Brett McKeachnie, Senior Director of Product Portfolio Management 

I focused last month on professional development, which is something each of us should be doing to keep our skills sharp and up-to-date. Separate from training, professional development is more of a maintenance activity for our brains. This month I want to discuss the guidance, training, and even professional development benefits we can all receive through Dx's InfoTech membership. While we have a limited number of official licenses, the available resources can be shared by everyone across Dx very easily. 

What is InfoTech?

InfoTech is a technology research group and advisory company that produces unbiased and relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. They partner closely with Dx, providing actionable tools, analyst guidance, and more for UVU. They focus on IT and use industry standards like COBIT, ITIL, SAFe, and many others to inform (not define) their approach.

Most of us have heard of research groups such as Gartner, Forrester, and others. Although these groups are highly respected, they are also expensive. Dx strives to keep our partnership costs modest, even with InfoTech. However, just because we pay relatively little for InfoTech doesn't mean that the benefits aren't top-tier. In my view, InfoTech deserves more credit in the technology industry, especially given what it can provide to customers like us. 

InfoTech Live

This year, InfoTech gave Dx two free tickets to the InfoTech Live conference held from September 20-22. VP/CIO Christina Baum and I both attended and had an amazing experience. The sessions covered everything from details of zero-trust security to high-level IT strategy. We connected with over 600 of our peers (CEOs, CIOs, and on down) from higher education and many other industries.

Most importantly, we met with some of InfoTech's top-tier analysts to discuss our strategies and plans. We came away from these discussions with improved ideas and concepts that will definitely influence how Dx evolves. Let's just say that our conversations with these analysts increased my awe and respect for Infotech.  

What to Expect

In one meeting with three analysts, we set out a seven-part strategy to accomplish all the great things Dx needs to do. Analysts and consultants will work with us directly to: 

• Review our Beach Picture.
• Assess Dx culture and make recommendations for how to improve.
• Help us align our product families and clarify our products. 
• Inform our Dx organizational design to better support our strategies.
• Guide our plans for training in both technical and management roles. 
• Help us create excellent change management plans as we transform. 
• Give us examples of KPIs and dashboards while helping us design our own. 

We are already working with InfoTech on improving our project management practices. We are also exploring the possibility of InfoTech helping us improve our IT financial management and our product/service catalog framework, among many other options. 

Many of these efforts will be completed as Dx leaders hold brief audio/video calls with analysts. Some will require input (via electronic surveys) from groups across Dx and UVU. In other cases, multi-day, on-site workshops will be held for Dx groups to accelerate progress on specific issues.

Learning More

IT/Dx has had an InfoTech membership for many years (thanks, Eddie and Ray!), so you may think you know about them. However, in that time, InfoTech has constantly been making improvements and updates to the content they deliver, the methods of delivery, and the amount and style of one-on-one coaching and executive guidance they provide. It's not your grandmother's InfoTech! 

I recommend browsing through the resources provided on InfoTech's website to get a glimpse into what they offer. While our membership doesn't include every single service they offer, we do get most of it, and we can always add on services as the need arises and the funds to cover them are made available. 

I especially recommend looking at InfoTech's "blueprints." These packages include InfoTech's written research, guidance, supporting workbooks, and change management resources. Anyone with a license can download blueprints, and the downloads can be shared by everyone across Dx. 

While I am Dx's primary contact for InfoTech, a handful of others also have login access. Feel free to reach out to me or others with any questions you may have or for help accessing these great resources. If an analyst call is needed, I can set it up for you. I can also help schedule on-site or virtual workshops and other paid help from InfoTech. Let's utilize this great resource that is available to us! 

Geoff Matthews, Interim Director of Institutional Research

Here are some interesting details for the 2021-2022 graduating class.

Graduating Students - 2022
Total Awards – 15,351
Certificates – 5,996 (up 118%)
Associate Degrees – 4,917 (down 11%)
Bachelor Degrees – 4.072 (up 2%)
Graduate Certificates – 40 (up 100%)
Master Degrees – 326 (up 12%)

Total Recipients – 11.743
Females – 5,405 (up 9%)
Males – 6,338 (up 19%)

First Generation Students – 4,034 (up 16%)
Oldest – 68
Youngest – 16

Average time to receive a Bachelor – 10.7 terms 
Average time to receive an Associate – 8.4 terms


The top 10 programs chosen by the 2022 graduates are:

University Studies – Associate Degree
General Education – Certificate
Humanities & Social Sciences – Associate
Programmer – Certificate
Business Management – Associate
Accounting – Certificate
Psychology – Bachelor
Information Systems & Technology – Certificate
Health – Certificate 
Criminal Justice – Certificate