Voip Adoption at Butler University

VoIP Adoption at Butler University

        Butler University’s IT department was facing a crossroads. Continue along the safe path which would restrict progress and functionality across the campus or take a risk on a new technologically advanced communication platform that would solve all of their needs. This may seem like a very straightforward decision however when you weigh in the importance of a very reliable communication network the VoIP option began to seem a little risky. Much of this risk was mitigated when it was remembered that the university already had plans in place to upgrade the existing Ethernet data connections throughout the campus to improve their reliability. By improving the reliability of the internet connection with the budget of another project it allowed VoIP to move strongly into the position of being the best option. VoIP was new technology so the fear that it wouldn’t be able to handle high quality phone calls or that they would experience phone outages due to the now being a part of the data network at Butler which experienced them frequently before the upgrade caused many people including leaders in the IT department to second guess their decision.

        There were numerous benefits the new VoIP system. Each dorm room would now have voicemail boxes for each of the roommates instead of all the roommates having to share one. This added privacy as well as a system that is easily reconfigurable so when a student moved from their dorm room to another during their entire time as a student at the university their phone number would transfer with them. This benefit along with a campus alert system that is able to alert students through all internet connected devices campus-wide within a matter of seconds. All these benefits helped to outway the risks and when the program was implemented it went very well. There was only one tough week in the transition which is very good for a project of its magnitude. Soon thereafter the entire campus was completely converted over and the new system was running perfectly with zero complaints about voice quality on phone calls.

1. There are a good number of reasons why Butler decided that they needed to replace the current system. For one they had no way to route calls efficiently within an office. VoIP gave the university a system like we are accustomed to today where there are prompts that guide you through the system in order to get you to where you need to go without having to speak with a receptionist who is then responsible for transferring all of the calls. This made life much easier for the employees as well as made it much more user friendly especially in offices that had exceptionally high call volume. One of the offices that benefitted greatly from this ability was the admissions office whose phones ring nonstop throughout the day. Other benefits of the system are its easily configurable setup. The systems databases registered phone numbers to individual student which not only allowed them to have individual voicemail boxes but it also allowed the students to move around campus from year to year and their phone number would automatically be transferred with them to their new dorm.  The last major benefit of the new system is that it allows students to be almost immediately notified of an emergency via their phones, computer, and any other device that is connected into the campus network.
2. Butler’s IS department was responsible for handling research on what they needed in order for the system to work smoothly and function completely as planned. The new system required multiple servers in order to manage the massive database of ever changing phone number and their association with IP addresses and the user. This all needed a way to be displayed and worked on in case of an error within the system. This was done through software packages that required research in order to verify their compatibility with the new system as well as the other systems that were all being merged into the same system. This required that the network be able to handle both voice and internet data all at the same time while still being as reliable as the old phone system. The IS department did an exceptional job making sure that all of the systems worked together. The only issue that arose was due to the incompatibility of an Ethernet to Phone jack convertor that was to be used to relay emergency messages to the police station. This was quickly fixed when they found old telephone wiring that wasn’t being used for anything that could easily take the place of the converter and make the system work as it was intended too.
3. The vendors played a big role in the VoIP project. Vendors were researched by the IS department but in order to make the systems work seamlessly the vendors needed to have equipment that was not only compatible with all the other equipment but was designed to work in a robust system that had a lot of purposes. The vendors were responsible for making sure their software could handle the communication between all of the devices and that their hardware had a reliable way to store and historized all of the data in order to troubleshoot outages.
4. The decision to change the entire campus to VoIP was an extremely good decision. Technology advancements allowed for it and everything went smoothly. This transition was done long before most other universities or business made the transition which allowed them to have a leg up on their competition while being more efficient. Due to the project occurring before VoIP was huge they probably received a better rate than if they would have waited till everyone was completely confident in the system. This reduction in risk likely would have increased the costs. Due to the project also being early on it is likely that the vendors gave very good pricing and excellent support because they wanted to show that their systems could work in that environment.