Case Study: Denison University achieves modernized campus communications and improved student engagement with Dialpad

7 CIO Insights on Modern Campus Communications

Denison University, led by CIO Dena Speranza, faced an urgent communications challenge: a 25-year-old on-premises PBX that was costly, inflexible and missing basic features like modern voicemail, caller visibility and easy provisioning. As a national liberal arts college with a dispersed student body and a Google Apps for Education environment, Denison needed a digital workplace that would strengthen student‑faculty connections, streamline administration, and support mobile and global engagement.

The university moved to a pure-cloud communications platform (Dialpad) to unify voice, video, messaging and SMS under a single number and integrate with Google Apps. The cloud solution eliminated legacy hardware, simplified provisioning and management, reduced IT waste, improved continuity and security, and freed IT to focus on the student experience—enabling faster provisioning, more flexible communication workflows, and stronger, more connected interactions between faculty, staff and students.

Denison University

Dena Speranza

CIO