Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Louisiana College IT: Left in the Dust

The college that I attended for my undergraduate degree, Louisiana College, is a perfect example of a company not willing to adapt to technological changes.  When I arrived there 4 years ago, there was about half the number of students enrolled as when I graduated this past May.  The internet service and reliability was spotty at best then, but it was, for the most part, able to be used when one needed it.  However, as enrollment spiked, the investment in IT did not keep up with the spike.  Therefore, in my last year at LC, I constantly had to leave campus just to get internet service.  Too many people were connected in the network, causing the system to move at a snail's pace.  Also, either the IT workers did not have enough help or were not knowledgeable, as the system often crashed.  This left on-campus students without internet access at all, forcing them to leave campus just to do their online homework.  LC's IT department finally installed a wireless network at the beginning of last year.  The entire campus did not have ONE wireless network before 2009; CRAZY!

All of this shows that even at the college level, management of the business (LC) must forecast what is going to happen in their company, so they can keep their technology processes up to date.  If not, the customers (students) will not enjoy the product (overall experience), making them either unhappy or cause them to even leave the college.  Management must always keep up with changes that will force their IT to be out of date.  Doing so can help to avoid a disaster like the one mentioned here.  Anyone else have horrible problems with IT at their undergrad or previous job?

1 comment:

  1. Colleges and universities should probably be on the forefront of technology. They are essentially breading the next wave of the workforce and the work environment gets more tech-reliant every day. I know LC is a reputable college, but I would probably loose respect for any institution that doesn't keep up with the times.

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