Experts Never Stop Learning: SIG’s Inaugural Spark Day

Growth happens when you make space for it. That’s the idea behind Spark Days, SIG’s internal learning half-days designed to bring the whole team together to sharpen our skills and deepen our knowledge. The goal: to use said skills and knowledge to better serve our clients.

In that same spirit of sharing knowledge, we’re offering a brief recap of our main sessions from the inaugural Spark Day that took place on June 12, 2026. We hope you’ll find something that ignites a new idea or a fresh approach to solving a problem.

The Future of Higher Ed and Ed Tech

SIG CEO Ellen Daley hosted a fireside chat with Laura Ipsen, President and CEO of Ellucian, that covered everything from trends in higher ed tech to the complex financial challenges facing university presidents.

Fresh off a meeting with over 50 college presidents, Ipsen shared some of the technology-related issues keeping university leaders up at night, primarily the “fear of being left behind” in an era increasingly defined by AI and the move to the cloud.

“In order for AI to be successful at colleges and universities, it has to be tied to strategy,” Ipsen said. “You have to look at AI as a change in your enterprise model, the governance of what you do, and the way you work — and create a more integrated plan because AI and agents alone as one-off solutions for isolated challenges won’t change outcomes for higher ed institutions.”

Florida Polytechnic University on Their SIG-Assisted Journey to Ellucian Banner SaaS

We welcomed long-time client Florida Polytechnic University to share what they’ve learned over the course of their SIG-assisted journey to Ellucian Banner SaaS. Laura Marrone, Director of Enterprise Solutions, and Erin Wenham, Director of DevOps at Florida Polytechnic, highlighted the importance of business process mapping, data cleanliness, and institutional buy-in. 

Florida Polytechnic was founded in 2012 and welcomed its first class of approximately 500 students in 2014. “We weren’t focused on what technology was best suited for our needs,” Marrone said. “We were more interested in getting butts in seats.”

In the rush to increase enrollment, Florida Poly implemented a small “off the shelf” Student Information System, failed to think through business and decision-making processes, and over-customized their existing system. In 2022, they chose to “blow it all up” and partner with SIG to implement Ellucian Banner.

The results have been phenomenal. Just three months into SaaS at the time of their presentation, Florida Polytechnic has:

• Successfully mapped and documented 100% of their business processes, ensuring clarity and alignment across all departments.
• Retired more than 100 customizations
• Reduced infrastructure and licensing costs by 40%
• Achieved 98% and 99.9% successful data load rate from their legacy system to test and production environments across all module areas.
• Saved six weeks of implementation time as a result of data cleanliness
• Finished their Migration to SaaS project almost a half million dollars under budget

To top it off, Florida Polytechnic earned the 2026 Ellucian Impact Award in the Students First category, reducing login barriers by 85%, increasing mobile usage by 70%, and helping save their students up to two hours per week.   

Leading Change When You’re Not in Charge

Aimee Hosemann, Ph.D., Practice Director for Institutional Strategy & Research, and Rosa Arroyo-Driggers, Director for Enrollment & Student Success Strategy at SIG, shared components of our firm’s distinctive approach to Organizational Change Management, including six strategies for influencing behavior without authority:

1. Build credibility first.
2. Understand the context before pushing for change.
3. Build coalitions with the persuadable.
4. Frame the challenge effectively.
5. Make strategic attempts to move forward.
6. Play the long game.

Using a practical scenario as the guide for the conversation, Hosemann and Arroyo Driggers shared poignant and applicable advice for anyone attempting to empower others to change, including the line: “People don’t resist change. They resist loss. Diagnose the loss before you prescribe the change.”

AI Foundations for Higher-Ed Consulting

Peter Layton, Head of AI and Innovation, offered strategies for consultants across all SIG practices to make AI work for them in ways that are effective, safe, and efficient, focusing on the 4 Ds of AI Fluency:

1. Delegation — Deciding what tasks to hand off to AI  
2. Description — Telling AI clearly what good looks like
3. Discernment — Judging whether the output is actually good
4. Diligence — Checking it before it goes out the door

Layton offered the following definition of discernment that should be hung on the wall of anyone using AI now and in the future: “The skill isn’t getting the summary; it’s reading it critically. Discernment is knowing what good looks like so you can catch the nuance it flattened. AI won’t hear the unspoken thing in the room. You will. Pair them.”

Makarand Kulkami, VP of Integration & Data Intelligence Delivery at SIG, presented the second half of the AI Foundations in Higher Ed Consulting session, laying out a process for harnessing the power of AI — and the importance of human intervention — across internal SIG work processes.

Presenting Yourself to Clients: From Elevator Pitch to Effective Conversations

Adam Travis, Director of SaaS Strategy and Enterprise Solutions, drew on his extensive consulting experience to help his colleagues at SIG be more effective at articulating their expertise, being situationally aware, and identifying client needs in meetings.

From recasting the personal introduction as an opportunity to start meaningful conversations to the importance of preparation and reflection before a meeting, Travis offered tactical advice that can be applied to a wide range of business contexts.

Travis offered what he considered his most profound piece of advice — and one that he admitted he still needs to remind himself to adhere to from time to time: “The less I say, the more effective I am.”

It was not a plea to withhold advice or expertise. It was a call to give space for clients to articulate their challenges. To listen deeply. To ensure that, regardless of the size or significance of a meeting, clients feel heard.