IT leader Scott Tully takes a governance-focused approach to IT excellence.

Around the world, universities are facing pressures ranging from declining enrollment and budget cuts to rapid technological change that have simultaneously delivered new opportunities and fueled major upheaval.

Western Australia’s top-ranked Curtin University is not immune to these headwinds, and Scott Tully, Deputy Director, Office of the CIO, knew they would have to take transformative action to ensure the university can continue to deliver exceptional IT services to its 80,000 students, faculty, researchers, and staff.

“The challenge is having to deliver more with limited resources and transform a large-scale tertiary education institution to be more dynamic, digital, and secure,” Scott said.

Practical research, strategic impact

Scott identified gaps in IT governance, architecture, and operational frameworks as key challenges that would need to be addressed in order to fulfill the university’s vision for transformation and digitalization.

Recognizing the scale of the initiative, Scott turned to global IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group for expert, hands-on guidance. “Info-Tech provides actionable research that enables practical deliver of IT outcomes, leveraging high-pedigree analysts to provide insight, experience, and guided support,” Scott explained.

“Info-Tech provides actionable research that enables practical delivery of IT outcomes, leveraging high-pedigree analysts to provide insight, experience, and guided support.”

– Scott Tully, Deputy Director, Office of the CIO, Curtin University

Making IT governance a foundation for excellence

Early on, Scott identified Curtin University’s IT governance practices as a top priority for reform. His first stop was Info-Tech’s IT Management & Governance Diagnostic, a comprehensive survey-based program designed to assess effectiveness across 50 core IT processes.

“The Info-Tech IT Management & Governance Diagnostic quickly pinpointed areas needing focus and enabled significant enhancement of IT governance within the University,” Tully recalled.

A strategic extension of the IT team

Info-Tech’s suite of IT research, tools, templates, and services are underpinned by the expertise of its analysts whose guidance at Curtin made the difference between intention and execution. He also notes that his dedicated executive counselor from Info-Tech provides advice, direction, and momentum at every step.

"Having an Info-Tech Executive Counselor has been invaluable in achieving our outcomes. I see our counselor as a strategic extension of my leadership team and Info-Tech itself an extension of our digital technology solutions here at Curtin,” Scott said.

“Having an Info-Tech Executive Counselor has been invaluable in achieving our outcomes. I see our counselor as a strategic extension of our IT leadership team and Info-Tech itself an extension of our digital technology solutions here at Curtin.”

– Scott Tully, Deputy Director, Office of the CIO, Curtin University

Unlocking measurable results

Ultimately, enhanced IT governance has had a measurable impact, with the university achieving its strongest audit results in years. “The University experiences fewer major findings within its yearly audits, which is freeing up staff to work on other things.”

Curtin also saw significant benefits in their IT Service Management functions after working with Info-Tech analysts to develop a Service Management Roadmap. Developing and implementing enhanced IT Service Management standards and process improvements has enabled consistently improved levels of service in a more efficient manner.

The foundation of a secure digital future

Looking ahead, Scott’s strategic plan now centers on moving the digital roadmap strategy into execution, establishing a solid architecture practice, and addressing challenges such as data and AI – not just as technologies, but as organizational capabilities that require positive, thoughtful leadership.

“We’ll be looking to implement our digital transformation strategy to adopt AI and emerging technologies in a responsible, secure manner, and ensure we have a workforce that can meet the demands of the new digital era,” he concluded.

Jason Cowie, CIO of Curtin University, confirmed, “The value that Curtin has realised from our investment in Info-Tech’s services are not only from Info-Tech’s blueprints, diagnostics, and other tools, but also the hands-on, personalized guidance offered by our Executive Counselor, who is seen as an extension of my team.”

“The value that Curtin has realised from our investment in Info-Tech’s services are not only from Info-Tech’s blueprints, diagnostics and other tools, but also the hands-on, personalized guidance offered by our Executive Counselor, who is seen as an extension of my team.”

– Jason Cowie, CIO, Curtin University