Kentucky’s community college system may have just opened a new chapter on IT innovation thanks to its latest AI-powered networking platform.
The Kentucky Community and Technical College System used to dedicate considerable manpower to monitoring users’ online connection across 90 campuses. While maintaining a seamless digital experience is vital for student engagement and even retention, it’s often taxing for an IT team to troubleshoot connectivity issues on a wireless network.
“It can be like finding a needle in the haystack to find out what the specific trouble is,” says Kenneth Burdine, deputy chief information officer of KCTCS. “Without a system that can capture the issue in real-time, our technicians are often working off of the same information as the user.”
In January, the college system installed a new platform that independently tracks network connectivity and adjusts power to ensure every device maintains a strong signal to school Wi-Fi. This innovative process, known as “self-healing,” has helped reduce IT tickets by 99% within 45 days, Burdine says.
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The platform, Juniper Mist, has also boosted the system’s cybersecurity capabilities. IT staff who suspect a device to contain malware can now pinpoint where the threat occurred and the device’s proximity to the nearest access point, which connects users to the community’s broader wireless network.
This capability provides Burdine and his team a crucial, time-sensitive lead in isolating the device and cleaning it before putting it back online.
“A lot of people are afraid that AI is going to take jobs, but for us, it really has just increased our productivity,” Burdine says. “We’re not fighting to troubleshoot systems that don’t have the capability that AI does.”
Kentucky’s IT team may even become more efficient in onboarding new staff, a welcome solution for a unit facing increasing burnout and turnover. Juniper’s AI can create a layout of the system network, allowing entry-level staffers and student workers with limited security access to simulate different troubleshooting scenarios. Burdine says this can reduce staff training from two years to just eight weeks.
CBTS, a technology solutions provider, helped with the transition to Juniper. A 20-year partner with the community college system, CBTS installed over 3,000 access points in a fraction of the time, boosting Kentucky’s return on investment on the new network platform by over 90%.
With device troubleshooting, staff onboarding and even some cybersecurity issues taken care of, the Kentucky community college system can proactively address a host of emerging technological needs beyond the traditional scope of IT.
“We work on campus security measures, like camera systems and automatic locks and energy management,” Burdine says. “We have a lot more opportunities now to be more customer service oriented.”
