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JAM 2026: A Different Kind of ERP Conference
Last week, I attended my first Jenzabar Annual Meeting (JAM) in Dallas, Texas. As a relatively new partner to Jenzabar, we saw this event as a chance to better understand the company, its clients, and the direction of the platform. After all, every conference has its own personality, some feel like sales rallies, while others…
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The 2026 IT Strategic Landscape in Higher Education
The trajectory of Higher Education technology has undergone a pivotal transformation over the last three years. In 2024, the sector was defined by post-pandemic stabilization. By 2025, that focus transitioned toward infrastructure maturity, with a heavy emphasis on cloud migration. As we enter 2026, digital transformation has moved from a theoretical future-state goal to a permanent operational reality. Today’s IT leaders are managing…
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Identity and Access Management in HigherEd: A Market in Transition
This month, we rolled out Identity and Access Management (IAM) as a new product group in the ListEdTech database, with support from the team at Unicon. As part of that launch, we analyzed nearly 3,000 IAM implementations across higher education institutions in North America, segmented by enrollment band—and the results highlight a market that is consolidating at the top…
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RFP Trends & Market Priorities – December 2025 Update
What five years of RFP activity tells us about shifting institutional needs in HigherEd and K–12 As this will be our last post of the year, we wanted to take a moment to look back at RFP activity across Higher Education and K–12. Each year, RFP patterns give us an early indication of where institutions…
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AI in Higher Education: Reimagining the Human Connection
Insights from the Instructure Roundtable at EDUCAUSE 2025 At this year’s EDUCAUSE conference, Instructure hosted a roundtable exploring one of higher education’s most pressing questions: I was the moderator of the discussion that brought together leaders from Arizona State University (ASU), Indiana University (IU), Liberty University, Columbia University, and Instructure. Together, we examined how artificial intelligence is influencing pedagogy,…
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Who Are HigherEd’s Tech Leaders?
This year, I’ve been revisiting some of the classic business books: Blue Ocean Shift, Free, The Innovator’s Dilemma, Zero to One, and of course, Crossing the Chasm. That last one really got me thinking about early adopters. In tech markets, they’re the people (or in HigherEd, the institutions) who are comfortable taking risks, trying something new, and shaping the market…
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How Institutions Discover What Tech Their Peers Are Using
In the last few months, I’ve been asking my LinkedIn connections, the following question:“How do you learn what technology your peers at other institutions are using?” Over the last few months, nearly 400 professionals answered this question. Their responses highlight both the creativity and the challenges institutions face when trying to keep up with the…
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IT Priorities for HigherEd Institutions in 2025
The sustainability of IT systems is central to the security and governance of HigherEd institutions. As campuses face increasingly complex operational demands, investment in strategic IT priorities has become imperative. These projects not only protect institutional data but also ensure the seamless operation of academic and administrative processes, providing the infrastructure necessary for collaboration, innovation,…
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North American SIS HigherEd Market Share – January 2025 Update
As the year 2025 just started, it’s the perfect time to revisit the dynamic landscape of the North American Student Information System market. Our last analysis in September 2023 highlighted emerging trends and notable shifts in the SIS HigherEd ecosystem. This update delves into how the market has evolved over the past sixteen months, showcasing key developments.…
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IT Staffing Comparison: Higher Ed and K-12
In today’s educational landscape, the role of IT staff has never been more critical. From supporting research-intensive universities to managing devices in K-12 classrooms, IT teams ensure the technology backbone of institutions runs smoothly. But how do staffing levels differ within higher education or school districts? An IT staffing comparison reveals the factors driving these…
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Unveiling the Power of Business Partnerships in EdTech
In educational technology, the necessity of cultivating strategic business partnerships is undeniable. As classrooms evolve into dynamic digital environments and learners navigate an increasingly interconnected world, the complexities of integrating technology seamlessly into education become apparent. While considering educational technology, we define a business partnership as a collaborative arrangement between companies aimed at advancing innovation…
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Breaking the Mold: A Fresh Perspective on Forecasting Technology Implementation Trends
We all love making predictions. They help us deal with uncertainty, which has undoubtedly come into sharp focus over the past year. The issue with forecasting, however, is that they are often wrong—some spectacularly so. And those involving higher education technology are no exception: just remember those projections about the supposed disruptive power of massive…
