Sherrie Medved, Information Technician with Unified Communications, was named the 2021 MSU IT Innovation Award recipient during the June 9 presentation of the Excellence in IT Awards. MSU IT leadership presented six Excellence in IT Awards on June 9, recognizing the extraordinary efforts of its staff to advance student, faculty, and staff success. Awards were presented to MSU IT staff in the areas of student and staff success, as well as in the categories of Innovation, Virtual Champion, Outstanding Service, and Most Valuable Teammate.
This past year, Sherrie worked with the MSU Health Care Clinics to revolutionize the interaction of the clinics with their patients. She integrated an AI-enabled digital assistant and implemented common strategies across groups to help with workforce management and reporting.
“I try to listen to our customers’ needs so that I can provide the most up-to-date, flexible, and affordable solution for them in terms of their telecom services,” Sherrie said. “Even if the customer is using older technology such as voice mail, sometimes they can benefit from becoming more aware of how to use it or the features related to it more efficiently.
“Our team does our best to keep ourselves informed about innovations in the services we offer and support, and we work to keep our current services up to date as well,” she added. “This allowed us to be ready to offer remote solutions when we needed them last year and allows us to make good decisions about what to invest in such as an improved call recording system or the new IVR we’re working on with MSU Health Care.”
Working remote has presented challenges, but Sherrie expressed what this award means to her in light of those challenges.
“It’s great to be recognized, especially after this last year of what sometimes felt like working alone,” Sherrie said. “I appreciate and am thankful for the support of my boss who took the time to show his confidence in me. It is a good motivator to keep pushing myself to do new things.”
The Innovation Award is granted to an individual who has demonstrated innovation in their role with MSU IT. The recipient brings in new practices or ideas and helps with executing those ideas to enhance productivity.
