This session consists of four presentations.
Denise Dittrich, Aachen University, Germany:
New roles – new structures? How collaboration and multi sourcing affects central IT #21
The way how IT services in HEI are provided is under dramatic change. In addition to locally provided services we now see emerging new structures involving collaborative services, community cloud and commercial cloud offering. This development cannot leave local IT unaffected. To the contrary, local IT has to develop to keep its role as a valuable provider to the local users in research, teaching, and administration.
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Anu Turunen, Tampere University, Finland:
Co-creating and validating customer value in Higher Education IT Services using Service Design #84
Value creation and its transformation is one of the organisational elements required for successful digital transformation.
This paper provides an overview of value and value co-creation. It also shows how value creation can be seen in IT services in higher education and how it is part of the service lifecycle at Tampere University. It describes how service design methods have been used to capture customer insight and co-create value, and to validate the value of existing services in a collaborative environment with customers.
The presentation also shows how the method of learning by doing can be used as a tool to increase the organisation’s ability to use the joint sphere for validating and cocreating value in the services and to increase the ability for continuous improvement.
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Janne Teräslahti and Mikko Mäkelä, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland:
Trainees in the First Point of Contact Service — Free Labor or a Service to Society? #26
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences’ IT services has developed a customized organizational model for its customer service operations. This model not only enhances the unit’s efficiency but also enables the systematic provision of work-based learning placements for vocational college students.
The trainee team led by a workplace supervisor is responsible for the First Point of Contact service. The team’s task is to handle the electronic and telephone inquiries from Metropolia’s staff, students, and customers.
How is it possible for trainees to learn their tasks so quickly that they start working effectively from the beginning of their 11-week internship? This rapid learning and adaptation are facilitated by a combination of structured training, supportive supervision, and a well-organized work environment. For example, some key strategies include efficiently facilitated co-operative learning and peer tutoring, a clear process that guides trainees towards learning independent information search and problem-solving, sufficient resources for supervision and a positive attitude towards errors.
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Gatis Pralics, Rīga Stradiņš University, Latvia:
Implementing a Virtual Assistant in Microsoft Teams to enhance employee support at Riga Stradins University: an Azure OpenAI integration #66
This paper address the deployment of a Microsoft Teams based virtual assistant at Riga Stradins University (RSU), powered by Azure OpenAI. Designed to streamline employee access to institutional knowledge, this initiative leverages a comprehensive knowledge base constructed from RSU’s institutional data, including policies, procedures, and FAQs. The integration aims to autonomously address a broad spectrum of employee inquiries, enhancing operational efficiency and user satisfaction.
The virtual assistant’s development was guided by an analysis of employees needs, with Azure OpenAI selected for its integration in existing Microsoft Teams collaboration infrastructure. The solution works with Latvian language processing capabilities. A userfriendly admin portal enables management of the knowledge, feedback analysis from the users and configuration capabilities for non-technical staff, ensuring the assistant’s adaptability and relevance to evolving university information.
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