As educational institutions seek to adopt technologies that power hybrid work and hybrid instruction strategies, one stands out among the rest: cloud calling. It provides advantages that are hard to ignore. This includes better space utilization and the ability to enable environments that have the flexibility for staff, faculty, and students to communicate at an enterprise level. Along with greater security, efficiency, and ease of use, cloud calling addresses a variety of needs paramount to educational institutions as they seek the right calling platform for their situation. 

As we all moved to remote environments over the past two years, educational leaders realized they needed a calling platform that allowed business-class calling for staff and faculty. The  ability to use their campus phone number remotely was vital for staff and faculty as they began to work and teach remotely. Plus, they needed a cloud calling platform that worked both on-prem and remote, on a variety of devices while offering feature-rich capabilities. Lastly, any calling platform must enable a unifying experience regardless of location. That's where cloud calling, using Webex Calling, came in - as it adds real value in education.

Cloud calling gives you more freedom

Webex Calling provides secure communications for learning using cloud calling backed by standards-based zero trust secure edge-to-edge encryption, with secure identity as a key feature. With it, instructors have the confidence that their communications with students and families are secure. Plus, it frees them from having to use a personal number, such as that for their cell phone, allowing them to use their work number anywhere.

Now, more than ever, the privacy of faculty and staff is vital as we navigate hybrid work in education. Proactive and transparent security features from a cloud calling platform enables your educational institution to have the metrics and choice on where your stored data resides. By leveraging Webex Calling for cloud calling, you gain capabilities across organizations plus cross-border collaboration while keeping your PII, message, and file data in your region of choice.

Cloud calling adds security and ease of use for educators

The embedded security gained by leveraging Webex Calling for cloud calling in educational environments, adheres to the FCC's Enhanced 911 (E911) requirement. This includes Kari's Law, which enables direct dialing of 911 from any number. Additionally, the end-to-end security embedded within cloud calling supports the Ray Baum's Act that requires all 911 calls to include location accuracy as part of the solution. This gives your parents and educators comfort in knowing that a 911 call from a classroom will direct emergency personnel to that classroom, and not the front office.

A single app for your users, and a single pane of glass for the administrator managing the service, is also important. With cloud calling using Webex Calling, the user experience is seamless and easy to use from an end-user perspective. It brings control of calling, voicemail, contacts, and calendaring together. And in many cases, your existing on-campus desk phones can also be part of the solution. By enabling their current desk phones with Webex Calling, you can gain additional cost savings and ease of use. To further enhance deployment, system administrators can also easily configure the system campus-wide or for specific individuals and groups through a single portal - the Webex Control Hub.

Open up even more opportunities

An added benefit to choosing Webex Calling is the integration of the total Webex Suite of Webex Messaging, Webex Meetings and Webex Contact Center. Through an enterprise level agreement, this standards-based collaboration system can provide your institution with all the collaborative features to truly enable an integrated experience for staff, faculty, and students.

As the move to hybrid learning environments becomes more accepted, we must seek the most secure and flexible technologies to power them. With cloud calling, via Webex Calling, educators gain a valuable new tool for learning. One with greater security, efficiency, and ease of use. And one that can help you optimize the future of education.

Next Steps

• Learn more about cloud calling and Webex Calling
• Visit our new U.S. Higher Education site at com/go/USHED
• And our new U.S. K-12 site at com/go/USK12
• Student Engagement: Tools to Overcome Inequity