Microsoft Teams has been put to use in businesses across the world, but often without understanding all of its capabilities. In this blog, Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform Partners and Chamber members Circle Cloud explain.
Using Microsoft Teams as a Phone System
With the sudden wave of homeworking came the equally sudden requirement for platforms that accommodate it. As you might have seen from the most recent post on our LinkedIn company page, IT leaders have been forced to deliver four years’ worth of IT strategy in just six weeks. For this reason, I am sure we’ve all become familiar with Microsoft Teams.
The thing is, as is often the case when there is a quick uptake of new products, I doubt people are aware of the full capability of the platform. Perhaps you use it for internal communications, conferencing or document collaboration? But my question is…
Have you thought about using Teams as your centralised Phone System?
Because Teams has such a broad range of capabilities, some get more attention than others. This is usually dependent on what people need it for on an individual basis. But I am writing this to make IT professionals aware that Teams can actually be used as a full phone system, providing your organisation with all the features your existing PBX [Private Branch Exchange – a traditional internal phone system] does and more.
Using Microsoft Teams and Circle Cloud’s Direct Call Routing, you can turn your PC, Tablet, Laptop or Mobile into a fully featured and secure phone and calling platform. Doing so also allows you to replace your existing on-premises or Hosted Voice platform and centralising your business’s communications infrastructure.
Here are a list of Reasons as to why you should use MS Teams as your Core Phone System:
- Fully featured phone system with all standard PBX functionality including, Auto Attendant, Call Queuing, Ring Groups, Call Transfer and Voicemail
- Make and receive internal and external calls
- Retain your existing business numbers and DDIs
- Use your PC, tablet, laptop and mobile as your phone system
- Also supports the use of conventional desktop IP handsets
- Administration portal for easy configuration changes and service management
- Optional Call Recording, Call Centre and Advanced Call Reporting packages available
- Cost effective and removes need for additional PBX, hosted voice services or line rentals
- A true Unified Communications solution, bringing chat, meetings and other Office 365 apps together in one place
Teams Calling is the perfect voice and collaboration solution for your workforce – whether office, home or field based – users can choose to use whichever device best suits. It works perfectly within the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategy. In these difficult times where staff are required to work remotely, Teams calling can be securely ran from a user’s own Laptop or Mobile device.
Teams Calling has been configured for resilience and security from the outset. It uses a fully redundant network architecture built on Microsoft accredited SBCs and is hosted within highly secure, geographically diverse data centres with high availability. Teams Calling takes away that single point of failure that a legacy on-prem PBX can suffer from and allows users to utilise the calling platform from anywhere across the globe.
Microsoft Teams Calling- Questions you may have been Afraid to Ask!
We have done a number of separate posts on our blog recently about the various benefits of using Microsoft Teams as the complete phone system for your organisation. That said, there are still probably things that you’re wondering about, so we have condensed all the questions that we get asked by our customers into this FAQ. Hopefully you’ll find what you’re looking for.
We already have Microsoft Teams as part of Office 365, why do I need to buy anything extra?
Teams comes as part of the Office 365 Suite of applications. This “free” version allows you to communicate with your work colleagues through voice, video, or chat. The Teams Calling licence adds the ability to make and receive external phone calls and behind the scenes full phone system functionality.
But will it replace all the features I have in my existing phone system?
Absolutely – Teams Calling provides a full complement of phone system functionality, including Auto Attendant, Call Transfer, Ring and Hunt Groups, Call Queuing, Voicemail with email notification and auto message transcribing, Night / Out of Hours Service, Extension Dialling to mention a few. Advanced services such as Call Centre Inbound Services, Call Recording and Calling Analytics. Essentially, Teams Call can replicate the majority if not all standard phone system features.
Do I need to pay for any additional line rental?
No – Teams Calling is carried over your existing internet connection and requires no other line rental charges.
How many devices can a single user have allocated to their licence?
Up to five live devices. (Can be a mixture of Desktop Application, Mobile or Tablet app or Desktop Handset)
Can I use a conventional desktop handset with Teams Calling?
Yes – Microsoft certify over 20 IP handsets to use with Teams Calling. Check out our blog post that we dedicated to this very topic.
What about using Teams Calling with a mobile?
Yes – The Teams application for iOS and Android provides all the calling functionality of the desktop application.
Can I retain my existing phone numbers if I move to Teams Calling?
Yes – Any existing phone number (including DDIs) can be ported onto the Microsoft Teams Calling platform; this includes existing ISDN and PSTN numbers and IP Voice and SIP numbers.
What about calling charges?
Circle Cloud’s Teams Calling service comes with inclusive UK Calls (01,02,03 and 07 numbers).
Can Teams Calling be used outside of the UK?
Yes – Teams Calling is a fully global service which works in most countries around the world. Users based in an international location can also present and dialling code for the country in question and benefit from inclusive in country calling.
What about staff based remotely or working from home?
Teams and Teams Calling is the perfect communications solution for staff working out of the main office or based at home. As a cloud-based platform, users can be based anywhere with an internet connection to be able to function as though they were in the office. Workers can use either the Desktop application or mobile app to make and receive calls.
How easy is to make a call using the Teams application?
Very simple! Team Calling adds an onscreen dial pad for dialling a number, as well as the ability to highlight and automatically dial any phone number from an email, document or web page. The Teams Calling tab also provides a full call history and contact listing for easy dialling of commonly used numbers.
How easy is Teams Calling to setup as a full company phone system?
Teams Calling is no more difficult to configure than any hosted voice phone system. Administration users will have access to a full admin portal where changes can be made to the core setup. As part of the Teams Calling solution, Circle Cloud offer a complete data acquisition, installation, configuration service as part of our Teams Calling Proposition. This fully project managed roll out is designed to make the movement to Teams Calling as a completely painless and seamless process.
How flexible is the contractual terms on Teams Calling – Can I add or remove licences?
Circle Cloud’s contractual terms aim to make the Teams Calling solution as flexible as possible. New users can be added or removed at any time.
What about updates to the Teams Calling Service – are these free of charge?
Microsoft are rolling out new features for the Teams Calling service all the time. These are installed automatically as part of the normal Microsoft 365 update function. There is, of course no charge for these updates.
I hope this has been really helpful and given you a flavour of how Microsoft’s virtual calling platform can be used as an ideal replacement for voice infrastructure.
If you have a question of your own that hasn’t been covered in this FAQ, please feel free to get in touch.
Circle Cloud
Circle Cloud are Official Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform Partners specialising in the implementation and management of Azure and Office 365
https://www.circlecloud.co.uk/
This post originally appeared as two posts on Circle Cloud’s own blog.