Information Technology Services (ITS) is pleased to announce the selection of George Mason University’s new telecommunications vendor, Vonage, Inc.

With Mason’s current telephone system near end-of-life and a workforce increasingly dispersed via flexwork, telework, and remote work, there is a need for a new telecommunications solution.

Over the past year, Mason engaged in a rigorous process to select a new system for faculty and staff, plus the university call centers. More than 100 representatives across the university gathered requirements, evaluated numerous vendor proposals, tested solutions from finalists, and checked references. Ultimately, Vonage was selected due to their proposed product’s quality, user-friendly solutions, integration capabilities with Mason tools, strong customer service reported by references, and low cost.

Vonage will provide a hosted enterprise-class communications platform, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), to replace the current system. The new system offers basic and advanced telephony features, including mobile applications, ring/accept calls on any device, and presence awareness. It also provides a new electronic fax capability and integrates into Mason’s business productivity tools, such as Office 365 and Microsoft Teams.

Additionally, Vonage will provide Mason with Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), a new call center telecommunications solution. This solution delivers Mason with an enhanced call center experience offering SMS, chat, video, caller ID shielding, and integration with Mason applications, such as Microsoft Teams and Salesforce.

The ITS project team and Vonage will meet with the Telecom Coordinators and Contact Center Managers across Mason to coordinate the implementation of the new system. It is anticipated that the new system will be implemented in 18-24 months.