The College provides high quality education to 11-16 year old students. It had recognised that its existing communications infrastructure was no longer able to fulfill the requirements of a modern education provider going forward. The College wanted to provision better voice communications but also recognised that implementing UC in particular would significantly improve its ability to deliver high quality educational services to its students.
The new UC system based on HiPath 3800 and OpenScape Office HX allows staff and students to work much more effectively with one another via user presence and voice mail capabilities, which automatically connects to the most appropriate device no matter where it is located on the campus. It enables receptionist access to all teaching staff’s location and commitments through a glance at their PC, providing callers with real-time information and leaving more accurate messages for staff.
It was deployed into Horndean’s existing network in two weeks during the school holidays by Siemens Enterprise Communications’ accredited partner Peach Telecom, reducing downtime and keeping costs to a minimum.
Nicola Bugden, School Business Manager, Horndean Technology College, said: “Our image, reputation and ability to attract funding is not only forged by pupil achievement but also through how parents and the wider community interact with us. We foresee immediate improvements in all three areas with this new system but we can also see huge potential benefits in the future as we continue to implement UC in our College as we evolve as an institution that is already rated `Outstanding` by OFSTED in meeting Hampshire’s educational needs.”
Rob Keenan, Head of UK Portfolio Management, Deployment Readiness Management, Siemens Enterprise Communications, said: “The deployment of OpenScape Office will provide a key management tool for Horndean Technology College to cut telephony costs and vastly improve the efficiency of its communications.
“OpenScape Office allows the integration of voice, voicemail, messaging, video and the ability to work via mobile devices – making it simple to ensure any message is delivered to the correct person, first time. For Horndean’s staff, who are mobile throughout the day and need to be contacted and contact others in the College, our UC technology will greatly enhance their ability to manage, educate and inspire.”