For more than two decades Stellenbosch University, through the IT Division, has subscribed to Gartner’s IT research and advisory service. Since 2004 Gartner’s research notes have also been accessible to all university staff and students by simply logging on, using your SU credentials (email address and password), at www.sun.ac.za/gartner.
For the IT Division and other institutional ICT partners, this service has proved to be invaluable. SU’s service, Core IT Research Reference for Higher Education, is an offering designed to meet the needs of students, faculty, staff, and technology professionals at SU. It provides unequalled access to real-world, practical research and advice about IT trends, markets, vendors, systems and technologies, best practices, leadership, tender processes, mapping technologies to university models, etc. conducted by Gartner’s 15000+ staff worldwide, who have unequalled access to IT vendors, leaders and enterprise clients. Gartner also has a knowledgeable set of analysts, with experience in academic and professional positions in higher education, who focus on the application of ICTs to, and digitalisation of, higher education.
The Business School and Department of Information Science’s faculty and students have used the service to varying degrees over the years, the IT Division would like to invite more academics, students and professionals to engage with the service, given the emphasis on digitalisation of the university and its growing dependence on information systems and software solutions.
Gartner is not just for techies; it serves leaders and professionals across all functions. It is a great way to become more “IT literate” and helps to establish a common language between laypeople and IT professionals through a rigorous glossary and taxonomy.
So, feel free to access the service at any time (no costs are involved), simply by:
- Logging on, using your SU credentials, at www.sun.ac.za/gartner,
OR
- by navigating to the Library and Information Service’s e-database section at http://library.sun.ac.za/en-za/Search/Pages/E-databases.aspx, and searching for “gartner”.
[ARTICLE BY RALPH PINA]
