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Customer profile

More than 2,230 students from over fifty nations study at the Opfikon Elementary School. State-of-the-art teaching methods are used in a lively, constantly evolving environment. Around 400 employees support the students in a wide variety of areas. A good 300 teachers and therapists are committed to the well-being of the children and young people. At the four school buildings in Halden, Lättenwiesen, Oberhausen and Mettlen, 29 kindergarten classes, 66 regular classes of the elementary school and 27 regular classes of the three-part secondary school are taught.

Microsoft Teams Telephony as a communications solution for 500 teachers

Even before the Corona pandemic, the Opfikon school was looking for an optimal communications solution. The aim was to ensure that teachers could be reached directly by students and their parents. Lengthy detours via the school administration, annoying queues and subsequent callbacks were to be avoided as far as possible. The distance learning lockdown clearly demonstrated the urgency of a comprehensive implementation.

Accessible on all devices with OneNumber

Direct and simple communication was required to make the exchange in the learning environment even more lively for everyone.

The task could best be realized with the UPC SIP Trunk IP PBX for MS Teams. This provided 1,000 phone numbers that are directly integrated with the Microsoft Teams Voice cloud service. With the OneNumber concept, it is possible to always use the same personal phone number on the cell phone, tablet or PC/notebook, regardless of location. This creates a direct and easy connection between all users and also to external contacts.

Within 30 days, 500 Teams users were equipped with the telephony function (own phone number) and after another two weeks the rollout was already completed. In addition to classic telephony, the VoiceMail function supports all teachers in their exchanges with students, parents and teachers.

Caspar Salgo, Head of Education at the Opfikon school, was very satisfied with the results of the Teams rollout: "Together with the Baggenstos team, we were able to implement the changeover quickly and efficiently. Acceptance of the new solution was quick after a short training session. Now we are looking forward to the many other possibilities of using Teams in teaching and administration."

Facts and Figures

Initial situation and objective

Until now, the teachers at the Opfikon school could not be reached directly via their own telephone number. True to the school's own motto "Opfikon lives and moves", teachers should be easily and directly accessible for learners and their parents. Lengthy detours via the school administration and callbacks should be eliminated for the most part. The goal was therefore to enable uncomplicated and direct access to each teacher via their own landline number. The cloud service Microsoft Teams proved to be the best solution. This meant that teachers who were already using Teams could also be provided with the telephony function via the Teams client.

Another advantage: In addition to classic telephony, the voicemail function supports teachers in exchanges with students, parents and also in communication within the teaching staff.

Solutions

UPC SIP Trunk IP PBX for MS Teams was used as the solution for the implementation. This enables 1,000 phone numbers to be made available and integrated directly into Microsoft's cloud service.

Added value with the OneNumber concept

With the OneNumber concept, it is also possible to use a single personal phone number on the cell phone, tablet or PC/notebook, regardless of location. This creates a direct and simple connection between all users.

Results

The added value for the Opfikon school lies in the significantly shortened communication paths for teaching staff. The personal voice mail function also supports uncomplicated exchange via voice messages.

With the new team communication and telephony solution, the Opfikon Comprehensive School, with its more than 2,230 students, is now well equipped for the future. Virtual communication enables uncomplicated, location-independent and direct exchange between teachers, students, support staff and parents. In this way, the school makes an important contribution to interactive learning and promotes a lively learning experience.

Challenges

The conversion of 500 users within 30 days required a tight schedule and a well-organized implementation of the individual project steps.

For outgoing calls, 0900 numbers had to be blocked and rules for national and international outgoing calls defined and implemented.

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Many thanks for the good cooperation

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Opfikon school and all those involved in the project for their excellent cooperation in a spirit of partnership. We are pleased to contribute to modern, future-oriented communication in education and administration with the deployed Teams Enterprise Telephony solution.

Direct line to the teaching staff

Added value for schools with the cloud solution Microsoft Teams Telephony

Kommunikation 4.0 Project query

School Opfikon