Is a Total Sky Cloud-Based Phone System Right for My School District? Cloud-based phones systems have been around for a while, but what are they exactly? Total Sky cloud-based phone system provides you an opportunity to improve the productivity of your school district while cutting costs by leveraging the cloud. We have gathered the top 10 questions we get at Total Technologies about using cloudbased phone systems with helpful answers to help you make an informed decision. 1
What exactly is the Total Sky cloudbased phone system? Cloud or hosted phone systems are not new. Businesses have been using cloud-based solutions for years. Cloud-based phone systems leverage the power of cloud hosting and technology innovation to bring school districts of any size a complete enterprise phone system at a fraction of the cost of traditional phone systems. How is it different from my existing service? If you are like the majority of school districts out there, you have a basic phone service through your local carrier or reseller with a traditional hardware-based PBX. This usually requires equipment and software located within your school campus and requires changes to be made by your IT staff. With the cloud, all of this hassle goes away. No more PBX hardware or software required to be installed at your campus. With a cloud-based solution, you can configure your phone system through our user portal and all changes are instant and as simple as clicking your mouse. 2
What are the benefits of a Total Sky cloud-based phone system? Cloud phone systems provide 4 primary benefits: 1. Extensive Features: Cloud phone systems bring you all the functionality of traditional enterprise phone systems and a whole lot more like fax in your inbox, advanced call routing, ability to make all changes instantly, and much more. 2. Lower Cost of Ownership: With no hardware to buy upfront, no maintenance costs, and all-inclusive monthly charges, cloud-based systems are less expensive than traditional solutions. With E-Rate funding disappearing at 20% per year for a traditional PBX, cloud phone systems are a service and have first priority for E-Rate funding. 3. Ease of Use: A cloud phone system takes just minutes to set up though your user portal and all changes go live instantly. 4. Flexible and Scalable: Cloud phone systems are extremely flexible and customizable to meet the needs of your school so you can have your phone system exactly the way that you need it. And as your school grows, adding new users and locations is as easy as clicking a button. You pay only for the exact features you need and for the exact number of employees that need them. You pay for what you use, nothing more! Do I get to keep my phone number? Yes. When you move to a cloud-based phone system you can transfer your existing numbers from your old system. This is often called LNP, or local number portability. The real benefit to you, is that there is no need to update all your published documents or ask your users to learn a new phone number. 3
What kind of special equipment do I need? You do not need any special phone system hardware to use a cloud phone system. You use IP phones that are fully-supported for cloud services. In some cases your existing phones are cloud and SIP compatible. In these cases you would not have to buy new phones. How reliable is the cloud? Cloud solutions are extremely reliable and offer redundancy that is not available with noncloud solutions. For example, if you experience a storm, a hurricane, or an earthquake, and your office is damaged because of flooding or just shut down, your cloud based phone system will not be impacted since it is not located in your physical office location. You can simply log in from anywhere and reroute your customer s calls to employees working anywhere. But what if my Internet goes down? Total Sky phone systems provide access even if your internet goes down. The phone system automatically forwards calls to your smartphone. Basically you carry your backup plan with you your cell phone and never miss a call. 4
Can it meet the changing needs of my school district? Yes, that is the beauty of cloud-based solutions. You can add new features based on the needs of your district. Are you adding new employees? No problem. Do you need to add a new classroom? No problem, you add an employee with the click of your mouse and never have to buy PBX hardware. Need to change your school hours for holiday seasons? That s OK, it s easy to update. Your service can change as your school or district changes, without the risk of losing investments made in PBX hardware or long-term support contracts. Will it become obsolete? No. This is the power of cloud-based technology. With Total Sky, you never have to manage multiple versions of a product and all technology changes go live instantly to all customers using the cloud service. For customers, this means that they automatically experience the most advanced and current version of your phone system without having to do anything because it updates automatically. Cloud services benefit from seamless feature updates because there is no hardware or software to upgrade. You ll get the latest features as they become available. Who is using cloud-based phone systems to support their school? Small to large school districts are reaping the benefits of cloud phone systems. A one-person IT department can be accessible and immediately respond to problems thanks to our cloud-based customer portal and our 24/7 technical support center. So whether you are a small school district or a large multi-location school district, cloud phone systems are a great solution. 5
Ready to give cloud a try? Our Total Sky hosted voip solution is an easy-to-use, flexible business phone system designed for small and medium businesses that works the way you do. Total Sky offers a complete phone and fax solution with big business features and mobility for a small business price. Business class Polycom desk and conference phones arrive Plug & Ring ready, and you get implementation advisors and free 24x7 support. For more information, please contact a sales representative, visit http://www.total-tec.com/total-sky or call 281-448-7676. 6