Skokie School District 68 serves the diverse communities of Skokie and Morton Grove, IL and its families. The district provides primary education for over 1,600 students. Skokie School District 68 is continually recognized as a leader in public education. Back in 2018 RAM Communications was initially hired by the district for telecom expense management. Our staff was asked to help the IT staff review, interpret and in some cases audit the line services for all the school district’s facilities. Our team was able to help management successfully navigate their current services and identify outdated phone lines.
As a result, RAM was able to help eliminate unused lines and lower the district’s fixed costs. RAM also served as the district’s consultant helping management negotiate better terms with its line service provider. In 2020 RAM was asked to help the school district with another project. This time the IT department and administration wanted an updated phone system to better serve its needs. Those needs included several criteria: better reliability, centralized system control and elimination of equipment maintenance costs. The initial Telecom Expense Management (TEM) project allowed RAM to become familiar with the school facilities and service needs.
As a result we were better equipped to make new service recommendations. That experience contributed to a better overall design. To improve overall reliability and efficiency Skokie School District was seeking both a hosted and unified phone solution. The proper hosted solution would leverage a larger, redundant network monitored by a 24×7 service center. This outsourced model would eliminate much of the support burden from Skokie’s IT team. Skokie’s IT team asked RAM to look for the best possible solution with a robust communications portal. Ideally, the portal would bring clear and usable information for both IT and management staff. As with all our recommendations, RAM worked closely with the client to research and select a handful of worthy competitors.
In the end, RAM helped Skokie School District 68 choose Access One. Access One is a local player in the Chicago Market that brought an industry-leading hosted platform. The solution was competitively priced and met the district’s specific requirements. Finally, RAM and Access One brought a team of installers to implement, test and document the new system. The system was operational in just a few days.
Today, Skokie School District uses its unified communications platform with greater efficiency than their old platform. Desk phones work in tandem with mobile and desktop applications. In a pinch, especially during snow days, administrators can use the hosted system to redirect phone calls to home-bound staff and other personnel. Any and all necessary software updates and phone replacements are included in Access One’s solution. Maintenance and material costs are, for the most part eliminated from the district’s operating budget.
Overall benefits:
- The hosted system eliminated old analog lines and circuits lowering service costs
- The hosted system eliminated virtually all maintenance costs of the premise-based system
- The hosted system is integrated with mobile and laptop apps for easier monitoring
- The secure platform is monitored and supported by Access One for no added fees
- Administrators can change call routes and greetings as needed for school calendars
- Updated phone systems provide the best of old technologies with new-world reliability