IT projects often involve facilities, for example the upgrade of a computer lab or the installation of a new video conference solution in a board room may require careful coordination with vendors and institutional contacts to coordinate new furniture, paint, electrical lines, or removing or adding walls. Over the years I have noticed some distributed IT groups are asked to help out with a greater number of facilities projects and issues given their experience – sometimes coordinating projects even when there is no official IT component. I was curious to see if this was becoming a trend in business school IT groups.

Thanks to the Technology in Business School roundtable, I had the opportunity to survey a number of AACSB accredited business schools. I asked:

“Does the management of your building and its facilities officially fall under the IT jurisdiction in your business college?”

17 AACSB accredited schools responded. Here is what I found:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found that 12% of responding schools indicated they were considering combining their IT and facilities groups, while no school indicated they were thinking about separating the two groups. 29% of the schools had already combined IT and facilities. While the majority (59%) still had separate shops, many of them indicated IT and facilities groups worked closely together on a regular basis.

Given that no schools reported considering separating the groups, and 12% of schools reported plans to combine them, I think it is clear that there is a trend to combine IT and facilities management in business schools. Furthermore, when I followed up with those business schools that had recently joined the groups, many had done so due to new building projects.

(Backdated post)