Grace Farrell
Higher Education Analyst,
Gartner Inc
Monday, May 04, 2026 | 1:00PM–2:00PM ET | Online
Webinar | Spend Smarter: Reinventing IT Value
This webinar is a part of the EDUCAUSE Industry Insights series.
Higher education CIOs and IT leaders are under mounting pressure to reduce costs while simultaneously enabling innovation, modernizing legacy systems, and responding to rapid advancements in AI. Traditional cost-cutting approaches are no longer sufficient and often undermine long-term value. This session reframes strategic cost optimization as a continuous, strategic discipline that balances efficiency with growth. Attendees will explore how to identify hidden cost drivers across legacy, SaaS, and AI-enabled environments, make smarter vendor and platform decisions, and avoid unintended lock-in and AI Cost Creep. Utilizing both presentation time and a moderated Q&A, the session will introduce practical frameworks for reallocating spending toward higher-value initiatives while maintaining operational resilience.
Please note: This webinar will not be recorded.
Learning Outcomes:
- Identify hidden cost drivers across legacy, SaaS, and AI environments.
- Apply a value-first framework to rebalance, run, grow, and transform investments.
- Evaluate vendor and platform decisions for long-term cost and flexibility.
- Operationalize continuous cost optimization as an ongoing leadership discipline.
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