Case Study: Dual Campus City College

About The Customer

This City College replaced its existing traditional telephone systems with a cloud-based communications platform from Wavenet to enable its workforce to communicate more efficiently, whilst avoiding the substantial upfront cost of upgrading its legacy phone system.

The Challenge

The College wanted to replace the Avaya and Alcatel telephone systems being used by more than 300 staff across it's two campuses , plus its offices in Kent and Hertfordshire. The existing systems had reached capacity and were lacking in support, and the college was facing an extensive investment to upgrade to a new ISDN solution that would fit its growing requirements.

The Solution 

After contacting Wavenet to explore  the possibility of replacing a number  of different conventional phone  systems across multiple locations with a single cohesive solution.  

In a bid to modernise its communications system whilst reducing costs, the college instead opted to implement Skype for Business.

The solution operates over the Internet and replaces the need to have a traditional phone network. It allows employees to talk, instant messaging, email, video chat or take part in conferences across a variety of devices, such as landlines, smartphones, PCs, and tablets.

This helps the workforce to stay continuously connected and reachable even when they are on the road or working from home. The new platform also allows staff to hold online sessions with students, who do not need the Skype for Business tool to partake, instead

using a web client.

The solution has enabled the college’s support teams to streamline their operations and provide instantaneous support to staff that are in need of assistance, regardless of location. This has led to a reduction in response times across the organisation, as well as substantial cost savings. In addition, training courses for new staff can now be delivered remotely.

The solution also includes additional bespoke functionality that is being used to drive further efficiencies across the organisation. This includes Wavenet's advanced call routing solution which effectively directs incoming phone calls to the correct departments. This functionality has also modernised the way students can report any absences.

"The college is reaping the benefits of switching to a cloud-based communications solution. We now boast a highly innovative system that is easy to use and helping to reduce costs on a day-today basis. Staff are able to communicate with one another more effectively, whilst we have also seen a reduction in unnecessary email traffic and mobile phone usage."

With Skype for Business set to retire on July 31st 2021 businesses will now look to make the migration to Microsoft Teams.

This upgrade also gives them the ability to utilise TeamsLink and create a true Unified Communication platform that allows easy collaboration and communication across organisations of all sizes.