The Dynamic Duo: CFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn

1. The Dynamic Duo: CFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn Reagan Ramsower Vice President for Finance and Administration & Pattie Orr Vice President for Information Technology & Dean of University Libraries Baylor University April 17, 2009

2. Reagan RamsowerVice President for Finance and Administration Pattie OrrVice President for IT &Dean of University Libraries

3. Private University • Chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845, Baylor is the oldest university in Texas. • Religious Affiliation: Baptist • Research intensive • Serving 14,541 students • 12,162 undergraduates • 2,379 graduate • 823 Faculty members • Curriculum includes: • 146 baccalaureate programs • 76 master’s programs • 26 doctoral programs

4. Economic Backdrop • Reduced general funding from local, state and federal government. • Reduced endowments resulting in lower endowment earnings. • Dampened demand for higher education based on perceived ability to pay. • Increased pressure to contain and even reduce tuition. • General chaos in the financial markets.

5. The Challenge • Six Months Ago • April 2009 • Lowering the cost of education. • Stimulus provides only breathing room. • The long term gap between higher education revenues and costs must be closed.

6. Surviving 2009-2010 • Stimulus money • Travel restrictions, capital project delays, hiring freezes, salary freezes, layoffs • Debt, endowment drawdowns • Multi-year restructuring to lower the cost of education

7. Dynamic Duo:Cute Title, Serious Partnership • How is the CIO uniquely positioned to assist with a multi-year restructuring effort? • Holistic View: Work with all constituents, all processes • Experts in automation • Process redesign skills • Access to institution-wide information • Veterans in the need for rapid change

8. Questions

9. What makes a strategic CFO/CIO partnership? THE DYNAMIC DUO CFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn

10. What makes a strategic CFO/CIO partnership? • Dialogue • Trusting Relationship

11. Is dialogue important? • From the CFO’s point of view…what I need to say to/hear from the CIO. • From the CIO’s point of view…what I need to say to/hear from the CFO.

12. Is Trust Critical? • First, what is trust? • Believing in the honesty of an individual • Confidence that motives or practices are not suspicious • What factors contribute to a trusting relationship? • Listening and empathy • Mutual respect and transparency • Dependability • Why is trust critical? • Forms a basis for long-term satisfying business relationships • Necessary for supporting a multi-year restructuring initiative

13. Questions

14. How can the CIO be strategic? THE DYNAMIC DUO CFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn

15. How can the CIO be strategic? There are many questions to consider with your directors: • Do we cut services or cut service levels? • Can we rebalance the distributed academic and administrative IT services and those offered by central IT? • Hosted servers by central IT. • Virtualized servers offered for less cost to academic and administrative units. • Data storage options for attractive pricing. • Centralized (or outsourced) email services. • Combined software contracts for more economical site licenses or perpetual licenses. • Simplified ordering for computers and other IT equipment. • Can we delay some of the big projects and offer smaller ones that help departments streamline operations?

16. How can I help the CFO? • Support the first year cuts. • Do the homework for your own area. • Fine art of the executive summary. • Detailed information on use of your services. • Spreadsheets/Black and white information/Business plans. • Develop strategic plans. • Roadmaps for servers and equipment replacement. • Scenario thinking – 5 year blocks. • Ask to protect contracts.

17. Think Outside of the Box • Make it easy (and financially rewarding) to opt for shared IT services. • Think Creatively! How can technology or outsourcing be used to lower costs for multiple units? • Examples: • Server virtualization and central hosting/UPS/Generator. • 24 hour shared first point of contact/first level of service for multiple campus services.

18. Questions

19. Is there any good news for the CIO and CFO during this difficult period? THE DYNAMIC DUO CFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn

20. From Crisis Comes Opportunity • Work together to make the most of the crisis — people may be open to changes you couldn’t do in the normal state. • You may be able to take some risks that wouldn’t be tolerated normally. • Join forces to have dialogue with campus constituents to prioritize the importance of services and do some pruning! • Stop doing something! • Consider outsourcing more services and relaxing some of the rigid policies that might have prevented it in the past. • Most important… this is an opportunity to develop a strategic partnership with your CFO.

21. CIO Resources • EDUCAUSE CIO Listserv and constituent groups • Core Data Service information for benchmarking • EDUCAUSE Affinity Finder and Member Directory • ECAR Research: Managing the Funding Gap: How Today’s Economic Downturn Is Impacting IT Leaders and Their Organizations by Philip J. Goldstein • Economic Downturn Page by EDUCAUSE http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/EconomicDownturn/34610 • My own network of EDUCAUSE professionals

22. Contact Information Reagan Ramsower Vice President for Finance and Administration Reagan_Ramsower@Baylor.edu Pattie Orr Vice President for Information Technology & Dean of University Libraries Pattie_Orr@Baylor.edu