Educational institutions are hubs of knowledge and inspiration, reliant on excellent communication tools and strategies to share their value with the world. Leading universities, schools, and training facilities don’t just need the right communication tools to reach their students. They also depend on these systems to keep internal staff aligned and productive.
In recent years, the rise of online learning opportunities, hybrid employment, and other related trends has pushed many institutions to start investing in new technologies. Unified Communications tools are perhaps one of the most valuable environments teams can invest in for the future of education.
The right UC tools bring faculty together for critical collaboration while enabling stronger student connections and learning experiences. All the while, these synchronised tools pave the way for better productivity, security, and efficiency throughout the workforce. Here are some of the UC vendors responsible for demonstrating what Unified Communications can achieve for educational facilities.
RingCentral
An inspirational company in the communications sector, RingCentral has long committed to delivering next-generation tools to modern workforces. Thanks to dedicated industry solutions for education, RingCentral can provide teachers and administrators with a comprehensive toolkit for the new age of learning. Solutions like RingCentral MVP even combine messaging, video, and phone technology with the capabilities of a cloud contact centre.
Covering everything from student engagement opportunities to operations management and security, RingCentral’s end-to-end offering supports a huge range of leading universities. With RingCentral, faculty members can be there for students through every stage of their learning journey on any channel. There are also plenty of ways to bring staff members together for better collaboration in the age of distributed and remote work.
Microsoft
Microsoft is one of the companies most educational institutions are already familiar with in their day-to-day operations. The Microsoft ecosystem is brimming with tools to support the educational workforce, from OneDrive for sharing documents to the Office environment for spreadsheets and documents. Microsoft Teams, with its highly flexible platform, is now quickly becoming the go-to choice for Unified Communications too.
Ready to integrate with many of the Learning Management Systems and other tools educators use daily, Microsoft Teams provides educational facilities with the tools they need to collaborate, communicate, and inspire students anywhere. Thanks to Direct Routing and Operator Connect, schools and training facilities can even bring their existing communication providers into the Teams landscape to make the transition into cloud and virtual teaching easier than ever.
Avaya
One of the world’s leading solutions for communication technology, Avaya is best-known for delivering exceptional reliability, consistency, and quality. The Avaya ecosystem is brimming with useful tools for educators, from Unified Communications platforms to video meeting services and even contact centre technology. As one of the top companies committed to enabling a new era of education, Avaya has a dedicated selection of tools just for teachers and training facilities.
Avaya Cloud Office and similar tools allow educators to access everything from tools for sending rapid notifications to faculty across campus to solutions for online learning. With Avaya, schools have been able to maintain 100% enrolment, even during the challenges of the pandemic. Cloud and mobile apps also empower team members to maintain high levels of productivity and efficiency wherever they are, with virtual learning environments.
Zoom
Zoom is one of the main companies in the communication landscape that saw incredible adoption and uptake during the pandemic. Keen to find a way to continue engaging students in a remote environment, facilities affected by lockdown rapidly turned to Zoom for assistance. The company’s video-first focus on communications allowed students and teachers to stay connected, even when in-person learning environments were shut down.
The Zoom environment, complete with its own dedicated packages for educators, is ideal for webinars, events, and one-on-one learning sessions. With various aspects of Zoom to discover, teams can combine global phone lines with messaging and video conversations. Zoom’s highly flexible ecosystem also supports a host of integrations with powerful tools, both in the hardware and software environment, to take conversations to the next level.
Workplace from Meta
Introduced by Meta (previously Facebook) to support the new age of work, “Workplace” provides teams with a unified space for sharing knowledge and insights. The easy-to-use environment is easy to adopt, requiring minimal training for a distributed and rapidly evolving team. Plus, various valuable tools make it easy for educators to build communities key to the transformation of education.
With Workplace technology, facilities can keep their faculty aligned, no matter where they are in the world, create engaging experiences for students, and open the door to new experiences. What’s more, Meta’s investment in other areas of technology alongside the communication and collaboration landscape is likely to prove valuable to future teachers. Soon, we may see a future where significant segments of the educational landscape can move into the “Metaverse”.
Vonage
Another market leader in the communications space, Vonage has a host of flexible technology solutions to offer today’s educators. Whether you’re looking to set up virtual classrooms and video lectures, support mobile tutoring, or simply bring teams together, Vonage has you covered. The all-in-one ecosystem of tools and APIs makes it simple to build the perfect communication strategy from scratch. There’s no limit to the customisation options in the Vonage environment.
With Vonage Communication APIs, for instance, educators can create safe, video-rich learning environments suitable for all devices. You can personalise student experiences and help educators to share ideas in a convenient collaborative landscape. It’s easy to link your communication tools to other critical applications, and there are even global voice services available. Vonage takes a truly end-to-end approach to communication transformation.
Cisco
One of the better-known communication and technology companies in the world, Cisco has quickly captured the attention of endless educational institutions looking to evolve today. As remote learning and working become more common, Cisco’s powerful “Webex” environment empowers team leaders to unify educators wherever they are in the world, so they can collaborate on lesson plans and opportunities for engaging their learner communities.
Cisco’s exceptional technology is backed by state-of-the-art security and privacy solutions. You can even preserve student data in accordance with guidelines like COPPA and FERPA. Plus, there are endless ways to keep people connected, from video sessions to messaging and HD audio. Cisco connects students, educators, and faculty in an all-in-one environment for true innovation without compromising on performance.
