When it comes to schools & educational facilities, CallHarbor’s cloud communications ace the test. Technology is always changing, especially in today’s business world. Expectations from parents, and school boards are higher than ever. Having a reliable & affordable communication platform will keep you in the loop. Staying reachable from anywhere will help you keep up with today’s high demand in an educational setting.
Using a VoIP system such as CallHarbor allows teachers and faculty to be mobile & connected. With mobile app capabilities, staff members can make & take calls, send SMS & MMS, check voicemails, and maintain answering rules & call forwarding.
Safety
Specific safety features include things like overhead paging, E911, call logs, and door calls/door release. When it comes to overhead paging, CallHarbor can integrate with your existing system, or install a fresh paging system as an add-on. Overhead paging being connected to your phones makes it easy & accessible to make overhead announcements. Whether it’s today’s lunch items, or critical communications, we’ve got you covered.
When it comes to safety, E911 compliance is crucial. CallHarbor is fully E911 compliant, and our E911 locations are dialed down to the Building, Room & Floor.
Another safety factor is that all of our calls are logged, along with reporting & analytics. With that call logging also comes call recording, with starting storage at 30 days, and options to extend that further.
Affordability
Schools can cut costs by using a VoIP system because of the reduced infrastructure and maintenance costs. It also offers a great service and a healthy return on investment.
VoIP gives economic benefits to a school by lessening some specific administrative expenses and maintenance costs. Because VoIP operates on an IP network, schools will be able to stop using a traditional phone line to send and receive calls and messages. They’ll be able to kick out plain old telephone service (POTS) and copper wires. Utilizing VoIP has less maintenance cost and upkeep, since it simply connects to their already existing internet connection.
Using a VoIP phone service like CallHarbor can reduce operational and capital expenses due to the vast amount of features that can lessen administrative staffing needs. A specific feature that will be extremely helpful to administrative staff is an auto attendant. Auto attendants are extremely valuable for companies because they serve as a type of call management that makes sure the company’s callers get to the right department quickly and easily. (Check out our blog post to learn more about auto attendants). Callers would be able to get information on closures or events right from the auto attendant, or pick which staff, department, or personnel to get to by choosing from a list of options.
Reliability
CallHarbor’s platform is extremely reliable. With a 99.99% SLA and 8 years of historic 100% uptime, we make sure you’re up and running when it matters most. Our network is redundant at three different fully active, independent site across the United State. Because of these multiple points of presence that our phone system is hosted out of, we have zero downtime for updates or in the event of an outage.
We also provide a Remote Accessibility within our management portal, giving you a single pane of glass for your entire district or site. From here you can change auto attendant greetings, swap out weather emergency notifications, and set up call forwarding from any browser, anywhere.
A+ Features
Auto Attendants: An auto attendant is a menu system that uses voice or number prompts to help callers navigate to the correct department, building, person, etc. This type of VoIP phone system feature helps eliminate or lessen the need for a human receptionist or answering service. You can also use one of these systems to help out a receptionist when it comes to managing periods of high call volumes. Auto Attendants can give announcements/reminders to callers, as well as guide them to the correct campus, person, or more.
Business SMS: Using business SMS is an easy and convenient way to stay in touch. In a school environment, business SMS could be used in many different ways. For example, the main office could have a text line for parents to send a message to if their child/children will be out sick. They don’t have to worry about remembering to call first thing in the morning, and the staff can see the message and log the absence into the system when they get into the office in the morning.
Voicemail-to-Email: You can easily get bogged down with voicemails that you don’t have time to listen to. In a school setting, voicemail lines such as the attendance line can quickly pile up. Voicemail-to-Email gives you the ability to send voicemail directly to an email box, where you’ll be able to read a transcription, and also listen to the attached WAV file. By streamlining voicemail and email services, you can see your messages easier, respond in a more timely and appropriate manner, and stay much more organized in the long run.