Logicalis US Asks College CIOs: What Do Prospective Students See on Your College Tour?

NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Summer is traditionally the time of year students and their parents jump headlong into college tours. While meandering through lecture halls, laboratories and dorm rooms, visitors to college campuses nationwide are assessing the school's value based on what they hear and see during those critical few hours. What makes one college rise above the rest? According to Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), it's all about image - and that image can be dramatically impacted by fully embracing modern digital technologies.

"Everyone knows that our children's future is going to have a digital component to it," says Adam Petrovsky, GovEd Practice Leader, Logicalis US. "And that's why a university's digital transformation is inextricably linked to its future success. A school's digital footprint impacts its students' learning options, the campus' security strategies, its students' ability to engage professors electronically, and their ability to quickly and easily navigate the school's online learning environment. These are the kinds of things that, whether consciously or unconsciously, are noted by students and parents alike. They are the kinds of things that form the foundation for the school's image as a progressive, advanced institution. All of that plays into the image the university projects, which in turn helps it attract and retain the best students and professors and command premium tuitions and donations."

Four Digital Strategies that Project the Right Image
When prospects and their families take college tours, they talk to current students on campus, and they ask a lot of questions: How much homework is assigned? How easy is it to navigate the online learning system? Do they feel safe on campus? Is distance learning an option? Are professors accessible? These are just a few of the questions that families use to compare institutions as they search for the perfect fit. And, often, digital technologies provide the foundation for students' positive experiences in each of these critical areas.

    1. Ease of Navigation: If you ask college students today how easy it is to
       find the information they need to navigate their coursework and college
       life online, some will unfortunately say they need to log in to a number
       of separate sites to check grades, to find homework assignments and
       feedback, to register for classes and pay tuition or housing fees, or to
       explore sporting and other upcoming social events. How much more
       satisfied would students be with the university's online capabilities if
       the dozen or so apps they interface with on a regular basis could be
       seamlessly integrated, allowing them to manage their entire student life
       from a single screen via computer or smart phone? To give students this
       single-pane-of-glass experience, you'll need to prep your data center,
       install automated IT service management tools, and integrate applications
       - a definite boon to your image if you don't already provide this.
    2. Physical Security: Today, more than ever before, parents are especially
       interested in the safety measures on college campuses. When families take
       a college tour, they're looking for video surveillance cameras and access
       control measures, and they're asking about emergency notification
       systems. Some of the more advanced schools in the nation are even
       piloting innovative digital security programs that use each student's
       cell phone as a personal safety device, allowing them to press an
       emergency button to summon campus safety to their exact location,
       pinpointed via wi-fi and GPS. Others are experimenting with biometric
       capabilities in newer smart phones that could potentially be used as
       secure student IDs for entering access controlled areas such as dorms. If
       your campus security measures aren't this digitized, it may be time to
       talk tech with an experienced solution provider partner.
    3. Campus Extension: Students and parents want the most advanced educational
       experience their money can buy, which means they have expectations for
       the technology they see available as they explore your campus. At least
       some of the lecture halls they visit should have significant audio-visual
       support - not just a single camera that records the professor with a
       grainy picture and an indecipherable audio - but advanced AV equipment
       that includes multiple cameras positioned throughout the hall to
       simultaneously capture the professor, student interactions and critical
       whiteboard information. While this level of AV sophistication may not be
       present in every classroom, it's important to have some digital learning
       capabilities available and to talk about what those include. Can the
       professor invite guest lecturers from other countries to speak digitally
       to the class? Can students review a recorded class lecture if they're out
       sick, away from campus, or prepping for an exam? Are you providing deaf
       or foreign language translations digitally? If not, it's time to
       determine which needs to prioritize and how to implement them to gain the
       most bang for your budgetary buck.
    4. Online Collaboration: Ask most students how easy it is to visit their
       professor in person during posted office hours and you'll quickly see why
       some form of online collaboration is needed. Through immersive online
       video collaboration environments, students can see the professor's
       available hours and schedule their own 15- or 30-minute sessions, or
       simply text the professor and meet in a digital collaboration room. Both
       student and professor can log in via VOIP from anywhere, at any time to
       see each other face-to-face, share screens and whiteboards, and even view
       recorded lectures. These kinds of online collaborative environments are
       the tools students and professors rave about for their flexibility and
       efficiency - and that kind of information quickly makes its way to the
       forefront of conversations with prospective students and their families.

Want to Learn More?

    --  Find out how the Logicalis GovEd practice helps colleges and
        universities use technology to provide a borderless digital learning
        environment: http://ow.ly/PV4730cttco.
    --  Explore three safety solutions every college campus needs:
        http://ow.ly/x9vC30ctsIx.
    --  Read Logicalis' expert GovEd blog posts and recent GovEd news here:
        http://ow.ly/Rz8q30cttAO.

About Logicalis
Logicalis is an international multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes.

Our customers cross industries and geographical regions; our focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of our 4,000 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace communications and collaboration, data and information strategies, and IT operation modernization.

We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the AIM market of the LSE, with revenues of over $6.5 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.

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Media Contacts:
Karen Franse, Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US
kfranse@gocsg.com
866-997-2424 x222
www.gocsg.com

Arthur Germain, Communication Strategy Group for Logicalis US
agermain@gocsg.com
866-997-2424 x101
www.gocsg.com

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SOURCE Logicalis US