Wiltshire College has revealed that, since having replaced its business phone network with a single system based on internet protocol (IP) telephony and business VoIP (voice over internet protocol), it is on course to secure annual savings on its phone costs of £70,000.
The new IP telephony system is understood to link more than 1,000 phone extensions over the college’s four campuses and is capable of handling around 15,000 calls each week.
As with most business VoIP systems, the phone network is also capable of being scaled up or down, depending on future needs.
Among the features from which the college benefits since having adopted the new IP telephony service are queue management, call monitoring, user presence, and the provision for staff to connect to the network while mobile.
Commenting on the new service, the college’s director of customer services, Stephanie Stephenson, said:
“[The] phone system is proving flexible and reliable. It’s on target to reduce our ongoing telephony maintenance, line rental, support, and call costs by 70% per annum, about £70,000.”
The business VoIP and IP telephony services chosen by Wiltshire College are understood to be based on a software application rather than a more expensive and time-consuming hardware installation.
The capacity to avoid the need to opt for an expensive premises-based solution when adopting IP telephony and business VoIP has been seized on by a growing number of enterprises in recent years.
This has been made possible in particular by the increasing number of hosted systems put into operation, especially those of the variety organised through the services of a business VoIP provider or VoIP reseller.
A hosted service also has the advantages of offering 24-hour maintenance and support, together with the possibility of uninterrupted service during emergencies, even when a company’s main building is out of operation.
