Unified Communications Platform Contributes to Confidence on Multiple Campuses

NWN, a leading technology-enabled service provider focused on transforming the customer experience, is helping Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) successfully transition both its NJ and Vancouver campuses to a new dynamic collaboration solution with the NWN Unified-Communications-as-a-Service offering.

NWN has helped FDU not only move its telephony systems from copper to VoIP, but also set up an enhanced 911 solution as a part of the upgrade. This new solution provides rescuers with the directions they need down to a building floor. Originally, the university had considered its incumbent vendor or a similar legacy provider to assist with this initiative, but the level of customization made possible with the NWN Unified-Communications-as-a-Service solution gave FDU’s IT team the flexibility and analytics it needed.

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FDU was forced into this chapter of its digital transformation. Its legacy telephony service provider abruptly announced it would no longer support the school’s copper wiring. Together, NWN and FDU determined exactly what services were needed to complete FDU’s migration over to VoIP, which included assessing the functionality of more than 2,000 lines and over 1,500 physical phones, across 100 buildings split among three campuses over four different municipalities and two countries. Outdated technology and geography were not the only hurdles the team needed to overcome: the university needed an enhanced 911 solution, voice services with the ability to make changes (add a new phone, additional DIDs, ring downs), and complete IVR builds.

The priority for FDU throughout the migration was to maintain excellent service to the university’s employees and students. Through the NWN Experience Management Platform, the FDU IT team was able to provide continuously excellent service while simultaneously designing a custom telephony plan that addressed each of its needs.

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Stuart Alper, University Director of University Systems and Networking, Fairleigh Dickinson  University, said, “This was one of the largest technological endeavors FDU has embarked on, so I needed a project team to work alongside me during our digital transformation, and NWN did just that. During the switch, as small issues arose, our implementation team — composed of a mix of NWN and FDU personnel — was methodical, documented those issues and handled them in priority order. NWN did not leave our side, and together the entire port was handled in near seamless fashion. It’s incredibly rewarding to see what a group of people working towards a common goal can achieve.”

He continued, “NWN’s depth of services gave us the flexibility and customization we needed for this project. All the other vendors who responded to our RFP tried to fit our needs into their pre-designed solutions, which essentially amounted to fitting square pegs in round holes. Bringing in the NWN team helped de-silo our IT organization, bringing all the services together to simplify and optimize the partnership across IT. NWN has been an irreplaceable partner in helping us figure out how to build for FDU’s future. They are a true partner.”

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