American University in Cairo Moves to Ellucian Cloud

Private, research university moves Banner to the cloud to drive innovation and digital transformation

RESTON, Va.-- (BUSINESS WIRE/AETOSWire)-- Ellucian, the leading provider of software and services built to power higher education, today announced that the American University in Cairo (AUC), an Ellucian customer since 1995, has decided to move its Ellucian Banner student information systems (SIS) to the cloud. Moving its SIS to the cloud is the first step in AUC’s larger mission to drive innovation for student success.

As AUC embarks on an ambitious strategy to digitally transform the university experience, it will focus on three main goals: real-time access to services and information from digital touchpoints, open yet secure data, and innovation beyond the campus. The basis of this transformation is cloud technology and will require AUC to move all IT systems to the cloud.

“AUC is on a continuous journey to enhance its student experience by adopting state of the art transformative technologies that will support and enable students in all facets of their study at AUC. We also needed to follow a technology framework that would allow us to maintain and excel in our services, and ensure compliance and security while maintaining agility and flexibility necessary for today’s organization,” said American University in Cairo Associate Vice President for Digital Innovation and Chief Strategy Officer, Iman Megahed. “This simply meant adopting a robust cloud strategy and maintaining strategic partnerships that would value our student’s needs and support our institution’s priorities.”

Choosing Banner Cloud gives AUC a springboard to move other technology to the cloud and enables the integration of solutions across all departments. Banner cloud allows AUC to easily access the most current application releases and provide the most modern, mobile user experience to students and faculty alike.

“All aspects of this project have been closely evaluated and we knew it would be a lot of work – but only initially,” said American University in Cairo Project Manager Shereen Gamal. “Moving to the cloud was our best option for relief from the ongoing overhead of system maintenance, troubleshooting and upgrades. Everything on the cloud is managed by the vendor, hence we know that we will always receive the best quality of service.”

“Cloud is the new era for technology. We are very excited about the agility that the cloud experience will offer us,” said American University of Cairo Director, Technology Solutions Nouran Maher. “No more downtime and no more running out of resources during peak times. We will be able to deliver what we promise to our students––a reliable, robust and innovative system.”

“We are excited to partner with AUC as they move to the cloud and embark on their student-focused digital transformation,” said Ellucian President and CEO Laura Ipsen. “AUC is dedicated to leading the way on global trends, not just to attract students in today’s market, but also to ensure they are using the latest technology as they innovate for tomorrow.”