21st Century Cyber Charter School

Creating a More Connected Learning Environment with Meraki

The 21^st Century Cyber Charter School was established in 1999 by a group of Intermediate Units from Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties who wanted to create a cyber-based school to better serve their students. Once this need was identified, four IU executive directors, two school district superintendents from each county, and several parents came together to form the school’s first board. Since then, they’ve implemented a steady growth model, with an aim towards serving the more than 1,000 students they serve today.

Challenge

21^st Century Cyber Charter School (21CCCS) reached out to Weidenhammer with several telephony challenges. First, they wanted to replace an aging phone system. The existing system was antiquated, past the end of support, and provided no further value to the institution.

They had a mix of technologies they used for on premises and remote users to deliver training and meetings. The technology was cumbersome to use and sometimes not used at all out of frustration. Frequently, 21CCCS staff would be required to call the IT department in order to resolve issues, which limited the utility of the devices they had and leadership not seeing the value in their investment.

21CCCS wanted a modern communication solution that can support the growing needs of its faculty and staff.

Solutions

Hammer Tech proposed Cisco Webex Calling, which is a cloud-based, unified communication platform that can provide voice, video, and messaging capabilities to 21CCCS.

Deploying Webex Calling in 21CCCS would provide numerous benefits, including improved communication and collaboration among faculty and staff, increased productivity, and reduced costs. The platform’s cloud-based architecture would enable 21CCCS’s employees to access the system from any location, using any device, making it easy for them to stay connected and work together efficiently.

Deploying Webex Calling at 21CCCS would also provide cost savings. The platform’s subscription-based pricing model allows 21CCCS to pay only for the services it uses, reducing upfront capital expenses and allowing for more flexibility in 21CCCS’s budget. Additionally, the platform’s ability to integrate with existing communication systems would enable 21CCCS to continue using its current phone numbers and equipment, further reducing costs, and allowing a controlled predictable rollout of Webex Calling.

In addition to recommending Webex Calling for 21CCCS, Hammer Tech recommended the deployment of Cisco endpoints that would allow the team to communicate via phone and video, as well as Webex boards with touchscreen capabilities. These new endpoints would be user friendly, integrate seamlessly with Webex Calling, and limit the need for 21CCCS’s IT department to get involved with setting up a meeting.

Collaboration

Results

With the deployment of the new collaboration tools, the 21CCCS is now able to connect with anyone across the organization with more speed and security than they’d otherwise be able to do. Additionally, Hammer Tech was able to connect the 21CCCS team with Cisco resources so they could access the tools they need without requiring a massive investment of the institution’s limited resources.

The result is that 21CCCS can provide teaching, one-on-one counseling, and more without having to allocate resources from other budgets for the investment.