Tech Upgrade Conversations with Central and Distributed IT Staff

The chief purpose of this event was to promote greater transparency around the technological changes happening at UB; this includes new implementation of technology by UB’s schools as well as the regular tech upgrades and new initiatives launched by central IT.

The meeting was designed to create an environment in which conversations about the effects of these technological changes could happen earlier instead of later, so as to avoid surprises and confusion among affected parties.

What we don’t want, for example, is for one of UB’s schools to make a technology change that surprises its customers or technical support at UBIT. At the same time, we don’t want central IT to make a major technology upgrade that surprises the decanal units.

Transparency is extremely important because it allows us to have early technical conversations about what the potential impact of changes might be.

The tech review format allowed for five minute overviews of upcoming projects to the entire audience before breaking into roundtable discussions with technical staff members.

I’m pleased to share I’ve heard nothing but very positive feedback from distributed and central IT staff about this opportunity to share our initiatives and have a two-way conversation prior to rollouts. We are planning to host another event in January 2017. To request a topic or share information on an IT project you’re working on, please email ubit-communication@buffalo.edu.