It may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to the needs of a school system, but business phone systems are one of the most important aspects of keeping students, teachers, and staff better informed and safe. Unfortunately, many school systems are still using decades-old phone systems. Such systems necessitate frequent maintenance and typically end up costing more than merely purchasing a new system. Newer VoIP (voice over IP) offer a much better alternative business phone system for a school system. Below, we’ve listed five features to look for when selecting a school business phone system.
Emergency 911 Monitoring
These days, schools must be vigilant about the safety of their students and staff. Whichever school business phone system you purchase must include a built-in emergency monitoring feature. Newer VoIP systems can notify school administrators via their desk phones and email when someone makes a 911 call. The notifications even tell you which room number initiated the call. This is important because the emergency dispatcher can also quickly recognize which room to send emergency assistance to.
Flexible Extension Dial Plan
Emergency 911 Monitoring is quite dependent on this next feature. Most schools require six-digit extension dialing, which will permit them to build an organized dial plan. Schools typically use the first two digits in the extension to specify the building, the third digit to specify the floor, and the last three to specify the room number. Flexible extension dialing not only makes emergency 911 monitoring possible, but it also creates cohesion and convenience in your dial plan.
Ease of Use
Once you finally have a new VoIP phone system, you don’t want to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to use it. A properly designed school business phone system should be easy to operate. It should also be easy to access via the internet so that you can make adds, moves, and other changes.
User Training
Many people don’t like change. Attempting to switch your staff to a new phone system can present a difficult adjustment period. To ease the growing pains, you should have training sessions on the new system. Not only does this shorten the adjustment period, but it also allows your staff the opportunity to take full advantage of VoIP’s features.
Price
As with any purchase, price can make or break your decision. Who wouldn’t love to have the latest and greatest? Sometimes though, you have to prioritize your needs so that you don’t burst your budget. However, one of the advantages of VoIP is that it tends to pay for itself; with little upkeep and maintenance fees, you’ll inevitably find that after time it costs you less than hanging on to your old system.
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