Working Together to Strengthen Institutional Resilience, Efficiency, and Cybersecurity
Higher education reached a quiet breaking point. On private college campuses across Virginia, leaders watched costs climb, cybersecurity threats accelerate, regulations intensify, and expectations for modern digital services outpace what small and mid‑sized institutions could deliver alone. Traditional belt‑tightening had run its course; incremental cuts could not fix systemic pressure. What these institutions needed was not a smaller version of the same approach, but a different way to work together.
The Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV) already knew collaboration could work. Years earlier, its members had launched a shared employee benefits program and a multi‑employer retirement plan, proving that joint solutions could lower risk and deliver value at scale. Building on that confidence, presidents began asking a new question: could the same spirit of collaboration strengthen information technology across their campuses? At the direction of the presidents, CICV President Chris Peace initiated a structured process to find an experienced partner and explore what was possible. Moran Technology Consulting was selected to guide the CICV IT Collaboration Journey.
CFOs and CIOs from participating schools formed an IT Collaboration Steering Committee and committed to act as co‑owners of the work. Early conversations surfaced a pivotal insight: cost avoidance is an outcome, not the north star. Savings would matter, but they could not be the value proposition. The group reframed the goal around capacity and resilience: shared services would expand access to expertise, reduce risk, improve compliance, and strengthen service quality across institutions. With that shift, collaboration moved from a savings exercise to a strategic investment.
These principles kept the initiative grounded while leaving room to grow.
The work began with listening. Moran convened workshops, engaged stakeholders, and surveyed institutional needs. The immediate objective was clarity: understand where collaboration could create the most benefit. The result was a shared picture of priorities and a baseline of trust among leaders who were committing to solve problems together.
With shared priorities in hand, the group constructed the structures that durable collaboration requires. They stood up an IT governance model to clarify decisions. They launched *Building Bridges*, a professional community designed for shared learning and mutual support. They created a common IT service catalog to standardize language and expectations. And they conducted structured cybersecurity assessments—including GLBA reviews and tabletop exercises—to map risks and strengthen controls. None of this was flashy. All of it would last.
Trust and infrastructure in place, the consortium moved from planning to doing. Shared cybersecurity services began to mitigate risk and improve compliance across campuses. Participation in *Building Bridges* grew to more than seventy practitioners each month, signaling cultural change as much as operational progress. Teams continued to explore joint opportunities in purchasing, security, and technology—each initiative another proof point that collaboration could deliver value none of them could realize alone.
To keep momentum without losing clarity, the collaboration adopted a flexible, multi‑layered governance model. An IT Collaboration Steering Committee set direction. A Data & Information Security Collaboration Committee focused on risk and compliance. Purchasing Collaboration Committees and service‑specific working groups engaged practitioners closest to the work. The structure allowed new services to be added without reinventing how decisions were made.
Participating institutions reduced duplication, lowered per‑institution software and service costs, and—most importantly—gained access to specialized expertise they could not build alone.
Shared frameworks, strengthened cybersecurity posture, and consistent documentation made audits more predictable and defenses more robust.
Shared services opened access to specialized staff, reduced burnout for thinly stretched IT teams, and cultivated communities of practice that accelerated learning.
By experimenting together, participating institutions have the potential to adopt new technologies faster and with less risk, piloting services collectively before scaling what worked.
Shared services do not dilute institutional identity—they protect it. By gaining scale and resilience together, colleges can focus scarce resources on the mission‑critical work that defines who they are. The CICV experience shows that with intentional governance, trust‑building, and a phased strategy, collaboration becomes a durable competitive advantage.
The Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV) was founded in 1971 and currently operates as Virginia Private Colleges, a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization representing 28 accredited nonprofit independent colleges and universities in Virginia. https://cicv.org/
Moran Technology Consulting helps higher education leaders navigate complex technology decisions and institutional change. Our expert and trusted vendor-neutral advisors support strategy, planning, and execution across organizations, systems, data, identity, and security with practical sustainable solutions. As an employee-owned firm, Moran has partnered with more than 360 higher education institutions in the U.S., Canada, and beyond for over 20 years. https://morantechnology.com/
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