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Joining Higher Digital at a Transformative Time
Since its founding in 2017, Higher Digital has operated under the principle that higher education institutions need more advanced tools during this critical era of digital transformation. As the scale and urgency of digital transformation at colleges and universities continues to grow, stakeholders and executives have sought greater access to new technology and cloud-based applications to modernize administration and learning. For decades, Information Technology (IT) departments have faced unyielding pressure to unify institutional strategy and technology delivery in order to satisfy diverse sets of constituents.
Two years into an era turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more apparent than ever that improving technology-driven outcomes across the entire enterprise has become a matter of survival.
The next decade will be a make or break moment, as digital experiences become more immersive while also being the first and most important impression for prospects, students, and parents.
Students make decisions on whether they remain at a university based, primarily, on digital experience(s). And the tolerance for digital inconveniences is in short supply. We live in an era where immense change has pushed digital transformation to the forefront for university presidents, provosts, boards, and CIOs. Institutions must improve upon change with their technology, organization, and business models in order to thrive in today’s environment, and until Higher Digital came along, no one was trying to improve upon the decades old approaches and processes of big box consulting and change management companies.
And that is why I have decided to join the accomplished team at Higher Digital. This company is doing incredibly important work to help some of the greatest institutions in the world apply practical approaches to digitally transform. Since its formation, Higher Digital has developed a remarkable track record of providing both industry and change management expertise to help leadership, operations, and technology stakeholders work together to align IT strategy with enterprise strategy, making them more agile and responsive to the changing needs of students, faculty, and school administrators.
As a lifelong entrepreneur who has successfully started and grown multiple businesses that capitalized on digital transformation trends, the opportunity to join an experienced leadership team who share a common passion for helping higher education address digital transformation challenges was a natural fit, and one that I could not pass up.
Throughout my career, I have partnered with hundreds of higher education institutions to offer solutions they could benefit from, including during the pioneering days of the internet, when I founded eStudentLoan – the first and largest comparison marketplace for student loans.
I have always been a business builder. In fact, in 1991, I started a computer network integrator that helped businesses large and small deal with change in technology. My passion has always been to create software solutions that help customers make meaningful changes that improve their lives – and ensure the success of their enterprises. And that is exactly what is taking place at Higher Digital.
In helping guide and digitally transform some of the most innovative and distinguished institutions on the planet, we are building a software platform that delivers immense value for institutions across the globe looking to evolve and thrive in an increasingly digital-first environment.
Strengthening a Winning Team
My goal at Higher Digital is to be an accelerant in strengthening the tremendous foundation created by Wayne Bovier (Co-founder & CEO), Colleen Baker (Co-founder, CCO, COO), and Joe Gottlieb (President & CTO). This team has a wealth of experience in the world of enterprise software and change management, and they understand how to get the most out of the major software solutions across the enterprise.
Given the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of digital systems on campuses and off, it is vital that systems continuously work well together to deliver leading student, faculty and staff experience.
When an organization engages Higher Digital, they’re not after general consulting advice on how to execute digital transformation. Rather, they are enlisting the world’s leading experts at helping institutions use technology to successfully transform for their digital mission.
If institutions want to go with a team that’s been there before, they will hire us. We understand the unique and global challenges facing universities and are helping university leaders manage the risk of developing successful outcomes on major projects. And for this type of work, there is only one chance to get it right.
Well Positioned for Growth
Since its inception, Higher Digital has created an uninterrupted run of annual global growth, adding more talent and customers while experiencing impressive client retention in the U.S. and U.K. I am excited for this opportunity to help expand our global footprint while driving financial growth in all aspects of the business as university leaders come to us for a true value-add in executing their digital transformation success.
Our consulting experts leverage benchmarking tools, analytics, practical change management methodologies, targeted process training, and facilitation to help institutions master success with digital change. This unique value proposition coupled with the vision to further automate digital transformation practices via software made joining Higher Digital a no-brainer.
In 2021, the higher education technology market size eclipsed $85 billion in the U.S. alone, with Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) anticipated to exceed 10% in the years ahead. This presents a massive addressable marketplace for our domain expertise , services, and software platform, positioning Higher Digital to set new records in 2022 for growth in all areas of our business.
I’m here to leverage my decades of experience in growth investing to work with our channel partners and venture investors to ensure that we continue to scale properly. In doing so, we’ll stay a well-oiled machine that is always ready to help its customers.