Business-aligned IT strategy underpins community college transformation initiatives

Matching the pace of change in higher education

Like many higher learning institutions, Pima Community College is in the midst of a wave of change. With 2,500 staff serving roughly 30,000 students, the Arizona-based college faces challenges both in managing the complexity of its operations and in keeping up with transformations in student learning.

Isaac Abbs, CIO at Pima, is no stranger to the challenges of this environment. Starting his career developing software and then rising to lead IT systems for a municipal government, Abbs then spent eight years at Pima as director of enterprise systems. After another stint in government, he returned to Pima in 2022 to head its entire IT function – now an organization of 100 staff covering services like infrastructure, enterprise systems, security, education technology, and user support.

Elevating IT from reactive to proactive

In starting his role as CIO of Pima Community College, Abbs notes that his primary goal was to shift the IT function from a reactive, order-taking mode to a proactive leadership role, fully aligned with systematically enabling the broader business and its goals. “If there’s one overarching priority, it would be to put the department in a position to really help the organization move forward with initiatives that are tied to the strategic plan – rather than just sitting on the sidelines and waiting for people to come to us,” he explains.

To support these goals, Abbs leverages Info-Tech Research Group, an IT research and advisory resource that has had helped him throughout his career. Before his return to Pima, he completed Info-Tech’s “First 100 Days as CIO” program, which helped him lay a foundation for the strategic initiatives he would soon undertake. “Info-Tech is worth its weight in gold. It’s like having an additional handful of staff that are always knowledgeable and always up to date on core IT processes,” he notes.

“If there’s one overarching priority, it would be to put the department in a position to really help the organization move forward with initiatives that are tied to the strategic plan – rather than just sitting on the sidelines and waiting for people to come to us.”
- Isaac Abbs, CIO, Pima Community College

Defining strategy with actionable insight and guidance

As he began his tenure as CIO, Abbs leveraged Info-Tech’s survey-based, data-driven diagnostic tools, including “CIO Business Vision” and “CEO/CIO Alignment,” to spot check and enhance IT performance, and to keep him personally aligned with the CEO’s vision for the college. “The data we gathered using Info-Tech’s CIO Business Vision program helped identify core IT areas that we need to focus on,” he says.

In planning IT’s transition to a more innovative and proactive function, Abbs also leveraged Info-Tech’s research blueprint “Build a Business-Aligned IT Strategy” and used the firm’s Guided Implementation service to work through the initiative with the guidance of expert analysts. Since then, Abbs and his team have used Info-Tech Guided Implementations for several high-impact initiatives.

Enhancing service desk effectiveness

One such initiative was a service desk transformation based on Info-Tech’s “Standardize the Service Desk” blueprint. While stakeholders were satisfied with the service, Abbs knew from experience how much better Pima’s IT Service Desk could be. He leveraged the Info-Tech research to “sell” its potential and gain buy-in to make improvements. “That’s the real value that Info-Tech provides – the outsider opinion that people listen to and the best-practice research that makes implementation of a project easier,” says Abbs.

Maturing security practices, policies, and procedures

Abbs is also spearheading the development of an information security strategy focusing on policies and procedures, with the help of Info-Tech’s “Build an Information Security Strategy” blueprint. Driven in part by regulatory standards and evolving risks, Abbs is committed to maturing Pima’s security practice. He notes an imminent deadline to comply with federal legislation requirements: “I’ve been working with Info-Tech to put together sound documentation policies and procedures while simultaneously building a true security program.”

“I’ve been working with Info-Tech to put together sound documentation policies and procedures while simultaneously building a true security program.”
- Isaac Abbs, CIO, Pima Community College

Assessing applications with a strategic lens

In addition, the team is implementing an application portfolio management process driven by the new IT strategy, with the help of Info-Tech’s Higher Education Reference Architecture and “Application Portfolio Management Foundations” blueprint. Abbs’ goal is to ensure that the organization’s applications align with business priorities. He notes the value of Info-Tech’s support: “That’s where that immeasurable value comes in with Info-Tech – it covers your blind spots. It’s the expert in every area where you rarely have an expert.”

Along the way, Abbs has benefited from the additional expertise of an Info-Tech Executive Counselor, a former CIO who acts as a sounding board, advisor, and confidante: “He helps reinforce some of the things we’re doing well, and he provides insight on opportunities, suggesting ‘you might want to try this,’ or ‘hey, I have a colleague who’s also doing that’.”

Collecting dividends from actionable data and proven research

The efforts of Abbs and his team, supported by Info-Tech’s expert advice and data-driven resources, have already paid dividends at Pima. Abbs estimates that his department and the wider organization have saved roughly five full-time employees' worth of costs. “By using Info-Tech, the time savings have been almost immeasurable – we’re talking years of time,” he estimates.

Sustaining this pace in the context of the massive changes faced by the higher education sector will be essential. Abbs reflects on the role of IT and IT leaders in this future: “You can do a lot more with less through technology. You can also waste a lot of money on technology, and I think that’s where the CIO will need to be more of a true strategic partner – rather than just keeping the lights on.”