The Customer
Ayrshire College – is a further education institution in Scotland – it serves the Ayrshire area, surrounding areas and overseas students.
The Challenge
Since 2002, Ayrshire College has relied on Exchange Communications to provide their telecoms systems across all three campuses.
Ayrshire College, formerly known as Kilmarnock College, tendered for a replacement telephone system to replace their ageing Avaya and antiquated Nortel telephone systems at different sites. They required a new centralised system that could grow and change with the college, with staff moving from location to location across campus. Exchange Communication’s Avaya proposal was selected.
Over the past 15 years, Exchange Communications have continued to provide innovative and cost-effective telecoms solutions to meet Ayrshire College changing needs and supporting the College’s aim to be on the leading edge when it comes to new technology.
Exchange Communications successfully installed the telephony in the recently opened Ayrshire College £53 Kilmarnock Campus, including installing over 400 telephone extensions.
Integration of James Watt College
Kilmarnock College and James Watt Colleges amalgamated on 2nd August 2013 to form Ayrshire College. The James Watt IT staff and approximately 100 end users of the newly installed Microsoft Lync phone system took the opportunity to replace Lync, which had not met expectations, with an Avaya IP Office PBX supplied, installed and maintained by Exchange Communications.
Exchange Communications were awarded the contract in June 2013 and the PBX system replacement was completed by mid-July 2013. The two Avaya systems of Kilmarnock and James Watt were integrated with calls being passed between sites “on net” to eliminate call spend entirely.
The James Watt users also benefit from the same Unified Communications features with one number dialling, integrated Voicemail and extension to mobile features available to them.
Implementation
The College opted for an Avaya VOIP Communication Manager solution that consolidated its existing separate voice and data networks into a single network.
Kilmarnock Campus wanted to utilise advanced features with staff roaming the campus but within contact via their single extension number. Staff members also change frequently so ease of user admin updates of the directory, including voicemail systems, was essential.
Previous investment by the College was preserved since the solution was compatible with all of the 1,500 telephones that the school already had in place – digital, analogue and IP. It was also possible to upgrade existing licences as part of the migration. The new system was installed in parallel and proven on the College’s new IT infrastructure prior to decommissioning the now obsolete PBXs.
Exchange Communications upgraded the College’s current Avaya system, centralising it to be based in the Kilmarnock building which offers staff greater flexibility for hot-desking and remote working while saving the College money on maintenance costs.
Key Results / Benefits
By working with Ayrshire College and fully understanding their business needs, Exchange Communications were able to design a solution that offered a number of benefits including:
- Improved IT productivity – MACs are completed twice as fast as before. Voice and data teams are cross-trained.
- Improved mobile connectivity – Six-digit dialling lets faculty and staff connect with each other more quickly and easily. Extension-to-mobile keeps IT and maintenance teams always in reach.
- Future-proofed for growth – Open architecture lets the college build on its embedded base and add new applications as needed.
- Cost savings due to integration to current data network, lower TCO, lower ongoing maintenance costs, and better internal communications.