As part of a plan to process student enquiries more
effectively especially during high call volumes, the University of
Sheffield has upgraded is voice network as part of a wider IT
expansion and upgrade programme.
The upgrade, to Avaya’s Communications Manager 5.0, is designed
to enable the University of
Sheffield to move to a more resilient, scalable IP based phone
system, while still protecting the investment made over the last
decade in traditional PBX communications systems.
The new
unified communications (UC) platform is fundamentally designed
to help the University offer a better service to students during
busy times such as clearing and enrolment. Call centre
functionality built into Communications Manger enables the
University to process student enquiries far more speedily than
would have been possible when, often, high call volumes resulted in
bottle necks and long call waiting times.
To date 10,000 voice connections have been moved to the new
IP-based communications system and University says that jobs
such as adding a new voice extension or moving phones, which
previously would have taken a couple of hours, now take a matter of
minutes.
Specifically, the University estimates that this represents time
savings of between 75-90% to the team responsible for voice and
data services at the university. Furthermore, the upgrade gives the
University the capacity to increase the number of voice and data
connections by 20% and to move to a converged network.
Explaining the move, Mark Franklin, Voice and Data Support
Manager, University of Sheffield, said, “While the old system had
served us very well we recognised the need for an upgrade. With the
advent of UC and the University’s own expansion plans we needed a
solid foundation upon which we could build future functionality
whilst still protecting our existing investment. What’s more we
needed something that would integrate with our existing set up.
Avaya came up trumps on all accounts.”