OSU and the path to digital enablement Since Ballinger arrived at OSU four years ago , she has been driving the organisation on its path to transformation .
“ There are institutions at various places on the path to transformation ,” she says , “ some that just want to maintain their situation and others want and can make transformative change .”
“ I would not have joined OSU if it wasn ’ t an institution committed to evolving , and providing an experience for the students and faculty that matters and is up to speed with what today ’ s culture requests of us .”
Ballinger now leads an innovative five-part strategic plan at OSU , with each segment building on one another to scale technological capabilities in support of the university ’ s mission – teaching , learning , research , outreach and engagement . “ The great thing is nothing was fundamentally broken when I joined ,” she notes , “ and the leadership at OSU wanted to aggressively move forward with OSU ’ s technological capabilities .”
Like many institutions , OSU had added technological upgrades to what was still a 1950s-based infrastructure before undertaking its digital enablement transformation .
“ Having old infrastructure was fine ,” adds Ballinger , “ as we could still operate . But the question was around sustainability – were we operating as efficiently as we could ? We could do better and still can .
“ Our transformation plan was put in place to overcome technical burdens and drastically reduce technical debt so that we could continue to be relevant and keep up with the modern expectations of our students , faculty and the wider community . technologymagazine . com 187