04 December 2023 - CISG-PCMG23 Reflections - Thomas Davis
Prior to attending the conference, I was looking forward to meeting and networking with likeminded individuals facing similar challenges in the higher education sector. I was also looking forward to learning strategies to overcome challenges we all face. Likewise, I was looking forward to having fun, enjoying great food, staying in a hotel, and learning more about the interesting technologies being offered by the various vendors. Alongside this, I loved learning more about how institutions are improving effectiveness, efficiency and ultimately value to their respective organisations.
My first impressions of the conference were that the staff, event organisers and attendees were fantastic, and the décor and setting was beautiful. I thought the app with the agenda of each day was a great idea and this helped to navigate the event easily; with a quick check of this all the required timings and subjects were at your fingertips. AI was a remarkably interesting topic which seems to be in the forefront of minds given recent advancements; I found the various use cases for AI fascinating. In addition, opening each of the presenters up to questions at the end was extremely helpful to gain greater understanding and personal clarity of the more complex topics.
My top three takeaways were:
1. The Gartner presentation was very insightful, especially the project prioritisation model. The aim of this is to prioritise projects within a portfolio, which helps maximise value. I am now using this model in conjunction with AI to build a question bank centred around strategic alignment, business process impact, technical architecture, direct payback, and risk avoidance with the aim of providing a weighted scoring matrix to prioritise pipeline project ideas.
2. There are four key success criteria: develop people (training, awareness and empowerment), develop infrastructure (process and physically), develop policy (guardrails to increase autonomy) and develop external influence (such as with local councils and governing bodies).
3. Story telling is key for business stakeholders buy in, this requires telling a clear and coherent story of what is in it for the business stakeholder, how it is going to improve their life, what the envisaged is going to look like and what benefits and value it will provide the organisation.
My top recommendations for those attending the conference for the first time would be to immerse yourself in the experience, network with the vendors and attendees, enjoy the lovely food and drink, take in as much of the information as possible and ask questions where further clarity to cement knowledge shared is required.
Finally, I found the staff and event organisers were polite, friendly and provided the correct information at the right time to guide the event seamlessly throughout the three days. The organisation of the event was optimal, and I cannot thank all those that were involved enough for making my first UCISA such a wonderful experience.
