AI is unlocking a new era of intelligent ERP—helping colleges anticipate needs, streamline operations, and support students with greater precision than ever before.
GUEST COLUMN | by Tirumala Rao Chimpiri
TSALASA PUTRA
In 2025, nearly every conversation in higher-education technology circles back to the same question: What can AI really do for us?
For those of us who live and breathe enterprise systems, that question hits close to home. Every payroll run, enrollment batch, and financial reconciliation flows through ERP’s digital core. Now, those systems are starting to think for themselves, and higher education is beginning to notice.
A recent Ellucian survey found that 93% of higher-ed professionals expect to expand their AI use for work over the next two years. “AI is a game-changer for higher education – it will help institutions operate more efficiently and provide personalized support for learners across their educational journey,” said Laura Ipsen, President and CEO of Ellucian.
When the System Starts to Think
ERP platforms like Oracle PeopleSoft have quietly powered universities for decades. They’ve been the backbone, reliable, and essential. But expectations have shifted fast.
Students want consumer-grade digital experiences. Faculty want less data entry and more decision support. Administrators are expected to do more with fewer hands. In that environment, “intelligent ERP” isn’t a luxury, but it’s survival.
A Gartner report warns that more than 70% of recently implemented ERP initiatives fail to meet their original business goals, often because they stop at automation instead of transformation.
‘Process efficiency alone won’t get us there, because institutions need systems that learn.’
The message is clear: process efficiency alone won’t get us there. Institutions need systems that learn. And that shift is already underway.
An EDUCAUSE QuickPoll found that “83% of higher-education professionals believe generative AI will profoundly change higher education in the next three to five years, and 65% believe its benefits outweigh the drawbacks”.
Blueprint for an Intelligent Campus
Across higher education, ERP conversations are shifting from Can the system handle this? to What can the system teach us?
Here’s what happens when AI and ERP start working together:
Student success teams now rely on insights from PeopleSoft to stay ahead of problems. By looking at attendance patterns, advising notes, and academic history, they can tell when a student might need extra support. It is really about paying attention sooner.
Workforce planning grows stronger when HR can see risks early. Turnover patterns and skill gaps stand out quickly. Teams can hire sooner or shape training before problems spread.
Financial work becomes steadier with better insight. Simple models flag odd spending or drifting budgets. Leaders catch issues early and avoid year-end surprises.
And on the service front, self-service tools now take care of routine payroll or registration questions by freeing staff to focus on real problem-solving.
It’s Still About People
Technology headlines love innovation, but every success story in ERP modernization starts with people. AI can process data; only humans can understand context.
As the World Economic Forum observed, “Automation and augmentation of routine or repetitive tasks will free staff and educators to focus on creative, high-impact work, the human side of transformation.”
‘Automation and augmentation of routine or repetitive tasks will free staff and educators to focus on creative, high-impact work, the human side of transformation.’
That’s exactly the point: the most successful ERP-AI initiatives don’t replace people; they reimagine their roles, allowing talent to focus on insight, service, and innovation.
Why Trust Is the Hardest Tech Problem
AI brings both innovation and risk. Data ownership, bias, and transparency aren’t policy questions anymore, but they’re part of everyday system design.
The recent EDUCAUSE AI Landscape Study calls on universities to build responsible-AI practices. It stresses clear governance, cross-functional oversight, and continuous review. These pieces help campuses shape tools that truly support learning.
And according to the Ellucian survey, 49% of higher-ed professionals expressed concern about bias in AI models and 59% identified data-privacy risks.
In PeopleSoft ERP-driven environments, this means designing with ethics in mind, from how data is sourced and models are trained, to how insights reach end users. Governance isn’t a policy binder; it’s an active discipline.
Still, trust is the hardest technology problem of all, and the most important one to solve.
Lessons for ERP Leaders
For higher-ed CIOs, ERP directors, and technology leaders, three priorities stand out:
1. Get your data house in order.
Clean, well-structured, “AI-ready” data determines whether predictive insights succeed. According to TDWI survey , 80% of organizations believe their data is ready for AI, yet over half still face quality challenges.
2. Start where the pain is real.
Initially, you should focus on the use cases that are clear to everyone and big impact like student retention, budgeting, HR bottlenecks. When people see even small improvements, they start believing in what the technology can do.
3. Build governance as you go.
When teams join early and understand each decision, the work grows stronger and stays grounded in ethics. Trust follows when people feel heard and know their input matters.
These aren’t just IT best practices, but they’re leadership principles for a new era.
Looking Ahead
Higher education’s future depends on more than research and teaching excellence; it depends on the systems that make those missions possible.
AI and ERP together offer something powerful: a way to connect people, data, and purpose across the entire enterprise.
‘AI and ERP together offer something powerful: a way to connect people, data, and purpose across the entire enterprise.’
Universities and public health systems that embrace that partnership will work smarter, and serve better.
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Tirumala Rao Chimpiri is a senior enterprise technology leader with more than 26 years of experience driving ERP modernization, digital transformation, and business process automation for Fortune 500 and global organizations. He has led large-scale ERP and enterprise programs spanning finance and HR domains, helping organizations achieve agility and operational excellence. Tirumala serves as Chair of the IEEE Computer Society’s Long Island Section and is a Fellow of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). He also serves on advisory boards for the AACRAO Technical Advisory Council, the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) Community Council, and the NERCOMP Professional Development Committee, contributing to technology strategy, innovation, and professional advancement across the global enterprise-systems community. Connect with Tirumala on LinkedIn.
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