Boston-based communications and IT company GoTo has launched a new service aimed at one of the most fragmented corners of the public sector: education.
GoTo Connect for Education is a cloud-based communications platform designed to replace the patchwork of phones, paging systems, video conferencing tools, and emergency alert software often found across schools and universities.
The move marks an effort to position GoTo more firmly within a sector struggling to modernise its technology infrastructure without disrupting daily operations or overburdening IT staff.
“Managing multiple, outdated communication systems is a challenge for schools and universities, often creating a complex IT environment,” said Damon Covey, General Manager of UCC, GoTo.
“With GoTo Connect for Education, we’re giving teachers and administrators a single dashboard to oversee communications from individual schools all the way up to the entire district.”
Complexity in the Classroom
Schools and universities have long wrestled with overlapping systems. A typical district might operate separate networks for internal calls, public announcements, classroom conferencing, and emergency notifications – often sourced from different vendors over decades.
Each upgrade or new requirement adds another layer of complexity.
“Ease of management is vital for our busy IT team,” says Steve Maycock, Head of Infrastructure and Security at Leigh Academies Trust.
“GoTo Connect’s call-handling has the strongest administrative front-end of any system, allowing staff to easily set up and adapt.”
The concept behind the tech is straightforward: bring together calls, messaging, virtual classrooms, faxing, and safety alerts within one application.
The system also includes administrative tools that allow IT teams to manage users, licences, and settings from a central portal.
Balancing Modernisation with Legacy Systems
A key challenge for any digital overhaul in education is coexistence with what is already in place.
Few schools have the funds to discard functional systems simply because they are dated.
GoTo has made a point of ensuring that its new platform integrates with analog infrastructure – including existing paging systems, bells, and wired desk phones.
That hybrid approach could appeal to institutions that need gradual modernisation rather than wholesale replacement.
Beyond efficiency, the platform includes features aimed at improving campus safety – a growing priority for both schools and universities.
The system supports enhanced E911 services and integrates with third-party alert platforms such as STOPit Notify and Catapult EMS, allowing administrators to send notifications across classrooms and buildings in real time during emergencies.
While these integrations are not new to the communications market, GoTo’s pitch lies in combining them with the day-to-day communication infrastructure rather than keeping them as standalone tools.
For IT managers, that reduces the number of systems that need to be secured, maintained, and updated.
By offering a single vendor relationship for a broad suite of services, GoTo is hoping to position itself as a low-friction alternative to managing multiple suppliers. Whether that message resonates will depend on how easily schools can migrate existing systems without disruption.
Competing in a Crowded Market
GoTo joins a field of vendors trying to capture the education communications space.
Microsoft, Zoom, Cisco, and RingCentral have all expanded their presence in schools in recent years, driven by the rapid adoption of remote and hybrid learning tools during the pandemic.
However, while those platforms focus on collaboration and video conferencing, GoTo’s emphasis is on unifying the broader communications infrastructure – including telephony and emergency systems.
But the education sector is still conservative, risk-averse, and geographically fragmented.
Technology changes tend to occur slowly, often driven by district-level decisions and constrained funding cycles.
Still, as the pressure mounts for institutions to modernise their safety and communication systems, consolidation may be inevitable.
Centralised management platforms such as GoTo Connect for Education promise not only operational efficiency but also improved resilience in crisis situations – a value increasingly scrutinised by regulators and parents alike.
GoTo’s Broader Strategy
The education-focused version of the platform is now available in the US, UK, and Ireland.
Its success may hinge not on technological novelty, but on execution: whether it can deliver on the promise of simplification without forcing schools into complex migrations or higher costs.
For IT leaders, the launch is a reminder that communications infrastructure – long overlooked as routine plumbing – has become a strategic priority.
