This past fall, Cybera ran a survey and a series of focus groups with our member community in an effort to better understand the current needs and priorities of Alberta’s public and education institutions. Our larger goal was to seek insight into how we should be directing Cybera’s next three-year roadmap, but we also learned a great deal about the common issues and concerns that the technology leaders within this community are tackling on a day-to-day basis.
What did we find out?
Not surprisingly, cybersecurity continues to be the top priority for leaders — both now and in the future — with 88% of respondents listing it as their number one concern. In 2021, 76% of our respondents put it as their top priority, while in 2019, 70% listed it as number one — thus showing the growing impact of cyber threats on our sector.
Finding cost efficiencies has also remained consistent as the number two priority for our community.
Ensuring network connectivity and expansion is also a priority for members, with 43% marking it as a topic on their radar. But only a third of respondents’ listed connectivity as one of their future priorities. Looking ahead to the next few years, organizations anticipate that other issues will overtake the network as an area they will need to focus on. This is perhaps not surprising, as network technologies continue to expand and improve and K-12 and post-secondary institutions — at least in the more urban areas — consistently have the means to keep up with staff and student bandwidth demands.
Ranking of current digital infrastructure priorities:
Ranking of future digital infrastructure priorities:
Data governance and management is a growing area of concern, particularly as more institutions a) Face external agents seeking to access data related to research IP, financials, or individuals’ private information, and b) Realize the benefits of having data on all facets of their organization to analyze for better efficiencies or other improvements.
Questions of where and how to store data (on premise or in the cloud) are also growing in complexity — particularly when you add in the growing calls for data sovereignty.
Coming together in times of uncertainty
In November 2024, when this external research was conducted, the education space in particular was already facing major funding challenges due to reduced government spending and foreign student enrollment caps. Concerns about how to maintain future operations were strong. The geopolitical challenges that have emerged since then have certainly not helped.
A core pillar for Cybera over the last few years has been collaboration, and we have seen the value of our knowledge and resource sharing services grow exponentially. Our community is facing an unprecedented number of cyber, geopolitical and financial threats, but if we work together with shared resources, we will put ourselves in the best possible position to overcome these challenges.
This key theme became apparent through our survey and focus groups, as well as the day-to-day conversations Cybera staff have with our members. It has also been highlighted in conversations we have had with our sister research and education networks, both in Canada and abroad.
How will this translate in Cybera’s next roadmap and our actions over the coming year? Our community can expect to see more facilitated knowledge-sharing sessions and one-on-one interactions between technology experts. We also hope to increase opportunities for sharing services across Canada and the world — utilizing technologies that have been specifically built by, and for our, unique research, education, and public sectors.
We will also look to increase advocacy efforts that are focused on the collective needs of our community, including support for digital infrastructure and skills development.
For a more in-depth recap of Cybera’s actions to-date and going forward, read our President and CEO Barb Carra’s recent blog post, which highlights key initiatives we are working on.