You have to hand it to Microsoft Teams.
The way it has helped change the way the world works has been a transformational triumph.
But, there’s a but.
For no matter how effective this most innovative and powerful of platforms has been in redefining how we all communicate, people still love to talk.
And there’s the rub.
Microsoft Teams is simply not as good at ‘voice’ as it is all the other stuff it does so brilliantly.
But plug that particular gap, and you really can leverage its game-changing potential.
And that means opportunities exist – for end user enterprises as well as communications resellers and Managed Service Providers.
Expert deployment partners are growing in number all of the time.
Choose the right one, and those opportunities really start to deliver.
“Microsoft is not a telecom provider and it doesn’t want to be a telecom provider – so it’s no surprise that there are limitations to its voice services,” says Michael Hawkins, Director of Solutions Engineering and Product Marketing at US-based global mid-market managed services provider BCM One, whose own Voice-Enabled MS Teams solutions plug the gaps and then some.
“MS Teams is missing key elements which, in the case of many enterprises, prevents them from maximising all of its transformational potential.
“A lot of the time, those missing elements can be critically important to the way an enterprise functions.”
Chief among those elements are advanced call routing, hunt group and call centre functionality, and call recording and analytics.
Also, issues connected with simple usability can sometimes limit its potential.
“Enterprises need to really understand how their users interact with their phone system in order to maximise MS Teams,” says Hawkins.
“For example, intercoms and paging is not available right now. So, if you have a large manufacturing floor, and there’s an emergency, or you’re a school and there’s an active shooter drill, or if you’re a healthcare organisation and you have a code blue, there is no way of communicating it over your intercom or pager networks.
“Additionally, faxing is not available in native MS Teams either and, because it runs very specific firmware, the phones are just different, which some users struggle with.
“That all means that enterprises continue to keep parts and pieces of multiple, legacy phone systems which prevents them from modernising.”
In BCM One’s case, there are three flavours of fix.
Voice-Enabled MS Teams with SIP
This is a hosted direct routing solution which inserts BCM One as the enterprise’s telecom carrier via its high quality, robust infrastructure connected to the public telephone network.
Users can make and receive calls and benefit from BCM One’s expert telecom-specific management tools linked to defined SLAs.
Key benefits: Call quality and troubleshooting.
Voice-Enabled MS Teams with UCaaS
The integration within MS Teams of BCM One’s smart and powerful UCaaS application – enabling users to utilize all of their familiar communications tools but with MS Teams as the endpoint.
Business as usual but with improved call quality, reduced costs and full-wrap service.
Key benefits: Users stick to the tools and processes they know. No additional software to install on individual desktops.
Voice Enabled Teams with SIP & On-Premises Hosted PBX
Power BOTH advanced PBX call center functionality AND cloud-based hosted MS Teams telephony through a shared SIP.
Call minutes applied most cost-effectively between light MS Teams users and heavy call center users.
Key benefits: Sweat legacy PBX investments, flexibility, functionality, savings.
So, how does an organisation choose what will work best for them?
In BCM One’s case, their expertise and experience is key.
“It’s about in-depth discovery to really understand user organisations’ business processes and requirements,” says Hawkins.
“We make sure that we don’t miss any feature gaps that might lead us to one solution or the other, or that might include or exclude any one of the products that we have.
“We have trusted advisors and engineers who understand what organisations are trying to achieve and can help organisations move to whatever solution is best”
Recently, BCM One helped a large 3,000-user, 10 site international manufacturing enterprise move its entire telephony to MS Teams.
It was already using most of the functionality included in the conferencing package, including video and audio calls but wanted to add high-quality VoIP calling.
Like most organisations that size, it had several different types of users: production line workers, knowledge workers not necessarily in the building, and management or leaders.
It had old school faxing and paging needs, 911 dialling needs and traditional telephony needs for less sophisticated users.
In addition, there were multi-site conference meetings in all types of different rooms equipped with multiple video systems.
“MS Teams by itself wasn’t getting it done,” says Hawkins.
“We deployed our Voice-Enabled MS Teams with UCaaS solution and added a solid internet connection and SD WAN for a work-from-anywhere solution. We were able to provide less sophisticated users with physical phones with side cars, and we were able to come up with cool headsets and different ways for their users to interact with MS Teams via their mobile phones on their desktop.
“We also integrated their fax functionality and deployed an entirely new IP-based paging system and designed conference room video solutions for all of their locations which enabled Microsoft Teams as a one stop shop for all communications.
“Lastly, we eased their world even further by bringing everything, including the Microsoft licensing, under the BCM One umbrella – giving them that single bill and that single point of contact.
“That means, when it comes to our service wrap and troubleshooting, there’s almost nothing that we can’t see”
So, it seems MS Teams really can be that transformational triumph.
All you have to do is pick the right deployment partner…
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