the cloud.We are in the early phases of rolling out university-wide cloud storage, powered by Box. Students, faculty and staff securely store, share, manage and access files anywhere, from any device. The university also recently implemented a cloud-based, online system for recruitment management, recruitment marketing and on boarding. This new system's efficient workflow means fewer stops for review and approval, allowing for the faster posting of job opportunities and building of a candidate pool.University leaders know that at some point, the economics will flip, and cloud services will be more cost effective because the cost-leadership of on premise offerings will not compete at the scale of cloud providers. At each refresh or upgrade, the university performs the due diligence to compare the benefits of cloud to the benefits of offering services on premises.Consolidate, integrate and use data to drive businessCollaboration and partnership are the keys to unlocking the power of university-owned data. IT is in a unique position to build these relationships and build a forum for shared data governance. Data governance facilitates the development of application integration; reduces the amount of time needed to develop business requirements for IT projects; and enhances the effectiveness of business intelligence and analytics efforts. Combined with investments in best-in-breed tools such as Tableau, shared governance provides generates a `big answer' to the questions of managing `big data'.The "UC Research Hub" emerged from a commitment to shared governance. The `Research Hub' is a network of expertise, resources, programs, and tools, developed and supported by a partnership between the UC Office of Research, UC Libraries and IT@UC. It is designed to streamline research support for investigators (faculty, staff and students) throughout the complete research lifecycle and amplify the impact of the university research community.The Research Hub connects the newly created Institute for Analytics Innovation (IAI) to a host of essential research tools, including infrastructure support through the dedicated high-speed research network (UCScienceNet); the proposed central high performance computing cluster; big data storage and high-speed transfer solutions; and data visualization tools. Other hub components include:· Digital Repository that makes accessible and preserves the university's intellectual output.· UC Libraries' research support programs such as assistance with developing data management plans, digital curation services, metadata consultation, and informatics and analytics support.· Department of Biomedical Informatics, which provides academic excellence in data science, application development, collaborative data services, and sophisticated scientific computing capabilities.· Research Directory, a keyword-searchable database of UC's research assets, which is also being piloted by industry partners. This resource showcases, shares and promotes the faculty CXO INSIGHTS
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