Mark, I co-lead a monthly call for the EDUCAUSE communications technology community group and specialize in consulting to higher-ed (we're trusted advisors, not integrators or resellers). The commtech CG has actively discussed the topics you have listed in our monthly call, slack and mailing list. You may find it helpful to look through the archives of all of those. If I can be of specific help, please let me know. I'll also be at the EDUCAUSE annual. See https://connect.educause.edu/community-home?communitykey=f664a717-d09a-4efe-... for our community group. A few generalized answers to your questions: -- Are campus users using the phone systems differently now than they did a few years ago? Yes, most campuses have seen a continued fall-off in telephone usage. For the typical end-user, that brings usage to near zero. -- Does every new staff or faculty member want a phone number? Few, if any institutions have taken away DIDs if they previously granted them. It's a hot topic in the community with many thinking we are at an inflection point that we could potentially stop providing telephony (e.g., PSTN connectivity and PBX licenses) to a large swath of the community but there are none I know of that have tried it. Politics rule higher-ed, not ROI -- Who are the heaviest users of the voice system? Departments who would likely benefit from a call center - even if that don't have an actual ACD today. Admissions, financial aid, the help desk, advancement (the people who ask for donations), athletics/performance ticketing, health clinics... etc). -- Have you recently removed any parts of the phone system? (E.g., Dorm room phones, blue-light emergency phones, desk phones for staff in favor of MS Teams, etc.) Dorm room phone went away long ago almost everywhere, many of reduced (not eliminated) desk sets during the pandemic, zoom/teams/slack rule the communications channels but the phone system is still there. Few have reduced blue light phones for non-technical reasons but they have reduced other analog for building entrance phones (think the box on the dorm entrance) and cut back on faxes. Analog is still large for elevators, fire alarms, alarm circuits and the like and has created major challenges with many hosted providers trying to stay away from analog, the LECs dropping POTS or anything that genuinely resembles it, NFPA requiring a long run time for elevator phones and the new ASME code requiring visual communications in elevators. I could go on at long length about this (and have) but hopefully, this gives you a bit more higher-ed info. Regards, Jon Young Vantage Technology Consulting Group On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 1:53 PM Mark Lindsey via VoiceOps < voiceops at voiceops.org> wrote:

Is anyone on here with good connections with Higher Education (Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools)? I'm doing a presentation at EDUCAUSE, the Higher-Ed IT Conference, on the changing uses of Voice communications in that space. I'd love to chat briefly to see how folks are using the phone system at High-Ed institutions and how they see that changing.

-- Are campus users using the phone systems differently now than they did a few years ago?

-- Does every new staff or faculty member want a phone number?

-- Who are the heaviest users of the voice system?

-- Have you recently removed any parts of the phone system? (E.g., Dorm room phones, blue-light emergency phones, desk phones for staff in favor of MS Teams, etc.)

I'd appreciate any pointers.

*Mark R Lindsey | SMTS *ecg.co *|** +1-229-316-0013 **|** mark at ecg.co <mark at ecg.co>* _______________________________________________ VoiceOps mailing list VoiceOps at voiceops.org https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/voiceops