When John Wallis Academy needed to modernise its telephony, it chose Red Rose to support making the move to a cost effective cloud-based solution.
Background
John Wallis Church of England Academy is a mixed all-through school based in Ashford, Kent. It is named after the renowned Ashford-born mathematician, John Wallis (1616-1703), who made significant contributions to mathematics, including calculus and infinity.
Its 200+ staff cater to around 1,800 pupils, across primary, secondary, and sixth form education.
Sector: Education
Services: Consultancy & Procurement
Technology: UCaaS
Total Users: 200+
Challenge
The academy had been relying on outdated on-premise systems that were becoming increasingly difficult to manage and expensive to maintain.
With multiple buildings located on the Ashford site, the new communications system needed to help create a virtual campus as well as simplify all the different technologies in use.
And hybrid working meant that there was a greater need for seamless communication between departments, parents, and partners.
Which is why the academy realised the need for unified communications as a service (UCaaS).
Process
The UCaaS supplier marketplace is busy and overcrowded. It takes time and effort to root out the noise and non-applicable suppliers, which the academy does not have.
Red Rose conducted a thorough cost and technology analysis, interviewed users, and identified key areas for cost savings and user experience improvements.
How we identified the best solution
- Cost/ Supplier & Technology Analysis: Red Rose conducted a comprehensive cost and technology analysis, identifying areas for cost savings and improvements in pupil and staff experiences.
- User Interviews & Workshops: Engaging with staff to understand their needs and preferences, ensuring the new system would be well-received and effective.
- Vendor Selection & procurement Campaign: Red Rose managed the procurement process, bringing leading vendors to the table and ensuring the best solution was chosen.
Our findings and supplier recommendations were compiled into a detailed report, which highlighted opportunities for enhancing parent, pupil and staff engagement.
Following this, we managed a full tender and procurement campaign, bringing leading vendors to the table, ensuring the academy received the best solutions to meet their needs on budget.
Solution
A UCaaS system enabled easy collaboration with faculty via calls, private or group chats, or in the same virtual room via an app or browser.
From just one interface, it’s simple to coordinate with colleagues and instantaneously communicate with the pupils, parents and staff. Events run more smoothly thanks to file sharing and management tools that make it easy to create, assign, and manage any task.
Red Rose believed that Avaya was the standout vendor. Demonstrating a history of supporting the education community and providing just one number to call for support, 24/7/365.
Working closely with the academy, Red Rose implemented an Avaya cloud-hosted telephony solution that delivers more than just voice. Crucially, the new system is scalable, ensuring the academy’s investment will continue to deliver value well into the future.
With predictable costs, built-in disaster recovery, and access to Red Rose’s dedicated support team, the academy can now focus on what matters most: delivering outstanding education.
Outcomes
Red Rose successfully managed the academy’s transition from an outdated on-premises phone system to a modern, integrated cloud platform.
Key Improvements
- Ease of task management: Staff now benefit from secure file sharing, remote access, automated call handling and management tools making it easy to create, assign, and manage any task.
- Comprehensive analytics: Teachers and admin staff can now monitor everything from tailored dashboards to track equipment spending and inventory to built-in reports to track budgets.
- Improved flexibility: The platform also allows for the creation of individualised learning programmes and providing for changing needs as well as making life easier for IT admins.
- Better collaboration: As Avaya integrates with Microsoft Teams, it enables collaboration between teaching and administrative teams in a familiar interface – whether on-site or working remotely.
The new contact centre significantly improved answer rates and alleviated concerns about call routing, ensuring parents and partners were not left waiting in queues for extended periods.
Feedback
“We can now manage our users, call queues, groups, and hardware allocation from a single website. Not only are we saving time using features such as automatic voice mail transcription and the ability to access anyone, anywhere, through the excellent softphone application allowing staff to connect to each other the way they want on the device they want, but we are actually saving money against our previous solution.”
Data & Systems Manager, John Wallis Academy
Looking to Optimise your UC?
Red Rose Technologies harnesses 20+ years of expertise in the unified communications market, we believe a strategic approach is needed when considering a new technology for your business – not a transactional approach.
We have successfully guided many clients through the full cycle of design, research, procurement, supplier selection and delivery when it comes to unified communications and contact centre modernisation.
If you partner with us, we promise a seamless, jargon free and stress-free experience to any change to a unified communications platform. Contact us today.