A report summarising two breakout sessions run at the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA) 2013 Autumn Conference in Nottingham, held during September 2013. The breakout sessions were run by Stephen Butcher and Andy Powell of Eduserv and involved a total of around 35 senior managers at UK HE institutions. The intention was to investigate why HEIs tend to adopt a DIY approach to IT services.

1. IT : strategy, management
and DIY in HE
Breakout session report
AHUA 2013 Autumn Conference
Nottingham
Stephen Butcher and Andy Powell
Eduserv
Image: Wojtek Gurak @ Flickr

2. Introduction
• we ran 2 breakout sessions at the AHUA 2013
Autumn Conference in Nottingham
• each session was entitled “IT :
strategy, management and DIY in HE”
• we set out to investigate why HEIs tend to
adopt a DIY approach to IT services
• there were 15-20 delegates (all senior
management) in each session – split into 3
discussion groups

3. Groups were asked to discuss…
• has your institution considered outsourcing
aspects of your IT services?
• pick one example where outsourcing was chosen
and one where it was considered and rejected
• what were the drivers that led to those
decisions? how valid do you think those drivers
were/are?
• are there common characteristics of DIY
vs. outsourced services?

4. Currently outsourced
Note: intention was to pick examples,
not to create a definitive list

5. Outsourcing considered but rejected
Note: intention was to pick examples,
not to create a definitive list

6. Avoidup-frontcapitalinvestment
Lackofin-houseexpertise
Flexiblecapacity
Qualityofuserexperienceandfunctionality
Speedofimplementation
Studentattitudestochange
Reliability
Cost
Risk
In-houseprovisiontoomessytooutsource
ViewthatinternalITcapabilityisa‘goodthing’
NicheHEapps(i.e.nooutsourcedoptions)
Immaturityofavailableoffers
Abilitytocustomisetheservice
Pastbadexperiencesofoutsourcing(notIT)
Concernaboutexploitationbysupplier
Staffattitudestochange
Branddifferentiation
VATonoutsourcedservices
Needforintegrationwithenterprisesystems
Missioncriticality
ITstrategy&cultureofcontrol
Security
Legal,compliance(e.g.FoIandDP)
Confidentiality
Reasons to
outsource
Interpreted
variably
Reasons to
DIY
Note: ordering applied by the authors
based on group feedback

7. Remarks
• it seems likely that the historic need to be at cutting edge of IT
(to support the needs of academics) has led to an over-riding
culture of DIY, particularly in older universities
• attitudes to issues like cost, reliability and risk appear variable
and partly dependent on perception of in-house capability – e.g.
cost is likely to be an important factor in individual cases but
impact depends on how internal costs are measured
• VAT on outsourced services tends to push cost factor in favour
of DIY – externally supplied services have got to be 20% cheaper
(before VAT) compared to DIY, just to break even
• only in ‘free’ cases (e.g. student email) does
cost become a ‘no-brainer’

8. Remarks (cont.)
• there was a perception that HE is somehow a ‘special case’
(compared with other sectors) but not clear if this is correct
• in particular, ‘confidentiality’ and ‘mission criticality’ both
given as reasons to DIY
• however, in discussion it was noted that:
a) other very sensitive sectors don’t see things that way
b) most universities will have procedures and infrastructures that are
less audited and accredited than those of third party suppliers
• groups could usefully have spent more time discussing the
relative importance of the issues raised, and
whether they are perceived or real, but time
did not allow for this

9. Useful resources
• UCISA 2012 Survey of Technology Enhanced
Learning for higher education in the UK
http://www.ucisa.ac.uk/~/media/groups/ssg/surveys/TEL_sur
vey_2012_with%20Apps_final
• Efficiency and effectiveness in higher
education: A report by the Universities UK
Efficiency and Modernisation Task Group
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/Effici
encyinHigherEducation.aspx