Getting through shouldn’t be difficult. But as the trust grew, so did the complexity of their communications. For many multi-academy trust, growth creates challenges behind the scenes. Different schools inherit different systems, suppliers and ways of working. One school uses a legacy phone system. Another has recently upgraded. A third relies on a completely different provider.
Before long, a trust is managing multiple contracts, multiple support arrangements and multiple ways of reaching people. And before you know it, no one can get hold of who they need to, when they need to.
All schools work differently
As one growing trust expanded, its communications estate became increasingly fragmented. What started as individual school decisions had created a patchwork of systems across the organisation. Staff experiences varied from site to site, management was complex and future planning became difficult.
The issue wasn’t that the systems didn’t work. The issue was that they didn’t work together.
Looking beyond the phone system
Many organisations approach communications projects by focusing on hardware. Handsets. Contracts. Numbers. The real opportunity is bigger than that.
The goal should be a communications platform that connects schools, supports flexible working and provides a consistent experience for staff, parents and stakeholders. By implement a trust-wide 3CX solution, communications were brought together onto a single platform, creating a more joined-up approach across the organisation.
Simpler for schools, easier to manage
With one platform, schools gained a consistent way of managing calls and communications. Trust leaders gained greater visibility. It teams no longer had to support multiple systems and suppliers. Most importantly, staff and parents benefited from a more reliable and streamlined experience.
The technology became easier to manage because there was less of it to manage.
The lesson
The challenge was never really about phones. It was about consistency. As trusts grow, systems that work perfectly well for individual schools can become barriers to efficiency when viewed across the wider organisation.
Bringing communications together creates opportunities to reduce complexity, improve support and build a platform that can scale alongside the trust.
One conversation
If your trust is managing multiple phone systems, suppliers or communications contracts, it may be worth asking a simple question:
Are your schools working together, or just working alongside each other?
A unified communication strategy can do more than modernise technology. It can bring the whole organisation closer together.
Considering a communications review?
Whether you’re managing multiple phone systems, reviewing contracts or planning for future growth, we can help you assess whether a unified communications platform could simplify management, improve user experience and support your long-term strategy.
The detail, one idea to a paragraph. Keep it to what a head, a bursar or an IT lead would act on, and leave the rest out.
