APR provides financial gains for Gresham’s School
The phone network installed in Gresham’s School, a private day and boarding school in Holt, by The APR Group has saved the organisation a massive £10,000 per annum. Gresham’s pre-prep, prep and senior schools are split between three sites and dozens of different buildings, and with each site having its own phone system [around eighty incoming lines in total] phone calls between sites had to be paid for. It also ran a complex data network that connected all the data for the campus via fibre optic cables and direct IP connections.
The APR Group, based in Wymondham, Norfolk is one of East Anglia’s leading telecommunications equipment suppliers and maintenance companies; as such, it was asked to provide a modern, simplified phone system that would be more efficient and less expensive to run.
Faced with updating such a complex and costly network, APR’s solution to Gresham’s problem was to install a phone system in the main admin office running traditional digital handsets, with other buildings connected via the existing IP network using VOIP handsets. Having completed this, the end result was that number of incoming phone lines was reduced from eighty to ten and that all internal calls became free of charge. Incorporated in the network is call management software that enables staff to run off reports on phone usage for every phone connected to the system.
APR Managing Director Andy Rackham comments: “To ensure that the project was delivered seamlessly, APR firstly carried out a full VOIP audit across the school’s complex network by sending random IP traffic around the system and collating the data to highlight any potential weak spots. We identified two on the first audit – two old hubs that would slow voice calls down. Once these were replaced by up-to-date data switches, the system underwent further tests.
When we were satisfied that we could successfully run VOIP across the network, APR firstly installed the main phone system into the senior school administration office with digital extensions attached. This meant that the hub of the system would continue to work in the event of a data network failure. We then rolled out the IP handsets to the other locations as required.”
Gresham’s new phone network brings multiple benefits. Not only do all three schools benefit by being connected by one phone system; the return on the initial investment is less than four years, and the school can now use the annual savings of £10,000 to invest in other, more valuable areas within the school.
For more details please contact APR Group.
Click here for more news about APR Group.