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What is the Best Phone System for Colleges?

Dan Mills

Dan Mills

Field Sales Consultant

So you’re looking for a new phone system for your college? Maybe because you’re facing one of these problems with your current phone system;

  • You feel that frequent engaged tones may be leading to frustrated students and parents.
  • You’d like a phone system that links to your student management software, such as UNIT-e, so you can greet students by their name and save time.
  • You feel that enquiries may not always be dealt with in the best way so you want to monitor and improve the way your staff interact with students and parents.

If so, there’s hope! Yo Telecom has helped hundreds of colleges successfully overcome these challenges. In this short article, we’ll outline the differences between the phone systems that are available.

What is the Best Phone System for Colleges?

There are three main types of telephone systems available:

  • Digital phone systems
  • Internet (VOIP – Voice Over Internet Protocol) or cloud-based phone systems 
  • Hybrid phone systems (the best of both worlds)

I’ll briefly introduce the three and give you the lowdown on the pros and cons of each system and show you which one is the best for your college.

Digital Phone Systems for Colleges

A digital phone system is a physical telephone system that is located somewhere in your college. They are small boxes which are usually mounted on a wall or placed in a cabinet. They connect to your phone lines and all the handsets you have in your building. A benefit of a digital phone system is that it’s very reliable. This system ranks #2 out of the three systems in reliability. However, a disadvantage of a digital phone system is that it is restricted to physical phone lines (digital or analogue phone lines). This means it’s not that future-proof.

Internet (VOIP) Phone Systems for Colleges

An internet phone system, also known as a VOIP or cloud-based phone system, is a virtual phone system which unlike a digital or hybrid system will not be located in your college. Instead, it will be located in a data centre somewhere in the world. A benefit of VOIP systems is that they can save money on call charges. However, a disadvantage of VOIP systems is that if your internet goes down, you will not be able to use your phones – at all.

Hybrid Phone Systems for Colleges

The hybrid system is a mixture of a digital phone system and an internet (VOIP) phone system. The system will be located in your college and offers flexibility with your choice of cordless and fixed handsets. A benefit of a hybrid phone system is that they offer more reliability than both VOIP and digital phone systems. If one type of line fails for you, it can automatically route calls in and out from a backup line. Hybrid phone systems don’t really have any disadvantages. They truly are the best of both worlds.

The Hybrid Phone is the Best Phone System for Colleges

As well as being the most reliable phone system you can buy. Hybrid phone systems also offer a range of other useful features for colleges. You can find these listed below;

+ Whole Building Cordless Phone Coverage

Make or receive calls from anywhere in your college. Whether you’re in the front reception, an office upstairs or the staff room – you’ll have perfect signal to make sure you can respond to your calls wherever you are!

+ Call Logging

Never let an unanswered call turn into a missed opportunity, bad impression or an upset student or parent again. You may miss calls when you’re busy on the phone, helping students, or even when your reception is closed. With the Yo Telecom hybrid phone system you get an instant notification of any missed calls meaning you can call back straight away.

+ Call Waiting

Rather than getting an engaged tone while you’re busy on the phone, your phone system will automatically greet the caller, notify them that you’re busy on the line and then play them some music or marketing while they wait for you. This keeps your clients interested and on the line, rather than hanging up and looking into other colleges in the area.

Call Recording

Make calling your college a positive experience, always, by improving and monitoring the way your staff speak to students and parents. If a caller has a bad experience, it can be damaging to your reputation. With Yo Telecom’s call recording you can listen to any call that has been made or received and use it to guide and help staff to improve. It also comes in handy if you ever need to re-listen to information that is given to you over the phone.

+ Call Transfer

Help callers speak to the person they need to, fast! This feature allows easy call transfer throughout your entire college. No longer will your staff have to trek from the front desk to the back office to pass the phone to the principal. With the Yo Telecom hybrid phone system it’s one simple touch of a button to transfer a call to any other handset (cordless or fixed handset).

+ Professional Voicemail

If you can’t answer a call because your reception is closed or you are busy helping students, it’s important that your voicemail is impressive, professional and helpful. If not, your callers will get a bad and unhelpful impression of your college. Yo Telecom’s professional voicemail messages are personalised and recorded specifically for your college, to help you achieve your goals.

+ Smart Inbound Call Routing

Impress your callers with fast service by smartly sending inbound calls to a phone or a group of phones. If the person who usually answers calls is already busy on the phone or doesn’t answer quickly enough, the call will automatically be sent through to another phone. Saving your callers time and keeping them happy.

3 Step Plan to Increase the Success of Your College

1. Book a Demo

Book in for a FREE demo of our phone systems by calling us on 02382 146115 or by clicking the button below;

2. Sign up for the Option That Suits the Needs of Your College

One of our specialist consultants will come to your college and discuss all of your options until we have come up with the perfect solution that meets your requirements.

3. Let us Take Care of a Hassle Free Installation

Your delivery and installation date will be booked on a day that suits you. We’ll take care of the whole switch over and will train you to make the most of all of the features on your new phone system!

You can also hear how we’ve helped other business’s, directly from our clients, over on our YoTelecom YouTube Channel.

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