When you think of targets set in schools, you think of students aiming for top grades, or teachers trying to keep a class above a certain average score in exams. But just like any other organisation, your school will likely be constantly striving for better in terms of making things more efficient, improving communication with parents and making life a bit easier for staff too.

School life is hectic though, so it can be difficult to implement those changes as easily as you’d like, but if you’re thinking about whether a VoIP phone system could be a good choice for your campus, you’ll find it could make those improvements easier to achieve than you first think.

Here are five benefits your school could see from getting a VoIP phone system…

1. Lower your costs
We’ve all heard the news stories that school budgets are being squeezed harder than ever at the moment, so the idea of reducing costs whilst improving performance may seem like something of a dream. For other primary, secondary and university campuses investing in VoIP, this is regularly becoming a reality with many saving as much as 80% on their infrastructure and call costs.

2. Get a system perfect for your campus layout
While every school campus is different, most of them have more than one building, or offices spread out over a sprawling site. VoIP phones are flexible, enabling schools to simply plug them in wherever they’re needed. This means that if you need certain staff working in different parts of the building or you want to change your layout easily, you can with VoIP, free from massive engineering or structural work.

3. Handle your busy periods better
Most schools will have a large volume of calls in a short period of time, often at the start of the school day when parents are calling in to inform of absences or check term dates. VoIP’s wide range of functionality, including hunt groups, call divert and virtual receptionists means these busy periods can be handled as flexibly as possible — and most importantly, in your own way.

4. Use your resources better
There’s the old adage that knowledge is power. With current smart phone technology, we can easily see how long we’ve spent on our phone and on which apps we’ve been spending it, so why not have this level of information at your fingertips when it comes to your school?

Our VoIP systems come with easy-to-understand reporting that can give you a breakdown of call volumes on a daily, hourly and minute by minute basis. Each report is designed to give you the information you need to make decisions on performance, resourcing and any problem areas that need to be addressed.

5. Provide parents with key information
If you find you’re getting lots of calls from parents asking the same questions about term timetables, whether sports events are going ahead or if the school is open during extreme weather, VoIP’s virtual receptionist function lets you set up pre-recorded answers to those commonly asked queries, freeing up staff and making things more efficient.

No two schools are the same, so one of the real benefits of VoIP is that it the system can be fit around the unique way that each school wants to operate. For more information on our bespoke solutions for schools, give Equations a call on 01237 420010.