Category: Whitepaper

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Equity and Inclusion: Is This “the Moment” for Sustainable Change?

Nearly six decades have passed since the Civil Rights Movement, a bellwether crusade for equal rights that seemed certain to galvanize the long-overdue eradication of racial bias. And yet, right now in 2020, with continuing Black Lives Matter protests across a country still in the throes of a global pandemic, it is apparent that any progress already made toward black equality is vastly overshadowed by the volume of change still needed.

Despite laws in place to prevent overt racial discrimination, biases remain deeply rooted in American society and individual ideologies. The questions are being asked across our institutions and media – What has worked? What hasn’t? What must we do to finally get it right? Read more >

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Platform Business Models – Considerations for Organizational Redesign

Implementing a platform business model, in contrast to a vertically integrated organization, centers on a dynamic platform directed at the customer experience. This has impacts on the entire organization with respect to key functions (such as sales, marketing, communications, IT and analytics) as well as their alignment and governance.

While “digital” is often the reason that organizations consider a platform model, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution nor is it as simple as creating a single unit focused on digital; rather a comprehensive digital strategy is necessary to support the core strategic drivers of the business – and position the organization to respond to business opportunities and build the teams to respond with digital (and other) tools. Questions include: Will the impact of digital be focused on overall IT integration? On systems and software that provide deeper analytics for product development and sales? On marketing and communications? On social media?

Agile companies have more fluid structures in which day-to-day work is organized in smaller teams that cut across business lines and market segments. The old view of “dotted lines” begins to fade as talent and tools are reallocated according to the business need. Digital technologies facilitate a more customized tactical approach to customers as part of a larger strategy. From both IT and marketing/communications perspectives, it’s vital to understand the “whole customer” (the strategy) and what tools (the tactics) are most important to engage them.

Here’s how to design your organization for the customer experience…

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Why “Business Continuity Planning” Has New Urgency for Universities

OVERVIEW

With the advent of increased natural disaster frequency, prevalence of cyber-attacks, and a global pandemic (COVID-19) that has plunged global marketplaces into precarious territory, organizations have more reason than ever to plan for unanticipated threats to their ability to conduct business and keep personnel and assets protected. Colleges and universities are no exception. Not only are enrollment cycles threatened but fundraising – ongoing and major campaigns – immediately began to see their investment portfolios and thus operating cash from endowments slide drastically while anticipated pledge payments started faltering.

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Higher Education 2020: Top Trends Overview

As U.S. higher education starts a new decade, several critical issues are driving decision making at most colleges and universities. And, as we wrote four years ago in our white paper, Public Higher Education 2016: Overview of Top Issues, colleges and universities continue to try to solve these issues one institution at a time. A promising outcome is that this pressure is forcing administrative and academic leadership to focus on priorities and differentiation, but the progress and payoffs are mixed and there is no clear path forward in terms of “one size fits all.” The following are the top trends The Napa Group believes will greatly influence higher education in 2020 and beyond.

Six big issues and their impacts on higher ed are described here…

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The Integrated Advancement Organization – Getting Ready for the Next Phase of Change

The modern higher education “advancement organization” has been evolving since the 1970s as development, alumni relations and communications have become increasingly integrated, yet in widely varying structures with no clear “one size fits all.” The trend toward “engagement” over the past decade linked these “three legs of the advancement stool” more closely and operationally. Besides adapting lessons from business and customer relationship management, institutions have sought to engage alumni on a journey from loyalty to commitment to contribution to generate the sustained financial support increasingly vital to the health of colleges and universities. Read more >

Being Different

Risk Assessment: An Emerging Imperative in Higher Education Strategic Plans

“Risk assessment and compliance” have typically governed strategic plans for businesses but, until recently, the concepts have not permeated strategic planning processes for colleges and universities. Broadened from the traditional association with internal audit finance and operations, enterprise risk management (ERM) offers a more precise lens for higher education executives and boards of trustees to analyze “strategic risk” as they develop long-term institutional visions and goals. Read more >

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Advancing Institutional Strategy: Transforming Strategic Communications in Higher Ed

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University and college presidents and CEOs face an array of disruptive forces today as technologies, markets and customer expectations rapidly change. The institutions that are poised to thrive in uncertain times are shaking up administrative and educational models to be more relevant, differentiated and competitive. Declines in numbers of traditional students, growing numbers of prospective adult learners, competing priorities and stakeholder groups, globalization and growing dependence on private support are among the challenges of leading complex higher education institutions today. They demand enterprise-wide, market-responsive strategic solutions, reimagined academic and co-curricular programs and often organizational redesign of systems and structures. Read more >

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Trends in Alumni Relations

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At a time of major change for alumni associations, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and there are numerous legacy issues related to traditional approaches practiced over decades. Yet in this context, alumni associations are rethinking and, in some cases, radically changing, their longstanding models for programs and services, organizational structures and relationships with their colleges and universities. Alumni needs, interests and approaches to their alma mater’s relevance to their lives are changing; at the same time, institutions are more strategically embracing the opportunities and benefits of alumni relations to engage their largest and most enduring constituency. Read more >

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AI: The Present & Future of Business & Organizational Life

There is no doubt artificial intelligence (A.I.) is playing a greater role in business in a variety of sectors than ever before. “[A.I.] is not the future of the workplace, it is the present and happening now,” according to Forbes. A.I. investment also continues to grow: worldwide revenues for cognitive and A.I. systems will reach $12.5 billion in 2017 – an increase of 59.3 percent over 2016 – to more than $46 billion by 2020, predicts research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). Fifty-four percent of the business and IT executives responding to a recent PwC Digital IQ survey said their companies are making substantial A.I. investments today, with that number increasing to 63 percent in three years. Read more >

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Public Higher Education 2016: Overview of Top Issues

Most Agree That Education Is More Valuable Than Ever, But Dynamic Change Continues to Bring Complex Challenges

Higher education is in the spotlight this year, thanks to the presidential election’s focus on cost and affordability, and if there is one issue that thought leaders and educators can agree on, it’s the need for new thinking – especially with respect to financial and operating models. In surveys, discussion papers and reports, the complex topic of financing higher education remains central and influential in other issues from shared governance to new models of learning to data-informed decisions at all levels. Read more >