December 22, 2025
A department chair at a mid-sized university spent one hour in late December auditing every technology tool her 30-person academic and administrative team used. What she discovered was staggering.
Faculty were juggling three different course management add-ons that didn't integrate. Staff stored documents in both Google Workspace and SharePoint because half the team refused to switch. Advising notes, research data, and administrative forms were duplicated across spreadsheets, shared drives, and personal folders. Collaboration consisted of endless email chains titled "RE: RE: RE: Final Syllabus ACTUAL FINAL v7."
She calculated that her team was wasting three to four hours per week per person on redundant tasks, switching systems, and hunting for information. Over an academic year, that added up to thousands of lost hours equating to nearly $200,000 in lost productivity when factoring staff salaries.
By January, she had consolidated tools, automated repetitive administrative workflows, and established clear standards for storing and sharing documents. Her team reclaimed hours weekly to focus on research, teaching, and student support. All because she spent one hour asking, "Is our technology helping us or holding us back?"
The Hidden Costs of Inefficiency
Universities and colleges often hide significant inefficiencies in plain sight. Communication happens across multiple platforms, email, Teams, Slack, LMS announcements and important files get lost or duplicated. Staff spend hours manually transferring data between systems, creating unnecessary errors and consuming time that could be better spent on students or research.
Redundant software subscriptions are another silent drain. Many departments continue paying for tools that no one uses or that overlap with other platforms simply because no one has audited them recently. Each month, these costs quietly add up money that could fund professional development, student programs, or research support.
Streamlining Tools and Workflows
A brief, focused review of tools, workflows, and subscriptions can uncover significant savings. By automating repetitive tasks, consolidating platforms for communication and documentation, and eliminating redundant software, departments can recover hundreds of hours of productivity and tens of thousands of dollars annually.
Faculty can focus on teaching and research, administrative staff can manage student data efficiently, and budgets stop bleeding on duplicate software. One simple audit can have immediate and tangible effects on both efficiency and finances.
Turning Efficiency Into Opportunity
The lesson is clear: one hour of assessment can transform how a department operates, freeing time, money, and energy for the work that truly matters. That reclaimed resource can fund faculty travel, research projects, student initiatives, or well-deserved team recognition events.
If your department is ready to uncover the hidden costs in its technology stack, our team can help. We'll audit your tools, pinpoint inefficiencies, and provide a practical plan to reclaim hours and resources without disrupting your day-to-day operations. So book your free discovery call here at (303) 423-4500 or Click Here!
