Utah State University’s AI-Driven Education Cloud Transformation: A New Template for Higher Ed?
Utah State University (USU) is taking a bold step in higher education’s growing embrace of AI-driven transformation. By implementing Salesforce Education Cloud, USU aims to revolutionize student lifecycle management and push the boundaries of how AI can reshape higher education. However, this journey is not without challenges, as it highlights a strategic tension between traditional approaches and emerging AI-first solutions.
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A Student-Centered Vision
“We want to create a student as a single individual throughout their entire academic career,” says Eric Hawley, Chief Information Officer at USU. He compares this to healthcare’s dream of a complete patient record: in education, the goal is a comprehensive student record. This aspiration is not new; universities have long pursued the idea of fully integrated systems that track and enhance the entire student experience, from recruitment to alumni engagement.
What makes this effort stand out today is the confluence of cloud platforms, evolving AI capabilities, and a willingness to rethink traditional deployment strategies.
Moving Away from Legacy IT Approaches
Perhaps the most striking feature of USU’s strategy is their determination to avoid the pitfalls of conventional enterprise software deployments. “We don’t want to do the traditional Salesforce approach, where you pay for expensive systems integrators to heavily customize the platform,” Hawley explains. Instead, USU is aiming for a “70% baseline, 20% configured” model, significantly reducing custom development and focusing on standardizing processes.
This approach marks a substantial departure from the traditional way universities have approached IT projects, often resulting in customized, inflexible systems that are challenging to maintain or upgrade. Instead, USU is adopting best practices from the commercial sector by utilizing standardized configurations that align closely with the embedded features of Salesforce’s Education Cloud.
AI and the Question of Immediate Value
As ambitious as USU’s long-term plans are, their leadership is pragmatic about the need for immediate AI capabilities. Alongside the Salesforce implementation, USU is exploring what can be termed as “Overlay AI”—solutions that layer AI capabilities on top of existing systems without requiring complete replacements. These solutions, like large language model (LLM) services, allow the university to experiment with AI-powered student interactions and streamline services without waiting for a full Education Cloud rollout.
This hybrid approach—moving towards an integrated platform while simultaneously using overlay AI to deliver value—reflects a growing trend among higher education institutions that want quick wins with AI without committing to full-system overhauls from the start.
The Challenges of AI Pricing Models
While USU is eager to modernize, there’s hesitation around Salesforce’s AI pricing, particularly for Agentforce—a new suite of AI-driven tools designed to enhance administrative workflows and student engagement. “We don’t even know what their billing model is,” says Hawley. “They talk about a certain number of conversations per package, but the specifics are still unclear.”
This uncertainty highlights a broader issue facing AI adoption in enterprise settings—the need for more predictable and value-aligned pricing models. If AI tools are to be treated as “virtual employees,” priced according to their capacity to replace or augment human work, clear and stable pricing is crucial for institutions still figuring out their budgets and financial models in an evolving tech landscape.
Balancing Tradition and Modernization
“Higher education is very traditional,” remarks Rene Eborn, Associate Vice President of Digital Transformation at USU. “We are one of the oldest industries that has largely kept the same processes for a long time. A great example is how we celebrate graduations by wearing medieval clothing—that’s how traditional we are.”
USU’s move towards Salesforce Education Cloud, alongside overlay AI implementations, signals an effort to push against this ingrained conservatism. The Education Cloud aims to support the entire student lifecycle—a unified experience from recruitment to alumni engagement—but its effectiveness will likely depend on how well it supports AI-driven innovation, beyond just traditional administrative automation.
What Can Others Learn from USU’s Approach?
USU’s approach offers valuable lessons for other universities and organizations contemplating a digital transformation:
- Overlay AI and Full Transformation Aren’t Mutually Exclusive: Institutions can leverage overlay AI solutions to deliver immediate value while simultaneously pursuing longer-term platform modernizations. This parallel strategy helps manage risk and demonstrate quick results.
- Reevaluating Traditional IT Deployment Models: The decision to sidestep the conventional systems integrator-heavy model reflects a broader reevaluation of enterprise IT practices, even in a traditionally risk-averse sector like higher education.
- Need for Transparent AI Pricing: Unclear pricing models remain a significant barrier to enterprise adoption of AI. Institutions need predictability in their financial commitments, especially when evaluating tools that are positioned as substitutes for human labor.
Looking to the Future
USU is navigating complex challenges in adopting AI and cloud platforms to reshape their operations. Their approach—layering immediate AI capabilities with an ambitious, cloud-based modernization plan—could serve as a new template for how higher education can navigate the intersection of tradition and technology.
“We’re trying to respond to current students’ needs now by implementing processes and procedures that are going to be AI-driven,” says Eborn. Whether USU succeeds in setting a new precedent for digital transformation in higher education remains to be seen, but their efforts provide a promising model for balancing tradition with technological innovation.
