Case Study: Yale University achieves a culture of innovation and streamlined IT operations with IdeaScale

Yale Innovation for Information Technology Best Moderation Strategy

Yale University’s Information Technology Services (ITS), a 450‑person organization, set out to build a culture of innovation under CIO Len Peters by creating a “think box” for ideas. The challenge was to capture, triage and implement useful suggestions across a large, distributed department while engaging staff and improving IT services; a fall 2013 pilot with about 150 Student Technology Collaborative members ran a two‑week sprint to test the approach.

Yale adopted IdeaScale with a tailored, two‑phase moderation process (intake/triage and execution) and defined roles—Users, Champions, Leadership, Idea Owners and an Alignment Team—to share workload and close feedback loops. The result: dozens of ideas processed in the pilot with several implemented, leading to streamlined operations, tangible service improvements, greater staff empowerment and better recruitment and retention through a more creative workplace.

Yale University

Len Peters

CIO