Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a system designed to help institutions that typically rely on traditional telecommunications systems to interface with their partners, staff, or clients more easily and cost-effectively.
And, in today’s post-COVID educational environment, a communications solution that offers voice and video as well as data in an off-site environment takes the pressure of maintenance and troubleshooting off of already cash-strapped schools and removes the need for a separate network for voice calls.
Even if COVID disappeared tomorrow, the move toward virtual learning has begun and the momentum gathered during the pandemic is predicted to persist, transforming how schools operate and how students learn.
Discover the Difference VoIP for Education Can Make
Today’s schools are turning to remote learning to serve student populations safely. However, this new format can complicate planning, adding stress to already overworked administrators and staff.
Unified communications using VoIP can help solve this issue by consolidating file sharing, video conferencing, voice and video calling, and messaging into one simple package.
VoIP is capable of providing all of these services in a single easy-to-manage communications package. Additional benefits for schools include:
Enhanced user experience — with one communications platform, users don’t need to learn various operating systems, reducing frustration and eliminating work slowdowns. VoIP also provides an easy-to-use interface to set up features.
Reduced costs — VoIP is much more cost-efficient than standard Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phone lines since they use broadband internet connections currently in use. If your school has broadband, you simply plug your VoIP phone into a standard Ethernet port, just like you would a computer.
Calls within a VoIP network are free, allowing district offices and other facilities to stay in contact with one another without incurring additional charges.
Interactive voice response — Many VoIP systems allow schools to set up a special menu for critical announcements, holidays, or events. Today’s user accessibility features make configuring these menus simple, allowing schools to respond quickly to changing policies or public circumstances.
Even temporary phone extensions, hotlines, and special voice mail boxes are easily created — an important feature that can allow concerned parents and students to reach appropriate personnel in the event of emergencies.
Scalability — For many schools with shifting student populations, scalability is an important factor in choosing a communications system. With VoIP, there is no construction or additional infrastructure needed to add physical lines — extensions are as simple as plug and play.
Conversely, as staff come and go, new lines are easily added by upgrading your service plan and setting up options in the software and old ones can be just as easily unlinked when they are no longer needed.
DSI Offers VoIP Options That Can Be Custom-Tailored for Your School
DSI provides modern voice technologies like VoIP to allow organizations to resolve pain points in areas of frustration, serve their students and staff better, and control costs.
Our VoIP solutions are expansive, easy to use, and come complete with expert technical assistance from our team of communications and IT experts to ensure reliability and improved user experience.
Using our system, any network-enabled workstation can be used as a telephone so each teacher can make and receive calls directly from their computer. This even allows for courses to be held from any location that has an internet connection — enabling teachers to conduct virtual classes from the safety of their home if necessary.
In fact, VoIP services can be accessed from any device using our standard cloud-based VoIP portal where settings can be visually managed. Plus, extended call routing options provide automated attendants to route even high volumes of calls efficiently, perfect for critical situations like weather delays or disaster response.
We take pride in assessing, developing, installing VoIP solutions customized to meet the specific needs and challenges faced by your educational organization. We finalize our solutions with thorough training of essential personnel and continued maintenance and service of your system to reduce the need for specialized communications hires while providing reliability and continuity.
Take your educational organization to the next level. Contact a DSI representative today and explore the scalability, convenience, and cost-effective features of a cutting-edge VoIP communications system for your school.