At the forefront of recognizing technological innovation and its profound impact on businesses, Ventana Research recently unveiled the winners of its 16th Annual Digital Leadership Awards. This prestigious accolade pays tribute to individuals and companies that have harnessed technology to drive growth, optimize readiness, and bolster their potential within their respective industries.
What is Ventana Research?
Ventana Research is a well-established market research and advisory services firm specializing in business technology. Renowned for its commitment to assisting organizations improve and innovate through research-based insights, Ventana Research plays a pivotal role in shedding light on the latest trends, best practices, and opportunities within the tech-driven landscape. Their expertise extends to various domains, from analytics and finance to human capital management and operations.
Understanding the Ventana Research Awards
The Ventana Research Digital Leadership Awards are a celebration of innovation, technology, and leadership. They spotlight those who have leveraged digital tools and solutions to transform their organizations and foster excellence in various aspects of business operations.
Evaluation and criteria
The Ventana Research Awards stand out for their rigorous evaluation process. Judges meticulously examine case studies and submissions to assess the nominated organizations and individuals in 10 categories.
Key criteria for the Data category include:
1. Leadership and Outcomes
Judges gauge the leadership demonstrated by individuals in deploying data and related technologies to achieve business objectives. This includes assessing the effectiveness of their strategies and the impact they have on the organization.
2. Best Practices
Ventana Research considers the best practices employed in adopting technology solutions. This examination delves into the methods, approaches, and innovative techniques that nominees have utilized (such as SnapLogic’s Intelligent Integration Platform).
3. Business Impact and Value
Central to the evaluation process is the determination of the tangible business impact and value created through the application of technology. Judges look for quantifiable results and measurable advancements in areas like efficiency, competitiveness, and profitability.
Why Skidmore College & SnapLogic won
Skidmore College, under the exemplary leadership of Paul Coleman, Assistant Director of Architecture and Integration, Enterprise Systems and Tony Kowalick, Assistant Director of Application Development, Enterprise Systems, has secured the coveted Data Category Award from Ventana Research. The accolade recognizes their outstanding achievements in data and related technologies, cementing their role as pioneers in data and information management.
The challenge: modernizing outdated systems
Skidmore College was faced with a substantial challenge – their critical systems were running on aging servers and on-premises software. This infrastructure not only incurred high maintenance costs but was also becoming increasingly unwieldy.
The legacy systems they relied on had integrations that were notoriously complex, lacked proper documentation for troubleshooting, and demanded expertise that was challenging to source for modernization. The overall student experience could be improved through modernization of the underlying data technologies used.
In essence, Skidmore College needed a transformative solution to escape the clutches of outdated technology and improve data management.
The solution: an intelligent, centralized integration platform
Skidmore College found its solution in SnapLogic’s Intelligent Integration Platform, a versatile and powerful tool that offered the best of both worlds. It seamlessly balanced ease of use with the capability to tackle intricate integrations, especially with Oracle Cloud.
SnapLogic emerged as the linchpin in connecting all of Skidmore’s systems of record and downstream processes to their on-premise custom IDM database (a custom-built, on-premise database named IDM that functions as a profile management system between their primary systems of record and downstream systems).
One of the most remarkable features of SnapLogic was its ability to replace manual data entry and processing with automated operations. The platform excelled at extracting, transforming, and loading data from diverse sources, ushering in a new era of real-time data availability and drastically reducing manual errors.
The impact: a data management renaissance and a seamless student experience
Skidmore College underwent a data management renaissance. Outdated and cumbersome systems were transformed into efficient and responsive entities.
Skidmore was able to streamline student management processes. Skidmore College’s focus on integrating data for student admissions, enrollment, tuition payments and IDs highlighted its commitment to streamlining critical student processes. By centralizing this data using SnapLogic, it aimed to improve efficiency, enhance accuracy and provide seamless experiences.
Paul Coleman and Tony Kowalick’s visionary leadership, coupled with SnapLogic’s powerful integration capabilities, not only resolved Skidmore College’s technology challenges but also secured them a well-deserved accolade from Ventana Research. Their journey from an infrastructure in need of revitalization to a modern, data-driven institution exemplifies the very essence of the Data Category Award.
Skidmore College’s success story serves as an inspiration to educational institutions and corporate organizations alike. Showing that with the right technology and committed leadership, any challenge can be turned into an opportunity for growth and innovation.
If you want to learn about how Skidmore achieved data migration and improved student experience success, book a demo today.
