Buzzwords and terms like “interoperability” and “seamless integration” are ubiquitous around Microsoft Teams. Is it because it’s been like a vortex of innovation over the past year, pulling different apps and services onto its platform? Or is it because it just works?
With 270 million users worldwide and the “top right” corner accolade of the Gartner Magic Quadrant Report, Microsoft Teams is riding high, and yet, not resting on its laurels: 450 new features were introduced over the last year. The platform is now accessible via the Hololens 2 after integrating Teams with the Azure and Power Platform, reports UC Today Technology Journalist Ryan Smith.
In presenting our latest Round Table topic, “Microsoft Teams Roadmap 2023“, we asked our selected experts from Evolve IP, NUWAVE, and Resonate to discuss and possibly predict the developments in Microsoft Teams for 2023. We also quizzed them about the opportunities they have found from integrating with the platform, how it affects their offering and the subsequent responses of their respective customer bases.
With a year of increased integration behind it already, how do you see Microsoft Teams evolving in 2023?
Harkirat Degun
Harkirat Degun, Product Director, Resonate
Degun praises what the tech giant has achieved: “Microsoft has done an amazing job in pushing the boundaries of Teams as a communication and collaboration platform, and we have seen it become a Gartner leader in this space.”
Regarding the development of Teams, Degun believes it will come from within the company.
“We will continue to see the innovations come through from both Microsoft themselves. The partner ecosystem will integrate deeper and provide even more value for those companies already invested and those looking to invest in the platform.”
“I can’t say much because of NDAs, but I believe 2023 looks like another big year for Microsoft Teams!”
Curtis Gaska, Senior Sales Engineer at Evolve IP
Microsoft Teams is being used by organisations for more than just chat and meeting capabilities, as Curtis Gaska at Evolve knows.
“Teams is quickly becoming the “one-stop” application across the enterprise as organisations seek to integrate multiple workflows and processes via the single Teams interface.”
“Research has found that only 30% of employees say their experience with their company’s technology exceeds their expectations — the more organisations can do to consolidate and simplify business processes into fewer applications, the better engagement they should expect from their employees.”
Mark Bunnell, Chief Operating Officer, NUWAVE Communications
COO at NUWAVE, Mark Bunnell, believes Teams will become more centralised and pull in more apps to its orbit.
“Teams further evolve into a central hub for communications and collaboration. It will expand the Teams client to include more Microsoft applications.”
What opportunities inspired by the Teams Roadmap do you see for your company over the next year?
Mark Bunnell
Mark Bunnell, Chief Operating Officer, NUWAVE Communications
Bunnell has seen openings for NUWAVE across what they provide.
“Over the next year, we see opportunities to further scale automation across the entire stack of services, such as Direct Routing, Operator Connect, TPM, Conferencing, and Dynamics 365 Contact Centre services through ACS.”
“Ultimately, we are creating opportunities to further streamline growth and adoption of services at a global scale.”
Curtis Gaska, Senior Sales Engineer at Evolve IP
Gaska is excited about the potential of new technology, especially with Evolve IP’s product integration.
“Given Evolve IP’s native integration with Teams, all Microsoft Teams collaboration features are available to our customers. We are particularly excited about the advanced AI capabilities within Teams that Microsoft plans to add in 2023, as there is a lot of potential for even greater efficiency and productivity for our customers.
“There are several other features on Microsoft’s roadmap, such as Contact Center and analogue support that Evolve IP already delivers.”
Gaska looks forward to an even more enhanced UX: “Another focus area for Evolve IP is Microsoft’s partner designation of Secure Remote Work. We’re also invested in ensuring that Evolve IPs Contact Center platform is certified by Microsoft. This will enable Evolve IP to continue to deliver a user experience with Teams that is even more seamless.”
Harkirat Degun, Product Director, Resonate
Regarding opportunities in Teams for 2023, Degun relates feedback he has had from clients.
“Three areas that our customers are telling us that are ‘their focus’ in the coming year are cost optimisation, user experience and climate agenda.”
On these topics, Resonate is responding. Degun testifies: “We are looking to bring our customers additional value by expanding our three product pillars to address these. Firstly by providing deeper integration and specialist use cases in our Voice for Teams portfolio to drive cost and energy savings from PBX Removal.
“Secondly, by improving customer user experience through Teams Room System and driving cost and energy improvements with innovative video solutions such as Augmented Reality.
“And thirdly, by releasing our new Resonate Voice Management Platform that will provide customers a user-friendly and cost-effective way to manage their Teams Voice Environment.”
With so many Teams developments and updates rolling out, does this affect how you deliver your offering?
Curtis Gaska
“Because Evolve IP’s integration with Microsoft Teams is native within the Teams application, all enhancements and functionality that Microsoft develops can be leveraged by our customers.”
“Evolve IP continues to fill gaps or unique use cases for any organisation whose telephony requirements aren’t available through Teams or Teams-enabled devices. This includes SMS / MMS capabilities, advanced Call Recording and Analytics, and traditional SIP & Analog support requirements.”
Harkirat Degun, Product Director, Resonate
With so many features rolling out, Degun believes customers benefit the most.
“On the plus side, it’s great because our customers are always receiving the latest and greatest features.”
Addressing back-end issues between Resonate and Microsoft, he says: “Where code changes affect the products and services we offer, we work closely with Microsoft so that we can address the impact to our customers ahead of time.”
For Product Director Degun, there is quality control assessment and putting customers first, which he remarks: “Where there are feature releases or improvements, we will assess pragmatically whether they will positively or negatively impact our customers before onboarding and supporting them. What is important from a customer perspective is to have robust change management and communication in place to ease the impact of any changes.”
Mark Bunnell, Chief Operating Officer, NUWAVE Communications
NUWAVE’s COO is confident about the positioning of its services. Bunnell says: “NUWAVE is currently ahead of the market with our iPILOT and Synthesis offerings. These offerings leverage disruptive technologies to automate and provision many services within the Teams application.
“These services include third-party applications enabling us to provide a complete UC solution sought after by partners and customers. NUWAVE’s rapid development methodology is metered in weeks. This enables us to roll out new features and functionality aligned with the Microsoft Teams roadmap, which is managed at the stakeholder level on both sides.”
Which developments do you see your customers responding to better in 2023 in Teams? For example, live collaboration, more apps or deeper integration?
Mark Bunnell, Chief Operating Officer, NUWAVE Communications
Bunnell thinks that in 2023 that there will be better responses to their products working from within Teams.
“Customers will respond better to deeper integrations between Microsoft and NUWAVE.
“Integrations that will provide reductions in time, cost, and overhead. This will empower customers and partners looking to transform to Microsoft Teams to continue to scale for growth. The TPM (Trusted Platform Module) will be a great catalyst in accelerating the way we work today into a fully hybrid mobile workforce in the coming 12 to 24 months.”
Harkirat Degun, Product Director, Resonate
Degun believes customers’ responses will be very much dependent on what their priorities are in the upcoming year. But he knows there will be many options for them.
“There are plenty of updates that will help to address different requirements. To begin with, hybrid working improvements from innovations in Teams Room Systems and better collaboration features.
“Additionally, cost savings will come from feature improvements allowing customers to leverage Teams as their single app for communication and collaboration and enabling them to decommission legacy systems and business applications.
“Also, deeper integration of apps and features will allow for process improvement, improve user experience, and reduce costs.
“I’m sure that in 2023 Microsoft and their partners will bring feature and functionality improvements that align to organisational goals.”
Curtis Gaska, Senior Sales Engineer at Evolve IP
Evolve IP also sees deeper integration for customers, as Gaska outlines” “We see our customer base continually seeking greater integration of business applications with Teams.
“This includes CRM (customer relationship management), ERP (enterprise resource planning), ticketing solutions, and other third-party systems. We continue to hear that application consolidation is critical for organisations, and Teams is well positioned to become the “hub” for business communications.”
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