Hosted VoIP and The Benefits to the Education System

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The Communication Needs of The Administration

Most people immediately think of the needs of the students and their futures when considering the education system, and rightfully so. We consider the teachers and their classrooms along with their needs for supplies. We tend to overlook the administration behind the curtain. The people who handle the day in and day out operations of a school or educational institution are not at the forefront of our minds. The budgets don’t do themselves, the schedules don’t materialize out of thin air, and so those hard working individuals needs shouldn’t be forgotten.

For those individuals running the operations of a school, it is critical to have a reliable communications solution that meets the specific and unique needs of the institution. It is crucial to the daily functions of your school, as with any business, to have a reliable Internet connection and an optimal phone system. Whether your institution is a large public school system or a small independent private facility, you could benefit from the special features of a Hosted VoIp system.

Here is a brief look at what a Hosted VoIP system can do to meet the needs of an educational institution.

Features

Technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and in the process, leaving old systems behind as they become obsolete. Each new generation of tech runs faster and more efficiently, which can become a problem in the education field since budgets are allocated well in advance. It’s increasingly becoming more important that your educational tech is able to withstand the test of time as the effects bleed over into the classroom.

The negative impact on slow or faulty tech can impact the classroom and overtime make a school look and feel less appealing. Students have access to an immense amount of technology at home, and as they enter the classroom, they need to see that same tech or better, being utilized. You wouldn’t think that translated to your phone system, but it does. I am sure you remember the days of office aids running around the school to deliver summons to the principal’s office, or school announcements that seemed unrelated to your classroom but interrupted your education anyway. Those days are behind us now, and with a Hosted VoIP system you will be amazed at the level of productivity your administration can reach. Below is a brief overview of what VoIP can do for any educational institution.

  • Reliability
  • Flexibility
  • Affordability
  • Smart features
  • Intercom support
  • Call recording
  • Robo calling
  • Video conferencing
  • Call routing
  • Group paging
  • Email incorporation

Reliability

It’s critical that Schools maintain a constant connectivity due to the never ending need for communication. If the phone lines go down, the school may not be able to make or receive calls to parents or even public safety agencies in the event of an emergency.

The chances of the phone service failing with a cloud-based VoIP dramatically decreases. Add a fiber connection to your system and possibilities of failure decrease even further. VoIP phone systems connect the same way that your internet does, which means that you don’t use the standard phone lines and in turn have a more reliable connection that can withstand inclement weather and any other type of outage.

Flexibility

Flexibility in your phone service is of the utmost importance, especially in a school system.

Unlike the majority of traditional Phone Service Providers, since many VoIP providers do not require annual contracts, your service can be changed easily at any time.

Using a traditional phone system means that the number of calls you can accept at one time is a set static number which has the potential of reaching maximum capacity. In order to accept or make more calls you need to make significant changes and modifications to the entire system. Luckily with VoIP, these limitations are expunged.

Lastly, forwarding calls using a VoIP system is easier than ever before, meaning that calls can simply be rerouted to another number at any time.

Affordability

Surprisingly enough, VoIP phone services tend to be less expensive than the traditional landline service. With a cloud based PBX (Public Branching Exchange), you can save tens of thousands of dollars in your initial setup and maintenance over time.

Using a Cloud-based PBX also means that your system will be fully scalable, meaning that you don’t need to worry about purchasing a certain sized plan and your system can increase whenever you need it to, easily.

With relatively low start-up costs compared to a wired landline phone system, it’s hard to beat.

Since VoIP runs over the Internet, Administrators and teachers can stay in touch throughout the day within the confines of your set internet service and requires no additional costs or the need to send an office aid across campus.

The need for added equipment and lines diminishes dramatically with a cloud-based VoIP system.

Smart Features

There are virtually no limits to the possibilities of a hosted VoIP phone system. You get all of the traditional telephony features with an additional set of new features that you may have never even considered. Check out just a few of the cool new features specifically designed for school systems. We have only begun to scratch the surface of possibilities.

Intercom Support

Do you remember the days of school announcements over the intercom every morning? Or the voice over the intercom calling one particular student to the office? Well, believe it or not, VoIP phones can connect to the intercom system and streamline your announcements process, mitigating the need for extra equipment.

Even better, say you know exactly where the student or teacher you are looking for is located, you can send a message directly to that classroom speaker phone, allowing the rest of the school to go about their business without the unnecessary interruption school-wide.

Call Recording

The ability to record your conversations in a school environment is a convenient one. Whether it is needing to log a student’s information or keep track of a parent complaint, you will have access to maintain logs of your recordings and call upon them at a later date.

Make sure you follow the legalities of call recording.

Robocalling

It sounds scary, but robocalling for a school system can be extremely valuable, saving your administration time and money. From notifying a parent of a student’s marked absence to letting parents know of a school closure, this can streamline your process and make your day run much more productively. Have the bot make the call rather than make hundreds of calls yourself.

Video Conferencing

Since most public school systems are part of a much bigger district, there are often necessities to bring the administration together in order to better communicate the needs of your institution and its faculty and student body.

With VoIP Video Conferencing, you never have to leave your desk. The quality of the sound and video is very much comparable to that of a computer, saving you countless dollars in extra equipment.

Call Routing

VoIP phones make routing a call a simple snap. Your callers will be able to traverse a simple pre-recorded menu in order to direct them to the right line. Additionally, administrators are able to record answers to frequently asked questions, mitigating the need to even direct the call to an administrator at times.

It is easy enough to set up a queue for your callers, notifying them of a wait time in order to speak with someone in the office.

With VoIP you can even make more sophisticated routing stipulations allowing you to control where a call is routed depending on the time of day, simple if/then scenarios, or even determine if a call is more important than other calls, allowing that call to jump the queue and go to the right person.

Group Paging

Group Paging has quickly become a must have, as this capability allows the user to pre-program a specific set of numbers in order to dial one number and contact the whole group. This is perfect for dispatching information without using the intercom or to provide more controlled information quietly in the event of a lockdown.

Email Incorporation

This handy little feature allows you to set-up notifications to your email concerning your voicemail box. Rather than being tied to your desk phone, you never miss information with email incorporation. Most customers have gotten in the habit of checking voicemails through their email rather than their voicemail box. Instead of wading through voicemails, you are able to prioritize your listening order.

Another nifty feature to Email incorporation is the ability to transcribe voice to text, making it unnecessary to even have to listen to a voicemail, but also making the text searchable. These means administrators can leave imperative messages for teachers without interrupting the class.

Conference Bridging

This is a unique and powerful tool allowing the administration to conduct meetings without having to plan around each other’s schedules. They even have the ability to provide a number during meetings to allow parents to call and listen in when it’s appropriate.

ESTABLISHING TRUST THROUGH CONNECTIVITY

If your administration is looking for a simple way to strengthen your school’s image, establishing a VoIP system is a good start. Today, communication and connectivity are of the utmost importance and parents see this information and connectivity and feel more trust towards the school and its faculty.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask All Tel for any guidance on VoIP in your school. We are happy to help you find what you are looking for.

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