The telecommunications industry is huge. Most resellers solely target Call Centers, Small-Medium Sized Businesses, Large Corporations etc. Basically, businesses who will use their products to communicate with clients and colleagues.
But what if I told you there are other markets you could reach? Other markets you might not have even thought of?
Telecommunication occurs when information is communicated between participants via technology. That is so broad a definition that technically telecommunication companies could sell to any industry! Although our products are great for colleagues to communicate with, they can also benefit physicians, medical staff, educators, lawyers, etc. This blog series will break down some of the most popular ‘verticals’ that you may not have considered targeting before.
To begin this series, I thought we would start back at the basics: Education. Whether that means Public School, Private School, University or College, it is without a doubt agreed that reliable communication is extremely important for schools.
As per the Public School Review, ‘The national average public school student-size (In the USA) is approximately 503 students (2018-19)’. This total number does not include the administrative staff, teachers, education assistants, volunteers or janitorial staff.
Schools have to account for all these individuals including parent and student relations, 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 180 days a year. Organization is extremely important to keep track of all valuable information per each student and staff.
CRM Integration
There is no better way to stay organized than with CRM integration. Although CRM stands for ‘Customer Relationship Management’ it can also be used to store students files. Just like it is used to improve and manage customers relations, it can also be used for students and their parents. Teachers and administrative staff can incorporate all the features and capabilities of the telephony system, like PBXware, inside their CRM. Staff can call directly from the interface and make notes as needed on the student’s file. Having one database for all your students is easier to search through than having physical files or separate applications.
Other features of Unified Communications that support the Education Industry are:
Collaboration Tools
Collaboration is something we are seeing a lot of lately. Not only between coworkers but also students. Unified Communications tools help teachers to collaborate more easily and efficiently. Products like gloCOM allow teachers to instant message, group chat, share files and so much more! Now teachers can teach more than one class at the same time using screen share and video conference. They can also have experts join the conference and instruct from across the globe. Having unified communications solutions in your classrooms and schools will give your students and staff the ability to collaborate like never before.
Collaboration doesn’t stop with teaching students. Teachers can participate in personal development days online without having to go to a physical location. Conference calls can be taken on mobile devices so participants are not tethered to their desk.
Confidential Calling Features
gloCOM’s mobile application, gloCOM GO, will allow staff to make and receive calls from their personal cell phone with their school’s Caller ID. This allows teachers to make and take calls without having to give away their personal phone numbers.
There are also calling features that offer an option to block your Caller ID when placing a call. This will ensure that no one will receive your personal phone number or the school’s phone number.
Another calling feature found in PBXware is the voicemail to email transcription and call recording. This allows teachers and admin staff to listen to personal voicemails on their own time when no one is around to hear. Or they can read them with confidence that no one is overhearing the conversation.
Confidential Chats
Instant messaging on gloCOM allow users to send and receive confidential documents without fear of having them hacked. The chat history is also saved and can be accessed to look back on for clarification. Chat in confidence knowing your information is safe.
Emergency Readiness
A true unified communications solution is hosted and cloud-based vs on-premise. In the case of an unexpected emergency such as a flood, fire or natural disaster, your information will be safe in the cloud. Hosted unified communications protects your data in the case of an emergency where physical servers would be damaged. Remember earlier where we mentioned that on average there is over 500 students and staff information that schools need to account for? This should give you peace of mind knowing your data will be safe.
If the extra features and reliability are still not selling your customer in the Education sector, perhaps the price will.
Cost Savings
Most public schools are government owned. Therefore, they do not have a lot of money to spend, especially on telephones. However, time and time again on-premise hardware will have to be replaced and can be expensive fixed costs all at once. However, hosted VoIP has exceptionally lower upfront costs with little to no maintenance expenses. Schools can pay per extension that can be used on both the user’s desk phone and/or mobile device.
Products like PBXware and gloCOM are just two examples of how our hosted solutions support the Education Industry.
To summarize, all schools at any level can always improve their telecommunications, especially by switching to a cloud-based service. Not only will they gain extra calling features, they also obtain a sense of security knowing that their information is safe.
Stay tuned for part two of this series where we talk about how our hosted solutions can support Telecom industry verticals like… The Healthcare industry! To learn more about our products and solutions, please visit our website or email our sales team at sales@bicomsystems.com.