Prestigious Christchurch College Partners with Voyager for Comprehensive Telecommunications Needs

When it came time for Christ’s College to reassess their current telco solutions, Director of Digital Services Paul Rodley saw it as a huge opportunity. 

The distinguished boys’ college in Christchurch, whose mission is to help grow men that make positive contributions to society, was unhappy with the level of service and account management from their current telco provider. Seeing this as a chance to not only change providers, but also to deliver the College with a better voice solution that met the needs of individual users, Paul engaged with the experts at Voyager. 

From the start, Paul’s expectations were clear. Christ’s College needed a cost-effective voice solution that was scalable to evolving requirements, but also easy to use while catering to the different needs of each user. In addition, the solution needed to meet their diverse functionality and call flow requirements, as well as delivering a quality onboarding experience. From onsite installation and training, through to providing ongoing support to reduce the workload for the College’s internal team. 

“We were looking for a true partner,” says Paul. “Christ’s College has its own in-house IT Team that carries a full workload, and we needed a telco that we could work alongside to ensure the best possible outcome.”  

After connecting with Voyager, Paul and colleague Mark Gillette, the College’s Digital Services Solutions Architect, discussed their needs in detail. “The conversations with Mark and Paul were key to helping us comprehensively understand the school’s requirements,” says Patrick Gensch, the Senior Sales Executive who led the engagement.

“Collaborating with Paul and Mark to understand their needs, drivers, and desired outcomes highlighted numerous areas for improvement to existing processes,” said Deidre Steyn, Voyager CCO. “We also brought Voyager’s Network Architect, Cliff Black, into discussions to work alongside the College’s existing IT partner and assist with a network upgrade to dedicated fibre. Cliff was able to provide peace of mind and ensure a smooth implementation.” 

In the end, Voyager delivered a comprehensive VoIP phone system on Voyager Voice, complete with the softphone add-on, enabling users to take calls via desk phones, headsets, and the mobile app as their requirements dictate. The solution’s ability to scale for remote use of the system proved invaluable during lockdowns, as softphone usage increased.

“Scaling up our softphone usage when necessary over lockdowns was a seamless process, and it was achieved in a very quick timeframe thanks to Voyager’s rapid response,” says Paul.

Voyager also set up dedicated fibre broadband on campus, and supplies College staff that work from home with business grade broadband and access to VoIP. The diverse fibre network and delivery of connectivity to the College is significant in providing reliable internet access, which is key to keep things at the College running smoothly.

“Voyager was excellent to work with from scoping through to delivery and ongoing support,” says Paul. “We appreciated their patience as they worked with us to understand our requirements and allow us to reflect on what we were actually doing in order to come up with a best-fit solution. It’s a true partnership-based relationship with two-way communication and discussion. Voyager’s outstanding project management led to a seamless migration with minimal disruption to business as usual. And on top of all that, they delivered significant cost savings.”