New digital organization is soon a reality

Last November, it was announced in the organization that two new cross-cutting IT units - SDU Digital and SDU IT - would replace IT services in the Central Administration, SFEO at the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences and TEK-IT at the Faculty of Engineering on April 1, 2020.

The framework of the new digital organization is shaping up; both in relation to the employment of Jacob-Steen Madsen, as head of SDU IT and Bue Raun Andersen, as head of SDU Digital, the hiring of the individual department leader and in relation to how the individual employees are placed organizationally.

Digitization Strategy

The whole point of departure for the new digital organization has its roots in the digitization strategy adopted by SDU's Executive Board in December 2018.

-At SDU we see digitalization as a necessity to fulfill our ambitions as a university. With our digitalization strategy; SDU as a digital front-runner, we have set a very ambitious approach at SDU for how digitization can support research, education and administration as well as the overall strategic direction the university should develop in. With the new organization of the digital field we have the best platform in order to be able to fulfill these ambitions. In some areas we perform very well, while in others we have to make an effort. Here, the five benchmarks (see fact box) will both serve as guiding principles for the ongoing development of the digital organization, as well as the way we would like to work with digitalization for and with users across SDU, says Bue Raun Andersen.

Brand new organization

On April 1, all employees are anchored in the two new units; SDU IT and SDU Digital and naturally, a transition period will follow, with the new organization falling into place and where employees and leaders find their legs.

-I would like to emphasize that it is a whole new organization that we will see from April 1 - an organization that works on the five benchmarks, says university director Thomas Buchvald Vind, who is the head of the interim transition management, responsible for the transition to the new digital organization.

-It means that we must be curious about tomorrow's challenges and have the courage to seize and deliver digital answers - this is the means by which SDU can provide research and education of quality and relevance. It requires an up-to-date organization. It is about SDU focusing on using, developing and shaping digital competencies and solutions that create value for employees, students, partners and society.

Principles

Jacob-Steen Madsen, Head of SDU IT, emphasizes that it is important that users do not experience a decrease in accessibility or support during the transition, and therefore there is a great focus on maintaining safe operation.

Therefore, some principles have been formulated which will be adhered to during the transition - principles that will support safe operation and which means that the individual user will not experience a change in relation to support or other assistance when it becomes 1 April.

-When it becomes April 1st, as a user, you have to do as you usually do when you need help with digitalization and IT. At the same time, one must also know that the focus will be even more on supporting the core task that is ours; namely ensuring consistent solutions for users. Instead of reflecting the organizational complexity, our solutions must be based on the user's needs – whether it is students, researchers, employees and collaborators, says Jacob-Steen Madsen.