The Team That Never Logs Off

Reports begin processing. Data compiles. Networks move information between systems. Websites remain online. Behind the scenes, the University of Arizona’s technology infrastructure continues running around the clock—and someone needs to be watching.

That responsibility falls to the Service Continuity team within UITS Support Services.

Led by Kevin Harper, Service Continuity Manager, the group helps monitor systems across campus to ensure essential technology services remain operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While many university operations slow after business hours, the technology that supports them never truly stops.

“Technology doesn’t sleep,” Harper said. “There’s always something running, always something happening behind the scenes.”

Service Continuity maintains a constant presence in the UITS building. When the Service Desk closes for the evening, incoming support calls and online chats shift to Harper’s team. At the same time, staff monitor enterprise systems and infrastructure, watching for alerts that may signal outages or disruptions.

“We’re really the only true 24/7 Service Desk”, Harper said. “We have people on-site every day, every night—weekends, holidays, even during winter closure.”

The work requires constant attention. Monitoring stations display streams of system data across multiple screens, giving staff real-time visibility into network activity, websites, and other critical services. If something goes wrong, such as a building suddenly losing network connectivity overnight, the team is often the first to notice.

“We’re quite literally the team that wakes people up in the middle of the night,” Harper said. “If something occurs, we’re the ones calling the on-call teams and getting recovery started.”

Service Continuity also plays a role in coordinating the response when incidents occur. Staff alert service owners, communicate updates, and help ensure the right teams are engaged to restore systems as quickly as possible.

Much of the university’s data processing also happens overnight. Systems compile activity from the day into reports and analytics used by departments across campus, including payroll and institutional reporting. By the start of the next business day, those results must be ready.

“Everything that happens during the day gets compiled and processed overnight,” Harper said. “By the next morning, those statistics need to be available so teams can make their business decisions.”

Because so much of this work takes place while campus sleeps, it often goes unnoticed. Yet the steady monitoring, coordination, and overnight operations help ensure the university’s technology environment remains reliable for the campus community.

“There’s a lot happening behind the scenes,” Harper said. “People might think these systems just run automatically, but there’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into making sure everything continues operating.”