Education
Cloud-based Solutions for Public & Private Schools

Voice, Chat, Video, NG911 Emergency Management,
Mass Notification, Panic Buttons, & Network Services

SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY GUIDE FOR 2023 pdf

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)
& Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)
from Government Approved Service Providers & Major Carriers

Hardware SIP Phones

Today's teachers and most users have moved a lot of their communications to their mobile phones and apps. That trend will continue with everyone moving to the cloud.

Some users will still require a desktop hardware-based phone to meet their needs.

Here is a page with multiple options for desktop/hardware phones as well as wireless and cordless phones, conference room speakerphones, and even headsets.

Brookside Cloud Consulting has the experience to help you get the best deal on the right solution - including hardware and cordless SIP phones.

Click Here to see the latest SIP Phones

Fiber, SD WAN & Network Services

We order and manage the implementation of network services.

We get the best deal on fiber and managed SD WAN solutions - at no cost to you. 

Why not let us take care of it since you have better things to do?

Schedule Discovery Call

Brookside is FREE to clients! We get paid by the providers and carriers when WE order the services so let us do it all!


 
K-12 Public Address Intercom Bell/Clock/Emergency Notification Solution

Valcom school communication solutions provide high-quality audio, efficient daily communications, emergency notification, & manageability.

Connect your existing devices and infrastructure to provide a modern unified daily and emergency school intercom system.

Business Communications Channels
How have you communicated with businesses the last 12 months?

WEBCHAT & SELF-SERVICE CHATBOTS  

If you don’t have Web Chat on your website today, you may be missing out on critical, time-sensitive questions and valuable engagement opportunities.

Web Chat allows your school to answer questions LIVE from the students.


Parents, and/or employees instantly and automatically on your website.

Web-based chatbots work around-the-clock, so you can reduce call and email volume, track important interactions, and support people — whether your office is bustling or even closed for the day. 

Speech Analytics and Conversational AI

IBM Watson Assistant
Build better virtual agents, powered by AI

Conversational AI for fast and friendly customer care We bet both you and your customers would like interactions to be friendlier and faster.

To help you deliver that full functionality, IBM Watson Assistant brings you a conversational artificial intelligence platform designed to help remove the friction of traditional support, and to deliver exceptional customer care based on the advantage of AI.

While you improve customer experience with a single path to providing improved chat, intelligent AI virtual agent, and human agent contact center support, you also gain a new, intuitive interface that empowers everyone in your organization to build and maintain AI-powered virtual agents and AI-powered chatbots — without having to write a single line of code.

IBM Watson  & Chatbots

Top 5 Use Cases for Universities Using Chatbots

As Gen Z enters higher education, support expectations are constantly rising. Today’s students have grown up accustomed to the speed and convenience that technology brings, and they now expect their schools to provide this too.

To meet these lofty expectations, many schools are introducing university chatbots.

With cost-effective automation from chatbots, schools are improving access to services and providing students with faster and more satisfactory support.

1. Automate Student Self-Serve

For schools supporting Gen Z students, self-serve support should be at the forefront of their strategy. A survey found that 75% of Gen Z look to noncompany resources like Reddit or YouTube to solve their issues either all or most of the time, rather than contacting customer support.

Introducing a university chatbot is an ideal way to provide self-service to students in a way they’re comfortable accessing it – using a familiar chat interface. A university chatbot can be integrated with existing resources to guide students towards the information they need.

This information can be provided to students as text, images, video, or links within the chat window. With students helping themselves, your agents will also be more available to tackle complex issues and provide the personalized support that today’s students expect.

2. Route students to the best agent for the job

Students hate being transferred between agents when they seek support. For universities using chatbots, this problem can thankfully be eliminated when a bot is used to ask students a few questions at the beginning of a chat.

By collecting some information upfront, students can be routed to the best agent for the job, ensuring a streamlined resolution to the query.

With 75% of Gen Z expecting to solve complex problems by speaking to one person, university chatbots can significantly improve the student experience. Routing rules can be used to direct student chats based on factors such as agent skill level, geographic region, or chat topic.

In practice, this might include directing stressed students to their assigned counselor or routing potential students with questions about scholarships to the Financial Aid department. 

Research shows that schools must work hard to earn the trust of Gen Z students, as only about 41% say they trust colleges and universities. Getting students to the resources that they need can be an important step in developing a trusting relationship between school and student.

3. Provide 24/7 support availability

Today’s students have a range of high support expectations, from how they receive help to when. 72% of Gen Z say that they expect to interact with someone immediately when they contact a company.

A well-trained university chatbot using the latest conversational AI can respond to most incoming chats without agent intervention, and this creates an opportunity for schools to offer cost-effective 24/7 support.

Chatbot to provide support outside of their regular business hours and with a chatbot in place, it was able to automate 83% of all incoming chats to their Future Student department.

Thankfully for universities using chatbots, building and programming a chatbot is made easy with the right tools and doesn’t require a technical background. 

4. Spend more time on complex and sensitive queries

Experts have noted that Gen Z highly values personalization. In the classroom, this extends to student engagement that can help to boost enrollment and curb dropout. Although it may seem counterintuitive, universities using chatbots are an effective tool at providing the most personalized support available.

This is because, with a bot handling the most straightforward requests, agents can spend more time on complex and sensitive issues that require more attention.

As schools focus more on the mental well-being of students in higher education, a university chatbot can make agents and student counselors more available.

With around-the-clock resources available via chatbot and improved access to services during standard hours, chatbots help schools show students that they’re well supported in all aspects of their education.

5. Handle appointments and bookings

One of the top use cases for universities using chatbots is in automating the booking of appointments and resources. 60% of Gen Z say that they find chatting with customer service stressful. With this tendency toward introversion, where it’s possible to do so, schools should look for ways that students can get access to tools and services without going through an agent.

Task bots can easily be integrated with existing scheduling tools to handle bookings and appointments in higher education. Examples of where a university chatbot can be used to automate manual processes include: Booking study rooms in a library. Setting confidential appointments with a student counselor.

Scheduling admissions appointments outside of standard hours. With a chatbot handling these tasks inside a standard chat window, the process is easier and more natural for students than completing forms. As with other chatbot capabilities, a task bot can handle bookings and appointments 24/7, helping to decrease anxiety and letting students make plans on their own time.

Wrap Up These 5 university chatbot examples are just the beginning of what a chatbot can do for higher education. To learn about universities using chatbots to improve the student experience, download our full SlideShare, Top 10 Use Cases for Chatbots in Higher Education. 

Major Universities using Nice CXOne for Self-Service & AI 



Is your school ready for an Active Shooter?

Prioritizing Safety & Security
for the 2022-2023 School Year

School Safety-Related Grants

On June 28, 2022, Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan, Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman, and House Appropriations Chair Dr. Greg Bonnen announced $17.1 million in funding to TEA to distribute to school districts to purchase silent panic alert technology (SPAT).

On October 27, 2022, they  announced an additional $400 million in funding to TEA to "assist school districts in replacing or upgrading doors, windows, fencing, communications, and other safety measures."

FAQ
TEA Grant Opportunities
TEA School Safety Site

Uvalde families have files a $27 billion lawsuit over the mass shooting.

The families' legal counsel says they plan to sue the Uvalde CISD, the City of Uvalde, the Uvalde County Sheriff's office as well as the Texas DPS US Border Patrol.

The claim heavily cites a Texas House investigative committee’s July 17 report on the mass shooting that found extensive and systemic failures in the law enforcement response on both the local and the state level.

Those “faulty assumptions and poor decisions” resulted in the shooter remaining inside two classrooms with his victims for more than 70 minutes before officers engaged and
killed him.

911Inform Emergency Management

911inform provides full situational awareness and communication across multiple platforms connecting Emergency Response Teams with Key Building Personnel on a centralized communication platform.

There's no question that knowing what is going on in the building through access to ALL video surveillance cameras combined with the ability to lock and/or unlock doors would have help reduce the number of victims in Uvalde or any of the school shootings.

Combined with options like Gunshot Detection and Weapons Detection, there is no question that  911inform would have saved several lives.

Every second counts when  there is an active shooter or someone has a heart attack and needs medical attention as soon as possible.

911inform  Info

Calls comes into 911 data center who opens a "case" and sends a hyperlink in a text message to first responders and customer.

See how it works from the Police Car!

Gunshot Detection & Geofencing on a Live Interactive Map

Only 911 INFORM delivers cellular event visibility and insight to Enterprise staff on-site and additional data to the PSAP.

911Inform is the only platform to receive all seven certifications across state, federal and globally-recognized programs.

SOC 2 Type 2 - An independent audit via American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's proved 911inform's integration of security controls over a period of 12 months protects client confidentiality, data integrity, and availability.

ISO 27001 - The international IT standard solidifies 911inform's security practices, policies and implementation across the enterprise as well as its established procedures to manage data and information entrusted by its customers.

National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework (NIST CSF) - 911inform has adopted the US Department of Commerce's framework to reduce IT infrastructure security risk across its enterprise.

Center for Internet Security (CIS) Critical Security Controls - 911inform has implemented CIS Critical Security Controls, ensured the highest standards of cybersecurity and protecting the company, its customers, and its platform from cyber attacks.

Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Ready - Federal Security standard that gives 911inform the ability to do business with federal government entities, such as military bases, research institutes, and other government agencies.

AZRAMP & TXRAMP - 911inform has exceeded the state security standards that are required to do business with government entities in Arizona and Texas.

Alyssa's Law

The Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida took the lives of 17 children and school staff members.

One of these victims, 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff (shown below), inspired a law, known as Alyssa’s Law.

Alyssa’s Law is critical legislation that calls for the installation of silent panic alarms that are directly linked to law enforcement, so in case of any emergency they will get on the scene as quickly as possible, take down a threat and triage any victims.

Alyssa’s Law is legislation to mandates that all public elementary and secondary school buildings be equipped with silent panic alarms that directly notify law enforcement.

Alyssa's Law
addresses the issue of law enforcement response time when a life-threatening emergency occurs. The law calls for the installation of warning lights and a panic alarm in schools to provide the fastest possible support during a code red. In a code red, every second counts.

Alyssa's Law - Texas

Alyssa’s Law will require Texas schools to implement an emergency alert system that prepares, prevents, and protects children and staff in the event that an act of mass
violence occurs.

Emergency Response Applications Must Include:

Administrative Access to Critical Information

Silent Panic Alarm System

Real-Time Communication Between First Responders

2-Way Communication with Users.



Schedule Discovery Meeting

InformaCast On-Premises Mass Notification

What is InformaCast? A cloud-based mass notification system that reaches people via on-premises and mobile devices.

Integrate with existing systems. 
Increase the speed, reach, and success rate of emergency alerts to Cisco phones, overhead speakers, strobes, panic buttons, and more.

Reach people on every channel. Broadcast live, ad hoc or prerecorded audio to IP phones, IP speakers, desktop computers, digital signage, and more so no one misses a message.

Utilize a single interface. 
Manage all devices and messages via a single interface and trigger messages from desk phones or web console.

Leverage Resiliency. Ensure critical messages reach the right people with the right information, no matter what happens with InformaCast Resiliency.

Easily Manage Bells and Announcements. 
Managing regularly scheduled messages, such as school bells or visiting hours, can be painful for school and hospital administrators. Many of these systems are difficult to use and are costly to maintain. InformaCast Advanced makes creating and modifying schedules a breeze while reducing costs.

Bell scheduling is included in InformaCast Advanced with no extra fees.

Reach the right people with the right information. Not every situation will require alerting everyone within your organization. Some events may require reaching a specific group of people who can best respond to the situation.

InformaCast offers the ability to define groups and zones, so the right people get the right message at the right time.Notify select security, specific building on campus, or a particular wing or floor of a building to notify the people who need to know without disrupting others.

The sooner an alert goes out, the faster your people can get out of harm’s way.

Utilize every available channel. 
No matter where someone is within your building or campus, they should receive information that impacts their wellbeing. InformaCast makes it easy to bring together disparate devices and systems to broadcast emergency messages.

Use text and audio delivered to IP phones, IP speakers, desktop computers, and digital signage to grab people’s attention, so they take steps to get out of harm’s way.

InformaCast On Demand Demonstration 

InformaCast Emergency Mass Notification Software Demo

State Approved Purchasing Co-ops
Save time & money and get the best price!

Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR)

8x8 & Local Government

Local Texas government is putting in place capabilities and processes that support new workflows, new ways of working, new ways of engaging with constituents and new ways of delivering services.

8x8 offers an easy way around the normal Request for Proposal, or "RFP" process by working with one of the many approved purchasing co-ops.

8x8's X Series
 licenses brings voice, video, chat, contact center, APIs, integration to Microsoft Teams, and more along with advanced analytics that track call activity to provide feedback on how they are doing.  

Talk to a Consultant
8x8 for Local Government