AI Summary

Higher education has moved its entire academic operation onto a few large SaaS platforms. The learning management system handles instruction, grading and communication; the student information system manages enrollment, records and financial aid; identity and productivity tools reside with a small number of cloud providers. These services are core operational infrastructure, not peripheral tools. IT staff must manage platforms they do not own, cannot restore, and cannot directly control, making contingency planning essential. When a platform fails, IT must keep academic operations running during the vendor’s SLA‑defined response window.

AI summaries can be wrong sometimes—always verify important details using the source article.