How Hosted VoIP Supports Private Schools with Built-in Disaster Recovery

While disaster recovery is important for all organizations in every sector, it is especially vital for private schools that, in the event of a power outage, urgently need to keep the lines of communication open to ensure staff and student safety, and keeps parents informed and up-to-date.

However, traditional phone systems are vulnerable to local power outages – including regular “brown outs” that are experienced in many parts of the country, and especially throughout New England and the Northeast. During such outage periods – that can last anywhere from a few minutes to hours – there is no phone system access whatsoever. It is literally like going back in time to the 19th century.

Fortunately, hosted VoIP phone systems have built-in disaster recovery features, which is a core reasons why more and more private schools across the country are making the switch. These features include:

• Geographically-Dispersed Cloud Infrastructure

With hosted VoIP, private schools are not obligated to connect buildings with copper wire. Rather, all communication is supported by a geographically-dispersed cloud infrastructure.

As such, during a local power outage, private schools do not have to worry about their phone system going “off the grid” (i.e. back to the 19th century). They can continue sending and receiving calls, and accessing all system features – even as other private schools nearby (as well as all other businesses) using traditional phone systems cannot even get a dial tone.

• Automatic Failover Response

Hosted VoIP phone systems utilize broadband Internet connection to transfer both audio and video (for web and video conferencing). In the unlikely event that a private school’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) suffers a power outage or the Internet connection goes offline for any reason, automatic failover response takes over and switches to a secondary connection. When the primary connection comes back online, it switches back – again, automatically.

• e911 Service

When using a traditional phone system, a local power outage or any other issues affecting the connection (e.g. wires cut due to digging) means that private schools cannot dial 911 emergency services.

However, with hosted VoIP, as noted above the system is built on a geographically dispersed cloud infrastructure. As such, private schools can access emergency services (referred to as “e911” service) 24/7/365. This service is mandated by the FCC and managed by each private school’s hosted VoIP Solutions Provider. As such, it is both reliable and offered at no additional cost.

• Automated Attendant

Last but not least, a very important feature of hosted VoIP systems is the built-in Auto Attendant feature. This allows private schools to quickly and easily customize greetings based on current events – such as power outages, inclement weather, or even natural disasters. As such, when worried parents call private schools to inquire about the safety of their child, they can be immediately greeted by an updated announcement, and have their call directed to the right department.

Learn More

To learn more about how hosted VoIP supports private schools with built-in disaster recovery, contact the experts at Votacall today. We have in-depth experience supporting private schools across the country.

Also download our FREE new ebook “10 Reasons Why Private Schools Are Switching to a Hosted VoIP Phone System”: