Communication services
Modernising the way we communicate is key to improving our flexibility and our personal and organisational productivity. Unified Communications support this transformation by blending technologies to enable voice, messaging, video and collaboration tools to work in harmony and the tools will be available to all users.
Just imagine how you will be able to reduce your carbon footprint and save time travelling to short meetings by being able to set up and participate in telephone or video conferences from your desk, with your students, colleagues and external partners either on or off campus!
If you were based at the City site and needed to make a return journey to Clifton campus in a small car for a meeting, you would produce 2.3kg CO2. If you travel in a large car you would produce double – 4.6kg. 5 members of staff each driving in their own car would therefore produce between 11.5 and 23kg CO2 per trip.
What if you were planning to attend a half day conference in Edinburgh? Before even considering the cost of the journey, 268 miles each way, would produce the following amounts of CO2 emissions per return journey for one person:
- By large car – 221.7kg
- By small car – 109.9kg
- By train – 49.7kg
- By plane – 147.3kg
Preparing the foundation for this, we have been managing a programme to replace the current analogue phone system, which is reaching the end of its natural life, and replacing it with a new IP phone system. The new system provides the functionality required for the modern unified communications systems and services, starting with a new telephone handset. This has many functions that enable swifter and more efficient ways of keeping in touch.
Maximising the potential of the new systems, we're have also upgraded the capacity to cope with both the current and future increase in demand, moving to five digit extension numbers.
More than half of the University’s telephones are now IP. If you don't currently have an IP phone but want to know when your new handset will be arriving, more information can be found in our programme section.
The new technologies are being piloted by representatives from different parts of the business. Articles about the experiences of these participants will be published here soon. A full training programme and learning materials are being developed by the CPLD team.
