The Story of Why We Chose Microsoft Teams & Business Voice
If you are deploying, or even considering,?Microsoft Phone System,?I thought this?article might be helpful.?I share the story of our?Microsoft 365 Business Voice?journey,?starting with?Microsoft Teams?and later deploying the Microsoft Phone System?to be?used within Microsoft Teams on?our?desktops, on?our?mobile devices,?and on traditional desk phones?that?are?Teams enabled.?
As a Microsoft Partner?providing?training and consulting services around Microsoft Products, we are?often?early adopters?of technology.?How can we help other organizations if we aren’t learning from our own experience??At?KnowledgeWave, we are interested?in?what the tools can do,?as well as?what limitations may?exist?(so we can pass that information along to our clients)?From the announcement of Teams in?2016 to its release in 2017 our company was?in;?we were?onboard?and?transitioned from Skype for Business?to Microsoft Teams?shortly after Teams was released.??
First Step: Microsoft Teams Adoption?
Teams?was?AND IS?a game-changer for how we not only communicate?but how we work?with our content.?We?already?understood the value and benefits?of Office 365, now Microsoft 365. The power of the cloud?was changing how we worked?with our colleagues?and how we would?come to?work with our clients.?Teams presented a modern way?for us to?work that took down information silos?across our teams and projects.?And we’re not alone: Microsoft Teams growth has been explosive from 13 million daily users in July 2019 to over 145 million users in April of 2021.??
With the bundling of Teams as part of Office 365, free versions being made available, and the impending retirement of Skype for Business, our customers also started moving to Teams, too. With the COVID-19 pandemic, those who hadn't previously?moved?started to migrate?quickly?and we found ourselves sharing?tips on?How to Create an Effective Workforce with Microsoft Teams. Today we are helping clients not only learn and adopt a new modern way of working, but also helping organizations that are looping back to better?define governance with Teams.?
Our?Deployment of Microsoft Phone System?
In 2018,?we had an opportunity to relocate our offices to an amazing new facility. The only catch was?that?we would need to?take?a?phased?approach?and relocate temporarily while our new space was being designed. So that meant 2 office moves in 1 year.??
While we had?already?transitioned to?primarily?SaaS-based work tools?and were?actively?using?OneDrive for Business and SharePoint,?our phone system was?still, at that time,?a legacy?PBX system. Although it was?internet-based (Bandwidth.com),?it?didn’t support VoIP phones.?While we could have updated that system, it was still an on-prem?system?and?the?prescribed system?upgrade would?still?have meant VoIP desk phones, no softphones.??
We didn’t want to?move?hardware twice, and we?knew the power of the?Cloud,?so?we reviewed options for a true?VoIP system that would provide the ability to add softphones, not?just desk phones.?We reviewed the big players?including?Ring Central.?Ultimately, we decided?on?the Microsoft?Phone System?because it was in the ecosystem that we were building around.??
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Initially, we?transitioned?a few?of our?users over to the?Microsoft Phone System. This?stepped?transition?allowed?evaluation?of?the product before a?complete switch-over?for all users. It also provided?an opportunity?to review the administration features and?gave us time?to establish?the required?call queues and?set?up?our?auto-attendant features.?I’ll be honest, while feature-rich,?the Phone System?was not that easy to administer because much of it was still entwined with Skype for Business?administration.??
Administration functionality has improved tremendously since our?move, and?today?you?can expect most features you?would need or want to be available?as part of Microsoft Business Voice + Teams. We chose?the simplest solution, Phone System with a Calling Plan, and simply?purchased?Microsoft Calling Plans?for our domestic and international calling needs?directly from Microsoft.?There are many options?available?including bringing your own PSTN partner carrier.?This option lets you keep?most?of your paid voice plans in place.?This link?should?help you?to?plan your Teams Voice solution.???
While you can deploy on your?own,?I would?strongly?recommend that you?at least discuss the support that a Microsoft Partner can provide.?We had some external support due to our relationship with Microsoft,?and we definitely took advantage of it!?A solid Microsoft?Service?Partner?or Cloud Solution Partner?that specializes in voice can get faster results with Microsoft.?If your phone?number ringing to the appropriate people in your organization?is important, I’d recommend that you?find?a?Microsoft Partner?with a specialization?in “Calling in Teams”.?
At KnowledgeWave, we focus on?training and user adoption?and can assist with your?Microsoft Teams?training?and?Microsoft Phone System?training.?
Microsoft Phone System as Part of?Microsoft?Teams?(Microsoft 365 Business Voice)?
In March of 2020,?when the global pandemic really took hold,?we were able to?quickly pivot to a remote?workforce.?We had?our phone system already in the cloud and many of our employees distributed across North America using softphones within Microsoft Teams, both on their computers and mobile phones.?We didn’t miss a beat and instead?could focus on?helping our?clients’?employees?learn how they could be the most effective while working from home.?
The popularity of Teams?as a?hub for communication and collaboration has really blended the functionally of?Phone System and?Teams. Add in?customizable tabs,?and Microsoft Teams is becoming?a?powerful?Work Productivity OS?that our?employees?leverage daily, at their desks, from their homes,?and?on-the-go.?
Working?with our customers, we have?identified?a?strong?need to not only help new Teams Voice users?learn?how to set up and access voicemail but understand the power of Teams across the Microsoft 365 platform.?Our training for Microsoft Phone System?addresses?topics like User Presence, Basic and Advanced In-Call Features, from placing a call?on?hold, to adding participants,?as well as?turning?on live text captions?and?call recording options.?We also offer a?training segment specific to Teams?Phone?System?on-the-go and?show users how they can make and receive?phone calls using their Teams assigned phone number by?using the Teams app?on their mobile phone.??
Whether you are a company that has?already?moved to Microsoft 365 Business Voice, will be moving, or if you’re an MSP/CSP?looking for training options for your clients, KnowledgeWave can help.?You can trust that?you will be working?with a learning partner?who?teaches?and uses?the technology.?