Digital communications a critical means of providing educational services in response to COVID-19

SINGAPORE-- January 18, 2021 -- Vonage (Nasdaq: VG), a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, has been chosen by English language education company Wall Street English to power its digital classroom platform for customers worldwide.

With social distancing and safety measures in place around the globe, the education industry had to adjust overnight to a new, virtual, reality. This led Wall Street English to launch its digital classroom platform to give students continued access to their courses and teachers the ability to conduct classes online.

The Vonage Video API, embedded within Wall Street English’s platform, enables students and teachers to have live, engaging and interactive video classes, creating an environment similar to an in-person classroom experience. Students can even interact with their teacher and fellow students like they would in a traditional classroom.

Established in 1972, Wall Street English has an alumni community surpassing three million, with a current enrollment of 175,000 students. Using a franchise model, the company operates over 350 centers in 28 countries across North Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

“During this difficult time, our priority is the health and safety of our students, staff and the communities in which we operate,” said David Kedwards, CEO of Wall Street English. “We also want to ensure that our students have continued access to their courses and the flexibility to study anytime, across multiple devices.

“The decision to move online in addition to our brick-and-mortar centers is a great step forward for the company, evolving our business to meet the needs of today’s learners. Vonage has played an important role in our digital transformation. The Vonage Video API integrated easily with our platform, enabling us to set up real-time, high-quality video classes to serve thousands of students worldwide.”

A recent Vonage report tracking communications usage before the pandemic and again in August 2020 revealed that 39 percent of the 5,000 global consumers surveyed reported higher engagement with education technology tools. Findings also showed that 42 percent of that same group preferred the use of video when engaging with other students and teachers in a virtual classroom. Among consumers in Asia-Pacific, 44 percent reported higher engagement with educational applications since COVID-19.

"COVID-19 has accelerated the need for reliable and high-quality video offerings to facilitate the remote delivery of vital services like education. Virtual and hybrid options that provide safe and uninterrupted education experiences are now crucial for both students and teachers to have continued access to education,” said Sunny Rao, Vonage Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Asia Pacific region.

“We are proud to support Wall Street English’s digital transformation, leveraging Vonage to embed secure, rich video capabilities to its online platform for customers,” he added.

With an ever-growing network of more than one million registered developers, the Vonage Communications Platform makes it easy for businesses to use APIs to disrupt their industries, and enable the type of business continuity, remote work, and remote delivery of services that is so essential in today's environment. Vonage APIs allow developers to easily enhance and build innovative customer experiences directly into their existing applications and devices. The Vonage Communications Platform offers a full suite of programmable voice, video, messaging, and email services to forward-thinking businesses worldwide. Through its partners, Vonage’s platform is at the center of many notable transformational projects in the APAC region, and a de facto for startups.