Digital Transformation for Research Excellence: Lessons from the Field

Cayuse recently hosted a webinar featuring research administrative experts, Dr. J Brendan Begarly, AVP Research Administration and Strategy, and Zolicia R Abotsi, MBA, CRA, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs and Research, from City University of New York (CUNY) to discuss their experiences with using research administration software to expand research potential.

If you get a chance to watch the full recording, you can access it here. For a quick recap, check out our blog post below!

Moving your research administration forward

Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed when introducing a new tool to your team? How about introducing a new research suite plus new processes to an entire research enterprise across 26 distinct campuses, as was the case for Brandon and Zolicia?

If evaluating and implementing new technology makes you feel overwhelmed, you are not alone! Brandon and Zolicia’s three year journey moving their research enterprise from manual systems to a digital platform didn’t seem easy at first, but proved entirely worthwhile when comparing where they started to the improved processes in place after the final implementation.

Finding the motivation for a big leap

When you facilitate research across a university system as large as CUNY, things can easily feel disconnected. In the past, everyone working in research within the CUNY system operated independently to varying degrees. However, as CUNY’s research projects grew in complexity and scope, leadership realized they could no longer rely on disparate systems. They desperately needed a cohesive way to handle pre-award tasks and track compliance across all 26 campuses and their various departments.

At the same time, faculty members were starting to feel frustrated with confusing administrative timelines. To help make the case to leadership for a new management system, the research administrators at CUNY raised these daily faculty frustrations as real, tangible pain points that were getting in the way of achieving optimal research success, emphasizing that a connected research administrative suite could help resolve these issues by enabling transparent project oversight and data management.

The surprising emotional side of technology 

It can be common to think of a software update as a simple logistical task. Time-consiming manual work? Technology can reduce it: just buy the tool and start using it. However, it’s definitely not that easy; encouraging team adoption, providing training, and helping faculty adapt to new processes are all important factors to consider. 

Team members often find a strong sense of ownership and worth around the workflows they created for legacy processes. When another team or leadership brings in something new, there may be some initial hesitation to modify or replace the results of their hard work. 

Brandon noted that institutions often fail at change management because they roll out a system in a vacuum without listening to the people actually using it. Remember, they already have a comfort with their own systems in place, and while they may be open to change and even excited for it, it’s important to keep them along on the journey of change, so they feel a part of the solution and heard. 

A successful implementation requires an empathetic leader who clearly communicates the vision and the neccessary criteria of the new system. The leader must understand how the change impacts everyone involved and always listen to feedback along the way with the intention to learn.

Redefining what success really looks like

So how do you actually know if your new technology solution is working? During our webinar, we asked the audience how they define success; they voted that better data quality and compliance were some of the biggest markers of success. Zolicia spoke to her experience at CUNY, echoing the need for data quality but also offered a bit more human perspective on the topic.

For her, simply turning the system on is just the beginning of the journey. True success happens when a faculty member comes to your office with the recognition that the new process was actually easier than they expected, especially when that person becomes a champion for the new process! In her mind, success is really about removing the anxiety around administrative tasks so researchers can focus on their actual research without worrying about paperwork and manual administrative tasks. 

Looking ahead to the connected future

When we asked the CUNY team about how they envision the next big technology shift for research administration, our speakers completely agreed that the research world is moving beyond single software solutions. The future of our industry is all about creating true cohesion among each group touching the research lifecycle. Instead of jumping between disconnected programs, the overarching goal is to use smart technology and AI to bring everything together.

At the end of the day, research administration will always need a friendly, human touch to align teams and keep the research enterprise aligned, but technology and digital tools are here to help us manage manual work and administrative burden. With features for streamlining workflows and providing more transparency for better collaboration, connected software like the Cayuse Research Suite can help teams achieve their goals for research success.

Thank you to our panelists, Brandon and Zolicia, for a great discussion as well as to Cayuse Sr. Solutions Consultant, Matthew Kingore for leading the discussion!