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The Dynamic Duo: CFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the
Economic Downturn
Reagan RamsowerVice President for Finance and Administration
&Pattie Orr
Vice President for Information Technology &Dean of University Libraries
Baylor UniversityApril 17, 2009
THE DYNAMIC DUOCFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn 2
Reagan RamsowerVice President for Finance
and Administration
Pattie OrrVice President for IT &
Dean of University Libraries
THE DYNAMIC DUOCFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn 3
• Private University• Chartered by the Republic of
Texas in 1845, Baylor is the oldest university in Texas.
• Religious Affiliation: Baptist• Research intensive• Serving 14,541 students
– 12,162 undergraduates– 2,379 graduate
• 823 Faculty members• Curriculum includes:
– 146 baccalaureate programs– 76 master’s programs– 26 doctoral programs
THE DYNAMIC DUOCFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn 4
Economic Backdrop
• Reduced general funding from local, state and federal government.
• Reduced endowments resulting in lower endowment earnings.• Dampened demand for higher education based on perceived
ability to pay.• Increased pressure to contain and even reduce tuition.• General chaos in the financial markets.
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The Challenge
• Six Months Ago• April 2009• Lowering the cost of education.• Stimulus provides only breathing room.• The long term gap between higher education revenues and costs
must be closed.
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Surviving 2009-2010
• Stimulus money• Travel restrictions, capital project delays, hiring freezes, salary
freezes, layoffs• Debt, endowment drawdowns• Multi-year restructuring to lower the cost of education
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Dynamic Duo:Cute Title, Serious Partnership
• How is the CIO uniquely positioned to assist with a multi-year restructuring effort?– Holistic View: Work with all constituents, all processes– Experts in automation– Process redesign skills– Access to institution-wide information– Veterans in the need for rapid change
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Questions
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What makes a strategic CFO/CIO partnership?
THE DYNAMIC DUOCFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn
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What makes a strategic CFO/CIO partnership?
• Dialogue• Trusting Relationship
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Is dialogue important?
• From the CFO’s point of view…what I need to say to/hear from the CIO.
• From the CIO’s point of view…what I need to say to/hear from the CFO.
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Is Trust Critical?
• First, what is trust?– Believing in the honesty of an individual– Confidence that motives or practices are not suspicious
• What factors contribute to a trusting relationship?– Listening and empathy– Mutual respect and transparency– Dependability
• Why is trust critical?– Forms a basis for long-term satisfying business relationships– Necessary for supporting a multi-year restructuring
initiative
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Questions
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How can the CIO be strategic?
THE DYNAMIC DUOCFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn
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How can the CIO be strategic?
There are many questions to consider with your directors:• Do we cut services or cut service levels?• Can we rebalance the distributed academic and administrative IT
services and those offered by central IT?– Hosted servers by central IT.– Virtualized servers offered for less cost to academic and
administrative units.– Data storage options for attractive pricing.– Centralized (or outsourced) email services.– Combined software contracts for more economical site licenses
or perpetual licenses.– Simplified ordering for computers and other IT equipment.
• Can we delay some of the big projects and offer smaller ones that help departments streamline operations?
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How can I help the CFO?
• Support the first year cuts. • Do the homework for your own area.
– Fine art of the executive summary.– Detailed information on use of your services.– Spreadsheets/Black and white information/Business plans.
• Develop strategic plans.– Roadmaps for servers and equipment replacement.– Scenario thinking – 5 year blocks.– Ask to protect contracts.
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Think Outside of the Box
• Make it easy (and financially rewarding) to opt for shared IT services.
• Think Creatively! How can technology or outsourcing be used to lower costs for multiple units?
• Examples: – Server virtualization and central hosting/UPS/Generator.– 24 hour shared first point of contact/first level of service for
multiple campus services.
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Questions
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Is there any good news for the CIO and CFO during this
difficult period?
THE DYNAMIC DUOCFO/CIO Partnerships for Surviving the Economic Downturn
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From Crisis Comes Opportunity
• Work together to make the most of the crisis — people may be open to changes you couldn’t do in the normal state.
• You may be able to take some risks that wouldn’t be tolerated normally.
• Join forces to have dialogue with campus constituents to prioritize the importance of services and do some pruning!
• Stop doing something!• Consider outsourcing more services and relaxing some of the rigid
policies that might have prevented it in the past.• Most important… this is an opportunity to develop a strategic
partnership with your CFO.
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CIO Resources
• EDUCAUSE CIO Listserv and constituent groups• Core Data Service information for benchmarking• EDUCAUSE Affinity Finder and Member Directory• ECAR Research: Managing the Funding Gap: How Today’s
Economic Downturn Is Impacting IT Leaders and Their Organizations by Philip J. Goldstein
• Economic Downturn Page by EDUCAUSE http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/EconomicDownturn/34610
• My own network of EDUCAUSE professionals
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Contact Information
Reagan RamsowerVice President for Finance and Administration [email protected]
Pattie OrrVice President for Information Technology &Dean of University [email protected]
