Lee Marlow of Digium Switchvox Speaks about VoIP in Educational Systems – Part Two
Recently, I was able to speak with Lee Marlow of Digium Switchvox and discuss the benefits of VoIP Service and VoIP Hardware within schools and universities. Below you will find the second half of our discussion. If you have not read the first half please do so here.
1. How does Digium set themselves apart for schools?
Schools need a cost-effective solution, but like many businesses, they don’t want to have to sacrifice when it comes to features. Switchvox is Digium’s award-winning IP PBX and delivers powerful UC tools, mobility applications and robust calling features all at one, low price. And, our phone system is easy to manage and simple to use. Our education customers repeatedly say they appreciate that our products are intuitive and easy to use, not only for the IT department but also for teachers and administrators.
Our products are standards-based which means you can save even more money by reusing existing equipment like phones and paging equipment. We have flexible product offerings and deployment methods for any budget and can provide school systems with both the SIP service and phone system equipment, for additional savings.
2. Can you describe the bell feature that can be part of a Digium phone system?
There are multiple options for integrating a school’s bell system. Through the use of custom scripts, it’s possible for the Digium Phones to be used as the school’s bell system. Emergency alerts and notifications can be sent directly to each phone. As an example, in a school lockdown situation, you can send a visual alert that will cause the Digium phone to light up or flash.
3. Can you talk about emergency broadcasting and disaster planning?
Recent events have mandated that school systems take a more proactive approach to student and teacher safety within schools and this includes implementing better communications tools. Switchvox has the ability to broadcast emergency alerts and messages over a paging system via the display on desktop phones or directly to parents’ phones – or other emergency contact numbers of your students. The mobility features included with Switchvox, which help turn staff into a mobile taskforce during an emergency. The ability to readily communicate with mobile devices ensures that staff can be reach anywhere, anytime.
4. 
What kind of support options are out there for schools offered by Digium?
There are various support options available. With an easy-to-use system, it’s easy for the IT administrator to maintain their own system. Digium offers options for 8×5 and 24×7 phone and online support. A Digium authorized partner can help you select which plan is best meets your needs.
5. Can you explain how VoIP will bring different buildings closer together?
Outdated communications systems may require that every building have a dedicated server housed onsite. In this type of situation, each building essentially has its own telephone system with no centralized point of communications. VoIP can allow users to transfer calls between sites and share call capacity dynamically across a campus. With VoIP, you don’t have to place additional equipment where you physically want to add employees – you just connect them to your IP network and that’s it.
6. 
With your experience, can you give our readers some advice when switching to VoIP?
It all begins with choosing the right partner who understands your industry and needs. There are specific questions to ask yourself and your vendors. It is important to understand both current and future cost of maintaining your VoIP system. Do a side-by-side feature comparison and ask for a breakdown on the cost of each feature separately. Select a system that is flexible and can grow with you.
