Why Microsoft Teams might be the right phone system for your modern business
The continued drive to work from home has increased the pressure on all areas of IT within business. This is clearly evident when we look at the situation in many businesses when it come to their existing telephony. Many are simply being reconfigured from the classic “on premise” approach to try and make them work for employees working from home. It may be as simple as diverting calls back out to a mobile phone resulting in tying up two trunks or trying to deploy a soft phone solution the business has never tested.
We are seeing this across nearly every business who has had a phone system in place for a few years. Modern systems have some flexibility, but their older cousins struggle. They are inflexible and are so office centric that they are unable to function effectively. In contrast, Microsoft Teams is the platform that many businesses have already adopted for video conferencing, instant messaging and group communication. In comparison the legacy on premise phone system struggles and appears outdated.
How does it work?
We have seen a mass shift in the market with many organisations transitioning their voice calls into Microsoft Teams. Now there are two clear approaches to this, the first is to use Microsoft Cloud PBX system. Microsoft Cloud PBX is technology that was built on the success of Skype For Business. It leverages local break out for calls across Microsoft global Azure network only transitioning to SIP and then traditional calling technology once it leaves the global infrastructure that Microsoft own.
Sounds good right?
It does, but it is not without side effects. The key problem mainly being cost. Microsoft don’t do free calls and they don’t do unlimited business packages. Therefore, the second option is to use a 3rd party SIP provider approved by Microsoft to enable Direct Routing for Teams. Planet IT facilitate this through our partnership with Gamma, one of the U.K’s leading SIP providers. By integrating Gamma SIP into Microsoft Teams, it offers all the benefits of Gamma to Microsoft Teams customers, including the ability to access free calls on certain bundles.
We already use it for messaging and internal calls, but why would I use Teams as my main phone system?
Well, it’s simple! With staff adoption and understanding of Microsoft Teams up by 80% and into millions of end points, you gain the ability to not only reduce the number of systems you need to support as an IT administrator but, also reduce the number of systems your staff need to learn. Microsoft Teams with Voice enabled is simple and does not change the core function of the software, it simply enhances and extends what the users already have. To add to this, if another business is using Microsoft Teams Direct Routing and you call them, Teams will detect this and leverages point to point digital only calling, (providing public federation is enabled) this can further reduce your costs but, also offer a much greater user experience!
But we use Zoom, not Teams?
There is only really one case where Teams is not the right solution for a business and that is where you don’t already use Microsoft Teams and utilise Zoom or Google as your main unified communications platform. When approaching this problem, having made a commitment to another vendor, Planet IT would recommend looking at a cloud-based phone system which can either be integrated with what you have in place, or simply work alongside. Our dedicated Voice and Connectivity Team can help you find a solution that is right for you in this instance.
How do I find out more?
Microsoft Teams is already feature rich. Add Direct Routing for Teams and it only expands this to a position where not only do you get the best of the platform but empowers you to decommission and move away from systems which don’t support your business currently. The best way to understand Teams as a phone system is to see it in action. Planet IT we are holding a number of live events around Microsoft Teams and its use as a phone system. Sign up for our live event on the 25th February 2021 please click here.
If you want to find out more about our Direct Routing for Teams Offering you can call 01235 433900 or you can email [email protected].
To see Microsoft Teams in action, with voice enabled, you can register for our Live Demo on the 25th February here.
Alternatively, you can contact our architecture team directly via [email protected] and one of our team to help you understand how we can fit technology into your business stack.
