The document discusses the implications of outsourcing technical services in universities and emphasizes the importance of local developers for fostering incremental innovation. It highlights the challenges posed by relying on Software as a Service (SaaS) due to limited customization and the necessity of bridging the gap between understanding user needs and technical innovation capacity. The author recommends investing in local talent and maintaining institutional knowledge to enhance the ability to innovate strategically within educational institutions.

1. Local, technical innovation in an outsourced
world
Paul
Walk
p.walk@ed.ac.uk
@paulwalk
http://www.paulwalk.net
1

2. “We don’t do IT development it’s not our business - I’d
outsource my granny if I
could....”
2
A chance remark from a senior IT manager in a UK University

3. What effect does outsourcing
your granny have on your ability
to innovate?
3
So, the question I'd like to consider (briefly) is...

4. some assertions
• universities
have
discovered
a
growing
appetite
for
outsourcing
technical
services
(cloud,
SaaS
etc.)
• steady,
incremental
innovation
happens
in
a
local
context
4
going to limit myself to thoughts about incremental technical innovation - not because
innovation cannot be non-technical in nature - it’s just where my interest and professional
focus lie

5. the SaaS relationship
• Software
as
a
Service
-­‐
where
the
software
is
delivered
to
your
users
across
the
network
-­‐
very
often
accessed
through
a
Web-­‐browser
• new
features
added
by
the
vendor
and
rolled
out
to
all
customers
• considerable
economies
are
made
possible,
but:
• local
customisation
opportunities
are
limited,
and
you
are
one
of
many
customers
(potentially
many
more
than
in
a
pre-­‐SaaS
world)
• to
offer
some
local
integration
and
customisation
potential,
vendors
increasingly
offer
machine-­‐readable
Application
Programming
Interfaces
(APIs)
• APIs
change
the
picture....
5
we’re familiar with the notion of Software as a Service?
you pays your money, you takes your chances - although we're getting more experienced at
negotiating and managing SLAs

6. APIs are interfaces for
developers
6
not for machines. This is important. You probably have machines, but do you have
developers?

7. simple SaaS relationship
HE Institution
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
User or
domain
expert
SaaS
Service
Manager
Account
Manager
Developer
Strategic
requirements
Technical
requirements
&
opportunities
Technical
Staff
7
green star is focus of knowledge about users’ behaviours, needs etc.
red star is focus of capacity to innovate technically
gap between them is pretty large
red line is technical dialogue - dotted means it’s a weak dialogue

8. it’s usually more complicated....
HE Institution
SaaS 1
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
Service
Manager
Developer
User or
domain
expert
Strategic
requirements
Account
Manager
Technical
Staff
Technical
requirements
&
opportunities
SaaS 2
Developer
Service
Manager
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
User or
domain
expert
Account
Manager
8
same gap between knowledge and capacity
we risk mirroring the classic internal IT divisions but making this worse as the tech capacity
is outside of our organisational control.
Loss of organisational understanding of technical issues

9. SaaS providers prefer this arrangement
HE Institution
Strategic
requirements
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
Account
Manager
Dev Consultancy
Service
Manager
User or
domain
expert
Developer
Project
Manager
Technical
Staff
Developer
SaaS 2
Developer
Technical
requirements
&
opportunities
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
SaaS 1
Service
Manager
User or
domain
expert
Account
Manager
Strategic
requirements
9
SaaS providers would often rather work through a partner with a track record of development
with their product, than through each customer directly. After all, this is partly the appeal of
the SaaS model to the provider. Here the focus of capacity to innovate technically in context
is with the partner. Note that the nexus of development for the institution is still outside the
institution.

10. closing the gap between understanding & capacity
HE Institution
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
Strategic
requirements
SaaS 1
Account
Manager
Service
Manager
Developer
User or
domain
expert
Strategic
Technical
Developer
SaaS 2
Technical
requirements
&
opportunities
Developer
Service
Manager
End user
requirements
&
opportunities
User or
domain
expert
Account
Manager
Strategic
requirements
10
The local developer is able to exploit the APIs offered by the different SaaS providers to build
a tailored solution
the gap between understanding of users’ requirements and the capacity to deliver technical
innovation is reduced, and importantly, the next innovation project will add to this
understanding and capacity.
but, I believe that we need to get to the point where we can conceive of a strategic local
developer

11. the value of the local developer
• should
understand
local
conditions
better
than
an
external
supplier
• is
more
accessible
-­‐
very
important
when
adopting
agile
development
• through
(web)
APIs,
can
tailor
remote
services
to
idiosyncratic
local
needs
• can
engage
the
technical
people
in
an
external
supplier
-­‐
not
just
the
pre-­‐sales
people!
• can
engage
with
and
exploit
available
open
source
developments
11
can make cheaper services into better services

12. the strategic developer
• is
experienced,
both
technically
and
in
the
‘business’
of
Higher
Education
• has
good
local
(sometimes
tacit)
knowledge
-­‐
such
as
the
real
business
processes
of
the
institution
• has
moved
beyond
‘problem
solving’
as
the
extent
of
their
perspective
• can
align
technical
planning
and
interventions
to
strategic
goals
-­‐
has
an
institutional
perspective
• gives
a
technical-­‐development
dimension
to
strategic
planning
• offers
leadership,
beyond
project-­‐management
and
can
identify
new
ICT-­‐based
opportunities
to
innovate
12
is probably disguised as a manager :-)
does not really exist as a role, yet, but if it did....

13. the case of the missing career-path
junior
senior
PG/research developer
strategic
Academic
?
?
Undergraduate
Employed developer
1
2
Manager
3
4
13
1. we have a rich source of raw talent coming in (our students)
2. we can and often do employ some of these. They gain the domain and tacit knowledge. Then we start to lose people
3. those that stay normally have a choice of going back into academia or moving into management
4. by this point we have lost all of our experienced developers. It is rare to have someone with a developer’s experience at a strategic level in our
institutions

14. institutional memory and understanding
junior
senior
?
?
1
Introduction of new
technologies
strategic
2
judicious use of
technologies coupled
with understanding
of local context
3
4
o rg
kno anisa
ti
wle
dge onal
(tac
it)
un stra
de te
rs gic
ta
nd
ing
14
1.
2.
3.
3.
4.
technical (latest stuff) - new technical ideas (18 months to get up to speed on technologies)
technical (judgement) and an understanding of local context
organisational knowledge (tacit knowledge - how things work and how to get stuff done at my institution)
domain knowledge (how higher education works, how libraries work)
committee work, strategic planning, leadership (not on offer to our developers)

15. recommendations
• we
should:
• evaluate
our
capacity
to
do
local,
technical
innovation
to
get
the
best
return
out
of
our
investment
in
turnkey
or
outsourced
systems
• invest
in
this
capacity:
local
developers
empower
our
organisation
to
innovate
• be
mindful
of
the
importance
of
institutional
memory
• don’t
forget
the
supply
of
raw
talent
in
the
student
cohort
15

16. "If
the
UK's
creative
businesses
want
to
thrive
in
the
digital
future,
you
need
people
who
understand
all
facets
of
it
integrated
from
the
very
beginning.
Take
a
lead
from
the
Victorians
[...]:
bring
engineers
into
your
company
at
all
levels,
including
the
top."
16
Anyone know who said this last year?
Eric Schmidt, Chairman of Google
Thank you!