The Need for Change
It’s unlikely that this comes as a surprise, but the idea of normality has changed considerably over the past year. Although life is getting back to normality, many of us want these changes for the long run. The public wants to keep home/flexi working as an option. It provides them with more freedom, flexibility, and a better balance between home and work life. So, to embrace flexible working, traditional calling solutions no longer work. Legacy phone systems relied on you being in the office, to use the telephone system, or those claiming to be more flexible need specific technology to be able to use them. The traditional calling solutions have served us well until this point, but Microsoft Teams Calling is more suited to organisations future needs. Traditional calling methods are not compatible with how we want to move forward; it doesn’t allow mass adoption, flexibility, and change many people want to see. Although Teams is a relatively new technology (2/3 years), Microsoft has put a lot of energy into this application. Having a Teams based workspace means your business is using a Cloud-Centric model. This model allows any device, anywhere, to be connected, making it future proof. Users shouldn’t have to pigeonhole how they use their communication technology; with more people working from home, you should ensure that all of your communication components will fully work with this new regime. Considering this helps your organisation deliver the streamlined experience that your users and customers will remember. On the other hand, traditional VoIP systems can be seen as clunky, not user-friendly, and the users typically end up resorting back to using their mobile devices. With Microsoft Teams Calling, it just works; it’s easily accessible from a browser, apps and overall, it’s just simple.
Most businesses are familiar with Teams and utilise Microsoft’s other applications, so the next logical step would be to use Teams Calling. Gathering all your communications into one space unifies your technology and lets co-workers know if you are available, helping with your organisation’s coordination. Our in-house business consultants can tailor how these tools can best be used to align with your businesses needs.
If you feel that your organisations needs a hand with using Microsoft Teams, the ComputerWorld’s Team can help you out with this. Our experts can advise you on how you can successfully drive Teams adoption giving your users the knowledge and clarity to move forward.
Enterprise Voice for the Cloud – A high-level overview
The device you use is the front end, whether your phone, laptop, tablet, etc. Making the call will be similar to a regular Team’s call, the main difference being you can type in the number of your desired contact. On the back end, the Teams system is being connected to a more traditional telephony system. There are a couple of different ways this is done. One, you can either take a calling plan directly from Microsoft. They deal with all of the telephony stuff; your minutes, and you can add things like an international calling. Secondly, you can do it through direct routing. This incorporates a component called an SBC (Session Border Controller), which connects your Teams system to a third-party telephony provider. If you have a larger organisation or specific requirements, this option would be best suited for you.
Summary
So, in short, those who already have Microsoft Teams can enable Teams Calling once they have the appropriate licensing and a little bit of configuration. From then you can be making and receiving calls through your Teams application rather than your legacy phone system. You can also migrate your existing telephone numbers over to your Teams Calling account. Just if you have a Teams compatible device and an internet connection, you can communicate more freely compared to the legacy phone systems, which relied on you being in one space. Teams calling means flexibility overall; you can have a one-to-one call, a group call, you can access voicemail transcripts, put quiet time on certain devices, or create conditional access to limit its accessibility outside of work. Teams Callings features are flexible not only to suit the new structure of work but for your organisations’ needs.