Why Higher Ed’s Operating Model Needs to Change
When I look back, it’s hard to believe how far this journey has taken me.
Back in 2017, when my co-founder and I launched Higher Digital, we had a simple but urgent belief: higher education needed to change faster. For too long, IT had been seen as just a “service organization,” a cost center, rather than the strategic driver of change that it truly could be.
This vision didn’t come out of nowhere. It was shaped over decades of work at the intersection of higher education and technology, and crystalized during 2015 and 2016, when I worked with a global system of 80 institutions. I saw firsthand just how much complexity and technical debt was holding schools back, and how badly they needed a more modern, agile way to operate.
Since then, I’ve sat down with hundreds of CIOs, presidents, and cabinet leaders at colleges and universities across the U.S., the U.K., and Europe. No matter the size or type of institution, one theme comes up again and again: the way we plan and execute change simply isn’t keeping pace with the demands of the moment.
Budgets are tight. Teams are stretched. Systems are siloed. And yet expectations, from students, from boards, from regulators, from the market, keep climbing.
The old operating model, where strategy is set at the top, handed down, and then executed in silos, just doesn’t work anymore. Today, alignment, agility, and measurable execution aren’t “nice to haves.” They’re essential.
Over the past decade, change management frameworks like Prosci’s ADKAR have been invaluable in helping institutions navigate complex transitions, and their importance has only grown in the SaaS era. But what we’ve learned is that traditional, project-level change management isn’t enough anymore. As technology adoption accelerates and systems become more interconnected, the need for enterprise-wide change management, a coordinated, portfolio-level approach to transformation, has never been greater.
That reality is what inspired us to build Operational Advantage for Education™. It isn’t theory or jargon. It’s a framework born out of years spent in the trenches, helping institutions close the gap between strategy and execution, using the systems, people, and budgets they already have.
This isn’t about ripping and replacing your planning process. It’s about augmenting it, giving CIOs and their teams the clarity and confidence to deliver results faster, with less risk, and with greater trust across the institution.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned on this journey, it’s this: change is inevitable, but successful execution is a choice. The institutions that build the muscle to deliver, consistently and sustainably, will be the ones that thrive, not just today but for years to come.
If you think change moved fast during the COVID era, the AI era is rewriting the rules in real time, and the pace will only accelerate from here. But here’s the truth: with disruption comes incredible opportunity. Higher education has a once-in-history role to play, to lead, to educate, and to ensure that this next era of change truly serves everyone. The work we do now is about shaping a future where education drives progress for every student, every community, and every generation to come.
My advice to every CIO, president, chancellor, vice-chancellor, and provost is simple: own your change. Download the framework, adapt it to your unique environment, and start building your institution’s operating system for change today.
You don’t need more budget or more tools to get started, you already have what you need. What this framework gives you is the structure and clarity to align your people, your systems, and your priorities so you can lead with confidence, deliver faster, and build trust across your campus. Let’s talk.
— Wayne