Following many months of careful planning back in early 2018, the summer holidays saw Evoke Telecom embark on one of its most fulfilling installation projects to date.
With more than 2,000 students across 4 schools, all sited at a large multi building campus, the task was to provide the Loughborough Schools Foundation with a single, safe, flexible and easy to use telecommunications platform.
Having previously operated with two separate phone systems, the Foundation had quickly concluded that they needed to identify a new single site solution that would provide not only current, but new levels of student safety.
Of key consideration was a ‘safe-schools’ platform that would support classroom lock down, campus wide messaging, as well as lock out and lock in functionality.
Having engaged with Evoke Telecom, we were able to introduce the team at Loughborough to Avaya’s suite of safety solutions designed for total campus safety in the USA. Avaya were excellent in providing global expertise from their Public Safety teams out of both the USA and mainland Europe. This was a critical part of the thorough evaluation conducted by Richard Smeeton, IT Director and his knowledgeable team.
“Avaya’s experience in schools really sold it to us. We were able to speak to experts in the US and Europe and understand the full capability of the solution.”
Richard Smeeton – IT Director
The end result has been the delivery of an Avaya IP Office platform installed within the Foundations ‘virtualised’ environment, with more than 600 handsets delivering communication not only to all offices, but also to all classrooms.
This means that when the Foundation needs to broadcast a message it can do so instantly – all managed by the Avaya platform.
What is more the system has provided many additional benefits. Administration staff for all four schools have already reported how much easier it is to find pupils who have missed registration, while at the same time IT support for teaching has been completely transformed.
“Previously, teachers found it hard to request IT support in a lesson. With a phone in every classroom any issues that directly affect teaching can be given an immediate response. This improves the classroom experience for teachers and pupils and helps to avoid wasted lessons.”
James Leeson – Networks Manager
One of the greatest concerns around handsets in classrooms is the potential for teaching disruption. However, the system at Loughborough has been programmed so that pupils can’t use it for external calls, overcoming the distraction of having phones in classrooms.
Avaya J139 – deployed at Loughborough Schools Foundation
But the team at Loughborough haven’t stopped there as they strive to lead the way and set new standards in schools’ safety in the UK. The Foundation is now seeking to make Avaya Smart Campus the centrepiece of its omnichannel approach to campus wide communications and school safety.
“We want to be able to send simultaneous SMS messages to mobile users and screen pops on computer terminals and broadcast messages over tannoy and digital radio—all controlled by the Avaya solution,” Richard Smeeton concludes. “We think it will even be able to control the electronic door locks.”
And needless to say, Evoke Telecom will be standing full square alongside the fabulous team at Loughborough as we continue on this exciting journey.
“The Evoke team have been great to work with; they are completely transparent and reliable, and they really know the solutions in detail. They contact us proactively, not just for sales but to help us make the most of every feature in the Avaya platform.”
Richard Smeeton – IT Director.
Thank you Richard, the pleasure is all ours!
Here is the link to the full case study on our website:
Loughborough Schools Foundation Case Study
If you would like to see it on Avaya.com then here is the link:
Loughborough Schools Foundation Case Study (on Avaya.com)
If you would like to learn more about Avaya “Safe – School” or Evoke Telecom solutions for the education sector then why not drop us a line at [email protected] or give us a call on 01509 278278.
