Abstract

This IDC Perspective discusses how institutions of higher education have developed a greater appetite to move away from their legacy, on-premises student information system (SIS) to a more modern, cloud-based solution. In response to this demand, SIS vendors have made strides to transform their solution offerings. However, there are some notable challenges that are preventing the lion's share of institutions from moving to a cloud-based SIS, and many institutions are taking a risk-averse, wait-and-see approach. To help institutions overcome risk aversion and accelerate their cloud-based SIS transitions, IDC provides a "readiness checklist for higher education." The guide provides advice for education leaders looking to determine whether cloud-based SIS migration is the right approach to achieve their goals, whether the institution has the capacity to manage a cloud-based SIS transition, and how to choose the best-fit vendor to work with.

"Moving from a legacy, on-premises SIS to a modern, cloud-based solution is one of the very, if not the most, challenging IT projects that institutions will ever undertake," said Matthew Leger, research manager for IDC's Worldwide Education Digital Strategies practice. "Before they touch their legacy system, higher education IT leaders must determine three important things: Is this the right strategy for my institution, do we have the capacity to undertake a cloud-based SIS transition, and how do I determine the best-fit vendor to work with?"

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