Focus Areas

The IT Strategic Plan for Virginia Tech was developed through an intensive series of conversations organized around six focus areas (IT organizational capabilities, IT services, data and analytics, research IT, teaching and learning technologies, and administrative IT). The discussions also took into  account four catalysts (IT security, artificial intelligence, IT infrastructure, and user experience management) that were common across all focus areas.

Catalysts

Catalysts are cross-cutting factors that are integral to the success of all IT-related endeavors, or in the case of artificial intelligence, a newly emerging field of possibility that is expanding so rapidly that it is difficult to pin it down to a single area of endeavor. Each of these elements was considered holistically and freshly incorporated into the planning for each project or initiative, ensuring a coordinated and responsive approach.

IT Security

Robust protection of the university’s systems, capabilities, personal data, and proprietary data is an essential need that must be considered during the planning and design process for any system or activity at the institution. With that understanding, discussions about IT security best practices and implications were infused into all working group activities.

Artificial Intelligence

Applications for and research around Artificial Intelligence have impacts that can vary based on context. With that in mind, explorations of possible uses, risks or benefits, and considerations surrounding AI were carried out by each working group and project as appropriate.

IT Infrastructure

Our IT Infrastructure (starting with our wired and wireless networks, but extending to all our core IT services) undergirds all other IT capabilities at Virginia Tech. IT infrastructure is often shared but can be used or configured in different ways depending on specific needs. IT infrastructure needs were documented and discussed by each working group and project.

User Experience Management

The ways in which the Virginia Tech community interacts with and experiences various technology solutions, from discovery to onboarding to skills development to task completion to offboarding, helps shape and define their understanding of and feelings about those solutions. User experience management considers these as a core part of the planning and design process, providing communication, support, and assessing user satisfaction. Each working group considered user experience management needs as a part of their deliberations.

Working Groups