What unified communications can do for Singapore's education system

As Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted in his National Day Rally 2013 speech, “Education is a big concern for parents and students because it plays a big role in shaping one’s potential and opportunities in Singapore.”

There is no doubt the tiny island nation is short on natural resources in the 21st-century race for wealth, health and long-term security. The founding fathers knew a well-educated workforce would ultimately serve as the country’s best bet for maintaining a competitive edge globally.

Almost 50 years later, the nation is still strongly focused on the intrinsic value of a good education system and it is no surprise in tech-savvy Singapore that modern technologies have transcended the workplace, and are taking centre stage in its knowledge-sharing institutions. 

Communications Challenges Faced by Schools Globally

All schools face the same challenges arising from parents wanting to be in close communication with their children’s teachers, counsellors and school administrators.

Seamless contact becomes an issue when teachers do not have individual phone numbers or voice mail at school – so parents have to resort to email and texting or calling teachers on their private mobile phones, if those numbers have even been shared.

With countless inbound parent enquiries needing to be addressed efficiently, schools cannot afford to compromise timely and smooth communications.

UC as a Vital Communications Resource for Educational Institutions

Regardless of size or academic reputation, schools are starting to opt for advanced, reliable communication and collaboration systems to assimilate into existing infrastructure for heightened overall productivity.

A platform once reserved for corporate boardrooms, unified communications (UC) have evolved to automate and unify human and device communications in a common context and experience for workers, students, educators, parents and administrators alike. 

More and more school districts are seeking state-of-the-art communications to connect dispersed parties immediately, so issues are resolved quickly without face-to-face meetings.

In some schools, the communications system provides a unique voice mailbox for each teacher that can be accessed from any telephone, including teachers’ own personal mobile devices, at any time.

Increasingly, mobile UC solutions allow teachers to check the availability of other teachers or counsellors so multiple parties can join a spontaneous conference call with a parent, with the click of a button. 

Additionally, UC can indicate the caller’s identity before a call is answered, so school office staff can anticipate the caller’s likely child and his/her on-premise location at the time.

Should a teacher have to be contacted, a direct phone call or voicemail can expedite communication – resulting in office staff spending less time managing parent enquiries and logistics, and more time administering school business.

Since many teachers use their own smart phones for both personal and school business, the latest mobile UC solutions can assist teachers to access the school directory after hours, engage with voice mail off campus, manage conference calls from home after hours when parents are more available, and interact with other faculty members at any time.  

UC Must Be Intuitive and Easy to Manage

The above are examples of how schools can benefit from adopting a suitable UC system. Equally important is the necessity for the system to be easy to use and manage.

Educators, students and administrators prefer a school phone system that is simple to navigate and enables strong collaboration, without jeopardising response time, service quality or functionality.

System administration must also be centralised and straightforward in order to minimise help-desk support. Administrators are wise to choose a system that offers clear-cut navigation – requiring minimal instruction and consolidated voicemail and email for one-stop communications management.

Conclusion

In a quest to introduce new and better school-wide communication systems, educators are progressively leveraging effective and affordable UC solutions.

In addition, UC is proving to enhance overall parent-teacher-administrator communications and productivity, mitigating so many in-person meetings during school hours.