A college degree is more important than it’s ever been, which is why it’s not surprising that college and university enrollment continues to hover at near record levels. According to the Department of Education, a third of all 25-64 year olds in the U.S. have a bachelor’s degree—up from 28 percent just a decade ago. With college quickly becoming a requirement for many new jobs, it’s imperative for institutions to provide their students and faculty with the latest in innovation and technology. 
In part one of this two part series on cloud infrastructure in higher education, we discussed the scalability and monitoring benefits that a cloud solution can offer. Part two is all about improving access to data and protecting it from harm’s way. Here’s how cloud infrastructure can help:
- Security benefits
According to a recent survey from LinkedIn, 90 percent of respondents listed security concerns as the top perceived obstacle standing in the way of cloud adoption. A closer examination of that number revealed that 63 percent were worried about unauthorized access, 61 percent were concerned with account hijacking, and 43 percent feared breaches by malicious insiders. While security must be a major concern for colleges and universities, private cloud infrastructure is actually incredibly safe. With the right solution in place, institutions can provide a number of campus-wide benefits and improvements while protecting vital information like academic, health, and financial records.
- Better channel engagement
While the number one priority of colleges and universities is to provide education, they are also in the business of recruiting and retaining students. Improving the omni-channel experience can go a long way towards making college campuses more encompassing and efficient. For administrators, that might mean an upgrade in billing practices, alumni resources, recruiting efforts, and on-campus events. Students can expect to see improved department routing, as well as better interactions over the phone, SMS, email, and chat. In business, organizations that offer omni-channel service see an average of 13 percent improvement in customer retention, and there’s no reason that colleges and universities can’t reap similar gains.
As you can see, cloud infrastructure offers a number of substantial benefits and improvements for higher education, and it would make a fine addition to any college or university looking to take a step towards the future.
Michael Kropidlowski
Joining Aspect in April 1999, Michael brought more than nine years of customer service, technical and sales training experience to the company, where he was initially the lead sales and technical channel partner trainer for the company’s contact management platform.
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