Case Study: Sir Frances Xavier College

About the customer

St Francis Xavier is a London-based Sixth Form College with approximately 1,300 learners. The college has been rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted.

The challenge

With 160 users, St Francis Xavier had a comprehensive list of requirements for their communications. Their existing system was not future-proof as it didn't enable them to use the latest IP technology services. IP telephony is the standard these days, so they understood the need to implement it. They also had a need for more flexible options, including hot-desking and the ability for some of the team to work remotely. Their previous setup made this difficult.

  • Future-proofing telephony

    The customer needed a road map for the future and one that took advantage of IP telephony.

  • Minimising disruptions

    St Francis Xavier were very keen to use the existing cabling from their data network to minimise disruptions and reduce installation costs.

  • Increasing flexibility

    The customer wanted to provide users with hot-desking functionality and allowing users the flexibility to work remotely when needed.

  • Call logging and reporting tools

    The last major requirement was a comprehensive call logging and call reporting solution so that the College could keep on top of their communications usage at all times.

The solution

Choosing iPECS meant reliability and scalability, catering to all of the College’s current needs, while also giving them the flexibility they wanted to grow in the future.

  • Room for growth

    Switching to iPECS gave the College scalability - they could simply add new users whenever they needed, making it perfect for their long-term growth plans.

  • Latest technology

    Accompanying the telephone system were 120 of the latest IP telephone handsets, an easy-to-use screen-based controller for the reception, as well as a gateway for 32 analogue or DECT phones for areas where there were no existing data cables.

  • Remote working

    Provision was also made for 10 remote workers to access the system at any one time using softphone technology on any PC connected to the Internet.

  • Communication and collaboration

    St Frances Xavier now have a feature-rich communication system to transform the way they communicate and collaborate.

Case study: Penistone Grammar School

About the customer

Penistone Grammar School is a secondary school with 2,000+ students, ~200 staff, including ~120 teachers. Founded in 1392 and based in a modern 2011 campus, it combines a long history with a focus on innovation in teaching and student welfare.

Challenges

The school’s legacy telephony system and limited device availability prevented it from supporting high volumes of simultaneous communication or providing every teacher with independent calling capability.

  • Outdated telephony infrastructure

    The existing PBX system running on ISDN lines could not meet current communication demands. It lacked scalability, flexibility and capacity for high call volumes across a large staff base.

  • Limited access to shared devices

    A small number of shared handsets created delays and inefficiencies. Staff often had to wait for device availability, which restricted consistent and timely communication with parents.

  • No support for concurrent teacher calling

    The school needed over 200 teachers to make calls at the same time. The existing system could not support this level of concurrent outbound calling across the organisation.

The solution

A cloud-based iPECS platform was deployed to provide scalable telephony, soft clients, modern handsets and analytics. The solution enabled independent communication for every teacher.

  • Cloud migration for scalable communications

    iPECS Cloud replaced the legacy PBX and provided a scalable system supporting more than 220 connections across staff devices, classrooms and offices.

  • Soft clients for teacher independence

    iPECS ONE was installed on teacher laptops, allowing staff to make and receive calls directly without relying on shared desk phones or fixed locations.

  • Updated handset deployment across the site

    A refreshed handset estate included iPECS 1050 handset with DSS consoles in reception, alongside iPECS 1030 handset and iPECS 1010 handset used across classrooms and staff areas.

  • Visibility through analytics

    iPECS Analytics gave leadership real-time insight into call activity. This improved oversight, highlighted bottlenecks and supported better management of parent communications.

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