The computer centers can hardly compete with specialized software houses, not speaking about hardware manufacturers. It is not a loss to admit that we have to share capabilities and resources between self-development of some solutions and their ordering from an external supplier. It is just an understanding of the reality and understanding of the changing role of the university computer centers . There are also endless discussions whether to organize the work of the computer center in a centralized or a decentralized manner. Both these alternatives have their pros and contras.
Centralized approach seems to be generally easier for control and cheaper.
But its services are more distant from end users, less matched to the real needs of end users. The end users think that people from the computer center don t understand and even neglect their requirements. They also feel that they have less control of how financial resources are spent. Decentralized approach has the opposite features. I believe that a compromise between the two above- mentioned extreme alternatives is the suitable solution, reflecting the local conditions.