Since 2019, UK telecommunications provider BT has been preparing to shut down services based on the traditional copper-based public switched telephone network (PSTN) and integrated digital network (ISDN). While many see this as a threat, Cardiff Council sees the PSTN shutdown as an opportunity to rethink school communications while improving cost-effectiveness, business continuity and flexibility for staff.
Specifically, Cardiff Council has initiated what it calls a digital transformation of its schools’ communications systems through an investment in Ring Central’s Avaya Cloud Office to enable flexible working and give teachers and staff the ability to be reachable on a single number, whether in the school building or elsewhere.
“Not only did we need to transition all schools before the PSTN shutdown deadline, but we also had the opportunity to select a communications system that would enable economies of scale and provide a robust business continuity solution should lockdowns ever be imposed again,” said Huw David, the council’s operations manager for ICT services.
“Our schools’ phone systems have grown organically over many years,” he said. “They all had different arrangements with their own negotiated contracts and we were dealing with different types of cell phones and technologies.”
“Everything has been repeated,” said David. “We did a survey and it turned out that Cardiff schools were spending around £600,000 a year on telephony. However, with Avaya Cloud Office we were able to save around £350,000. For a public body, that’s money that could be redirected to other much-needed areas.”
After just over 18 months of transition, 2,500 users have already been onboarded to Avaya Cloud Office, a cloud-based phone system that allows teams to communicate and collaborate through a single platform. The service enables flexible working, giving teachers and staff not only the flexibility of being reachable on a single number, but also the ability to manage their availability.
As a public body, Cardiff Council must follow standard procurement processes, including due diligence to evaluate different digital telephony products available on the market. Avaya’s ecosystem partner FourNet – a specialist in secure cloud, CX consulting and digital transformation in the public sector – helped the council’s education department find a suitable solution. Already included in the public sector procurement framework across Wales, FourNet helped with the procurement process.
With 72 of 128 schools already having completed the migration, the council is ahead of its transition plan and teachers and staff are set to gain agility in communications and business continuity. In addition, the council said it has achieved significant cost savings and economies of scale, as well as ease of use and analytics data for IT administrators.
“The PSTN shutdown is a great opportunity to rethink schools’ communications tools and consider what would be possible if all the separate, siloed technology components worked together in an integrated and holistic way,” said Steve Joyner, vice president of UK and Ireland at Avaya. “Cardiff Council had the foresight to recognise this and its schools will be well placed in the years to come to reap all the communications and collaboration benefits that a best-in-class cloud phone system has to offer.”
