News

NIACC enters contract with Sungard

Morgan Muhlenbruch
Editor

Technology in today’s world is advancing rapidly. How is technology at NIACC advancing?

Dr. Debra Derr, NIACC president, drew a chart explaining how NIACC’s technology has relatively stayed the same over the last several years, while technology elsewhere has improved significantly and surpassed NIACC’s level of technology.

 “Because NIACC is small, the ability for us to have technology is limited,” Derr said. “So we are going to bring in the expertise.”

That expertise is known as SunGard.  The company focuses on strengthening technology at institutions of higher learning, among other places.

The company will make sure that NIACC is using technology to the greatest degree possible and to the best interest of students and faculty. 

According to Derr, the college has been waiting for the state to give it money so it can make improvements in technology, but it’s not happening. 

So students will start paying a technology fee of $10 per credit starting this spring semester.

“Students may feel as if it (the technology fee) is like a tax,” Derr said.  “I promise that the students will see an immediate return on their investment.”

SunGard currently has employees on campus, and some of their services will be available starting around Thanksgiving. 

One of these services is a 24/7, 365 days a year help desk that will be available to students and staff. 

For example, if a student gets locked out of WebAdvisor today the student would have to call tech support during certain hours, or leave a message for tech support to get back to the student, so the student can log in to WebAdvisor at a later time. 

In the future, if a student gets locked out of WebAdvisor, the student will have a number to call, and within a few rings of the phone someone will pick up and help the student log back in to WebAdvisor immediately.

“SunGard gives us resources that we have been trying to find to accelerate the technology, and gives us services we have been trying to provide,” Mark Greenwood, director of Technology Services, said.

According to Derr, if NIACC is having a problem with its e-mail system and tech support cannot find a solution to a problem on campus, it can call an employee at SunGard who specializes in that area. 

SunGard can then help solve the problem, sometimes within a matter of hours or minutes.

The current staff will not be negatively impacted.  NIACC has limited resources and SunGard gives the college the ability to grow. 

“It’s more like a partnership between employees,” Mike Gunter, interim chief information officer for SunGard, said.  “This way we won’t have to fly in an employee for an hour’s work.”

According to Derr, SunGard has breadth and depth of abilities that will benefit NIACC.

“When I see what the possibilities are to help the students learn, it enriches the experience,” Derr said.