Strategic Vision in Higher Education

Interview with Martin Bernier, CIO at University of Ottawa on the institutions technology transformation strategy.

Martin Bernier, CIO at University of Ottawa

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How have you aligned the University of Ottawa’s technology transformation strategy with its mission to enhance education, research, and community impact?

At the heart of our digital transformation strategy is a people-first approach— designed to centre the needs, experiences, and aspirations of students, faculty, and the broader university community.

Every technological change we make is driven by the goal of supporting their ambitions and contributing to their success, both in their academic journeys and in their professional lives.

Collaborative and Inclusive Approach

To ensure that our technology aligns with the needs of our community, we take a collaborative, inclusive approach that involves stakeholders at every step:

• Understanding User Needs: We conducted design thinking sessions with students to gain deep insights into their expectations and challenges of using technology and systems at the university. At the same time, we held workshops with university leadership to ensure alignment on digital priorities. Advisory committees, surveys, and regular feedback from professors and researchers helped us refine our strategies to meet the university’s academic and research goals.

• Fostering Community Engagement: We extended our technological impact beyond the campus by integrating technology into outreach programs. By deploying virtual labs and online learning platforms, we were able to ensure continuous learning, even during unprecedented disruptions. This global reach was especially evident during the pandemic when we had to enable access to uOttawa systems for students from over 160 countries, demonstrating the resilience and scalability of our digital infrastructure.

EnhancingEducational Access:

Our digital platforms reinforce the university’s commitment to accessible and inclusive education, providing students with flexible and innovative learning solutions that meet diverse needs.

User-centric Innovation

At the core of every solution, we develop is a user-centric design philosophy, ensuring that the needs of our community are always a top priority. By fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity, our technology transformation strategy not only strengthens the university’s academic mission but also solidifies its position as a leader in education, research, and community engagement.

You’re known for advocating change management.Can you share an example of a bold initiative you've led that resulted in significant organisational impact?

One of the most transformative initiatives I led at the University of Ottawa was a simultaneous technological and cultural transformation within the IT Services department. For the institution, this was a bold, complex undertaking—one that required not only modernizing IT systems but also reshaping the mindset and approach of the entire organization. This shift was guided by a user-centric philosophy, ensuring that every decision aligned with key values and IT architecture principles to better serve faculty, staff, and students.

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Let’s be honest - this wasn’t easy. Change disrupts comfort zones, and resistance is inevitable. However, rather than viewing resistance as a barrier, we treated it as a natural part of the transformation process. My role as a leader was to inspire confidence, foster trust, and help my team see the bigger picture—that together, we could rise to the challenge and create something better.

A key pillar of success was actively engaging and empowering IT employees. We ensured their expertise was not just heard but embedded into every stage of the transformation. Through a structured change management approach, we engaged stakeholders across the university—including professors, administrative staff, and students—to prioritise transparency, training, and collaboration. At the same time, we remained flexible understanding that transformation isn’t about perfection but about progress and adaptability.

Measuring Success: Key Outcomes

Transformations of this scale don’t happen overnight. They require patience, commitment, and a willingness to adjust along the way. Our long-term approach resulted in:

• A Cultural Shift in IT

By fostering a culture of innovation, adaptability, and continuous learning, we empowered IT staff, faculty, and students to confidently embrace new technologies. This shift enhanced digital fluency, collaboration, and problem-solving across the university.

• User-Driven Solutions – Regular feedback sessions and interactive workshops ensured that IT solutions weren’t just technically sound but genuinely useful for the people relying on them. This approach led to more intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly systems.

• Operational Efficiency & Scalability

We modernised core IT systems to support remote work, enhance cross-department collaboration, and improve service delivery, making it easier for the university to scale operations and adapt to evolving needs.

A Lasting Impact

Ultimately, this initiative transformed IT from a back-office function into a strategic partner within the university. By leading with courage, building trust, and fostering collaboration, we laid the foundation for a more agile, resilient, and innovative institution—one where technology is an enabler of progress rather than just a support service.

With your extensive experience in IT leadership across public and private sectors, how do you align the University of Ottawa's technological direction with its academic and research mission?

My approach to align the University of Ottawa’s technological direction with its core mission is through a comprehensive and strategic framework, centered on collaboration, excellence and innovation. The university's mission drives our technology strategy, ensuring that IT initiatives directly support these core pillars while focusing on long-term goals. Our framework includes key components such as innovation, operational efficiency, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, IT governance, and stakeholder engagement and collaboration. These principles guide every technology decision, ensuring that technology is a true enabler of institutional success and growth.

At the University of Ottawa, there are several key initiatives that demonstrate how we align IT with the university’s mission:

• Academic Excellence:

The IT leadership team is on a transformational journey that integrates advanced technologies to enable innovative teaching methods, enhance research capabilities, and elevate the student experience. By creating a robust digital ecosystem, we are laying the foundation to empower faculty, staff, and students with tools that are redefining higher education. Experiential learning plays a crucial role, helping students connect classroom theories to real-world situations. Online collaboration platforms is already being deployed to support faculty and students, and AI-powered assistants are going to be developed, paving the way for a future where education becomes even more immersive, inclusive, and dynamic.

• Operational Efficiency and Cybersecurity:

To support academic excellence, we are prioritising operational efficiency, key to improving satisfaction, reduce costs, and ensure long-term financial sustainability. Cloud-based platforms like an integrated platform for financial management and human resource management play a central role in this transformation, streamlining operations, automating administrative tasks, and enabling data-driven decision-making. Achieving true efficiency requires more than process optimisation; it demands a fundamental shift in how we operate. At the same time, we are strengthening cybersecurity by modernising our Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems, ensuring a secure and resilient digital environment. These efforts not only enhance efficiency but also reinforce institutional resilience in the face of rising cybersecurity risks.

• Community Engagement and Enhanced Service Delivery:

A user-first approach fosters a thriving environment for faculty, staff, and students while enhancing campus service delivery. For example, the implementation of a line queue management solution improves service efficiency by reducing wait times, enabling virtual queues, and providing real-time updates for students.

A core principle driving these initiatives is the critical role of enterprise architecture in ensuring sustainable growth, adaptability, and resilience in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Equally important is fostering strong collaboration between IT and academic departments to align technology initiatives with institutional priorities.A well-structured IT governance framework strategically guides investments, ensuring technology continuously enhances and supports the university’s mission. Ultimately, we prioritize advancements that empower the academic community while fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation, ensuring that technology serves as a true enabler of academic and research excellence.

As a founding ally for uOttawa Women in Innovation and champion of Better and Stronger Allies Together, how do you integrate these principles into your IT strategies and organisational culture?

As a founding ally for uOttawa Women in Innovation and a champion of the Better and Stronger Allies Together initiative, I’ve worked to make diversity and inclusion more than just values - they are the foundation of how we approach IT. Technology isn’t just about systems and infrastructure; it’s about people. Its about building an environment where everyone regardless of background or identify, feels empowered to contribute, grow, and succeed.

To truly drive change, we’ve taken intentional steps to embed these principles into our work. We’ve built diverse teams that reflect the broad range of people we serve, knowing that the best solutions emerge when different perspectives, skills, and experiences come together. Our hiring practices are designed to open doors for underrepresented talent, and we’ve developed mentorship programs, workshops, and leadership initiatives to provide ongoing support and opportunities for growth. When people feel included, valued, and supported, they don’t just do their best work—they innovate, they lead, and they help others rise.

This commitment extends beyond our internal teams. The IT services we provide support a highly diverse university community, and we take a user-first approach to ensure that our technology is accessible, equitable, and designed with the needs of all students, faculty, and staff in mind. By focusing on the human impact of our work, we make sure that technology isn’t a barrier but a tool for empowerment.

Recently, I was honoured to receive the Ally of the Year award from Women in Cloud. While this recognition is personal, I see it as a testament to the collective work of our team in fostering a culture of inclusivity and belonging. This work isn’t about a single award, initiative, or policy—it’s about a long-term commitment to creating an environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, contribute, and lead.

I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made, but there’s always more to do. Inclusion isn’t a one-time effort; it’s an ongoing journey, and I’m excited to continue championing meaningful change—both within our organisation and across the broader tech community.

Leading the University’s Information Governance initiative involves collaborative decision-making. What challenges have you faced in engaging diverse stakeholders, and how have you ensured alignment on IT priorities?

Leading the University’s Information Governance initiative has been both a challenge and an opportunity—bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders, each with their own priorities, expectations, and ways of working. A university operates much like a city, with its many faculties, research centres, administrative units, and student communities, all functioning independently yet interconnected. Just as a city needs thoughtful governance to keep its infrastructure running smoothly, a university requires a strong information governance strategy to foster collaboration, efficiency, and innovation.

One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced is the sheer volume of project proposals from across the university. While this enthusiasm for innovation is exciting, it also highlights the need for a structured process to ensure we’re investing in the right projects at the right time. To manage this, we’ve built a governance framework that prioritises initiatives aligned with the university’s strategic goals, ensuring that resources are used where they can create the greatest impact.

To navigate this complexity, we’ve developed a governance model built on principles of transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration. This model now provides structured channels for decision-making and ensures that every voice is heard. Key strategies include:

• Strategic Project Selection:

We assess projects based on alignment with institutional priorities, available resources, and expected outcomes to ensure a meaningful return on investment.

• Engagement Through Open Dialogue:

Regular workshops and forums create space for stakeholders to voice their needs, align priorities and gain a shared understanding of governance objectives.

• User-Centric Approach:

We put the people who rely on our systems at the centre of decision-making, ensuring that IT priorities are shaped around real-world needs and everyday challenges

By fostering collaboration and strategic prioritization, we strengthened relationships across the university, ensuring that IT initiatives support not just operational needs but also the institutions broader academic, research mission. With a governance model that is structured yet flexible we’re building a foundation that enables innovation while maintaining clarity and accountability.

As CIOs increasingly take on broader responsibilities beyond technology, how do you see your role evolving to address emerging challenges in cybersecurity, data governance, AI and digital transformation in academia?

Over the past 20 years, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has undergone a dramatic shift, and I have evolved with it—leading digital strategies across different sectors and adapting to the ever-changing technology landscape. Today, technology isn’t just a support function; it’s a core driver of institutional success, enhancing student experiences, streamlining operations, and enabling ground-breaking research. CIOs are no longer just technology managers - we strategic leaders, responsible for bridging the gap between digital transformation and the institution’s broader mission. Our focus must be on enabling innovation, ensuring security, and guiding the ethical adoption of emerging technologies.

Yet, the greatest challenge remains the human factor. Cybersecurity measures, data governance policies, and AI applications are only as effective as the people using them. The rapid spread of social media and the overwhelming volume of digital information have introduced new risks – many users adopt platforms like TikTok, DeepSeek or unvetted technologies without fully understanding their security and privacy implications. Faculty, students, and staff may inadvertently expose institutional and personal data, putting themselves and the organization at risk.

This is where strong information management becomes essential. A well-structured governance framework, clear policies, and responsible data stewardship practices, help mitigate risks related to misinformation, information overload, and improper data handling. By ensuring that institutional data is secure, accessible, and properly classified, we reduce vulnerabilities and enable smarter decision-making. My role as the CIO has increasingly been about creating systems and strategies that promote secure, informed engagement with technology – empowering users while safeguarding the institution.

That’s why training, awareness, and ethical technology adoption must be top priorities. In a higher education environment like ours, where users have widely varying levels of technological fluency, this is no small task. But, by embracing a client-centric approach, we ensure our digital initiatives build trust and strengthen institutional resilience. They key isn’t just managing technology – it’s empowering people to use it wisely, securely, and ethically.

In what ways have you incorporated sustainability into the university’s technology transformation initiatives, and what impact has this had?

At the University of Ottawa, sustainability is at the core of our technology transformation strategy. For us it’s about more than just adopting new tools – its about ensuring that our digital evolution is financially sustainable, environmentally responsible, and operationally efficient. Our approach carefully balances innovation with long-term viability, aligning with the university’s broader transformation vision.

Financial Sustainability: Maximizing Impact While Controlling Costs

One of our top priorities is financial sustainability. We take a strategic approach to IT investments, ensuring that every initiative delivers long-term value while remaining cost effective. By embedding Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) considerations into project planning, we make sure technology solutions are not just affordable upfront but remain viable through their lifecycle. This level of financial discipline allows us to maximise the impact of our technology investments while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

A key initiative in this space is Solutions Rationalisation, where we consolidate and optimise our portfolio of software and hardware solutions. By eliminating redundancies, negotiating smarter licensing agreements, and improving system interoperability, we are reducing costs while enhancing the user experience. Another major effort is modernising legacy applications – retiring outdated systems that rely on unsupported servers which pose security, operational, and financial risks. By transitioning to modern infrastructure, we reduce maintenance costs, lower energy consumption and improve overall efficiency.

Environment Sustainability: Reducing our IT Footprint

We are also committed to reducing our environmental impact by minimising reliance on energy-intensive infrastructure. By prioritising cloud solutions and optimising data centre operations, we have significantly lowered energy costs, reduced hardware investments and improved scalability. These efforts not only make financial sense but also align with our commitment to sustainability.

One simple yet impactful example is our paper reduction initiative. Post-COVID, we took proactive steps to cut print volumes by 50%, preventing a return to pre-pandemic printing levels. By promoting digital collaboration tools like SharePoint and reducing the number of campus printers, we have streamlined workflows, reduced waste, and lowered printing-related expenses.

Building a Sustainable Digital Future

By integrating financial, environmental, and operational sustainability into our digital transformation strategy, we are creating a resilient IT ecosystem that supports the university’s long-term growth. Sustainability isn’t a one-time achievement – it’s an ongoing commitment. As we continue optimising costs, modernising systems, and driving strategic efficiencies, we remain focused delivering lasting value for students, faculty, and the broader university community.