The University of Oxford has deployed HEAT Software’s cloud, in an IT shift expected to help evolve the University’s central IT department.
HEAT Software’s cloud-based service management solution will consolidate service desk support for on/off-site students, alumni and staff, as well as streamlining service desk operations via the company’s self-service online portal.
The cloud deployment will also serve to enhance the digital experience of students and help solve complex IT issues surrounding multiple IT user identities .
The cloud deployment faces considerable challenges; University of Oxford boasts a large, federated IT support function which supports 350 central IT staff, 300 distributed IT staff, 38 colleges, 100+ departments and 30,000 end users.
Prior to consolidation, Oxford had three independent IT teams; covering business systems, shared services and managed desktop computing, each with its own service desk. The University was finding it increasingly difficult to provide IT based services and metrics, and in 2012 it instigated a project to consolidate.
The University required a flexible cloud solution that could bring these central IT groups together, support its IT users from a single point of contact, and provide a reliable self-service solution with an online portal for its student community.
After an 11 month selection process, Oxford selected HEAT over other leading SaaS vendors due to the strength and depth of its features and the ease in which it can be set up, customised and used.
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"A student’s digital experience is an increasingly important part of university life," said John Ireland, Director of Customer Services at University of Oxford.
"IT has a huge impact on a student’s ability to study and communicate with their peers and educators, so making sure they have the best digital experience possible is essential.
"With HEAT, straight away I could see that we were purchasing a very powerful and configurable tool, which would provide visibility across our entire IT support operations."
"The ‘out of the box’ processes available with HEAT were easily configured to map with our project goals. Our partnership with HEAT Software will play an important role in keeping thousands of IT users operational and our IT teams happy."
