Higher Digital Launches Service to Help Higher Education Institutions Master Technology

TYSONS, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Higher Digital, the leader in digital transformation for higher education, today announced the launch of its transformation service, (SEA)change, to support higher education institutions in their quest to make better use of technology. (SEA)change provides a change management service that rapidly aligns technology investments with an institution’s vision, strategy, operations and culture. This service has already produced demonstrative results for several beta customers that helped test and refine the approach; with today’s announcement, (SEA)change is officially available to higher education institutions on a global basis.

IT projects exhibit a high failure rate due to a variety of factors, including ambiguous definitions of success, unclear priorities, ineffective change processes and inadequate preparations for end-user adoption. Furthermore, IT projects tend to be owned by IT rather than an appropriate member of the leadership team capable of orchestrating cross-functional support for the business value targeted by the technology investment.

“IT projects - by definition - have a high failure rate because they are led by IT rather than business stakeholders and they are projects rather than processes. This orientation obstructs the team’s ability to design for scale, prioritize usability, minimize technical debt, ease adoption, and support continuous improvement,” said Colleen Baker, co-founder and COO of Higher Digital. Baker is the creator of (SEA)change and was recently named to DCA Live’s 2021 Power Women of Tech. “With (SEA)change we remove these constraints by facilitating a business-driven program that aligns strategy and execution.”

The (SEA)change service combines a proprietary SaaS platform, rapid data analysis and facilitated change to accomplish successful digital transformation across the enterprise. (SEA)change incorporates (SEA)results, Higher Digital’s proprietary SaaS platform, which allows institutions to confidentially benchmark internally and against peer institutions across over twenty dimensions, spanning change management practices and outcomes from culture to security. The data is then used to inform a tailored change management strategy that delivers transformational results, like:

1. Increase project success rates by 30%-50%. By organizing all stakeholders and participants in a role-based process that balances strategic input, iterative progress and scalable operations, (SEA)change pre-empts typical planning and execution risks and ensures improved success rates.
2. Strategically align your institution within 3 months. Anonymized and aggregated assessment data gets stakeholders on the same page more quickly, leading to stronger alignment and deeper commitments to prioritized objectives.
3. Improve productivity and morale. Once teams are better aligned and seeing repeatable progress, productivity and morale rise in a virtuous cycle.
4. Increase digital investment value while lowering costs. By defining success early, making iterative progress with stakeholders and measuring results against key performance indicators, (SEA)change dramatically improves institutions’ return on digital investments.

“Most executives can feel when a project is not going well. The trick is to have a process that can course-correct based on new information, such as the identification of a new risk or substantial feedback from a stakeholder group,” said Kamalika Sandell, Chief Information Officer at New Jersey Institute of Technology. “I’ve experienced (SEA)change firsthand, and it definitely provides the holistic approach needed for institutional success with technology.”

“It’s this unique blend of rapid and iterative data, software and facilitated change that makes (SEA)change so powerful and unlike any other offerings out there,” said Wayne Bovier, co-founder and CEO of Higher Digital. “At Higher Digital, we have always focused on helping the higher education industry to evolve, by seeing each institution’s transformation not as a destination, but as a life cycle.”

(SEA)change is packaged to fit virtually any project, budget and engagement entry point. For more information and to learn how (SEA)change can work for your institution, contact Higher Digital. If you are attending the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference 2021, stop by booth 751 for a free consultation with Colleen Baker, the creator of (SEA)change.

About Higher Digital

Higher Digital is a digital transformation company that provides consulting, software, and data benchmarking tools to significantly reduce the time and cost for higher education executives to assess, plan, and measure their technology strategies. Higher Digital is headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, and has offices in London, UK and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. For more information, please visit higher.digital.

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