AudioCodes has launched a new service that enables channel partners to efficiently plug voice into their customers' Teams environment. AudioCodes Live Express, announced at Enterprise Connect, is a SaaS product fully hosted and managed by AudioCodes. The service is built on Direct Routing and gives partners management operation tools to onboard and manage their customers' PSTN connectivity. Andy Elliot, Vice President of Marketing at AudioCodes, said the service would be particularly beneficial to Microsoft partners that aren't especially versed in the world of voice. "Live Express is ideally suited for Microsoft 365 partners who are experts in Microsoft Teams as a collaboration platform and selling Microsoft licenses and need to connect their customers' Teams environment to telephony services," he said. "The beauty of Live Express is that it wraps up AudioCodes expertise in voice-enabling Microsoft Teams into a cloud-based SaaS service that resellers with minimal understanding of voice networking and no expertise in Teams voice can leverage to onboard their customers to Direct Routing." AudioCodes designed Live Express to help partners easily onboard their clients' users with an intuitive portal and automation tools. It also gives them control of dial plans and call policies and offers customers a portal to handle moves, adds, changes and deletes. The service is available in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, India, and Australia. AudioCodes said that Live Express means that partners can offer voice in Teams without shelling out on building a practice. Lior Aldema, Chief Business Officer at AudioCodes, said: "AudioCodes is already a recognized global leader in providing high-quality voice connectivity solutions and services for Microsoft Teams.
"Building on this proven track record, AudioCodes Live Express represents an important milestone in our Teams offering and is an excellent way for our partners to quickly turn themselves into Direct Routing as-a-service providers for Microsoft Teams with minimal expenditure on their part"
Live Express is one of three SaaS services that AudioCodes offers for adding voice to Teams. Live Cloud is a CPaaS offering that service providers can white-label as their own Direct Routing offering, around which services can be wrapped. Meanwhile, Live Teams is a complete service that sees AudioCodes take charge of design, deployment and management, which channel partners can resell. It's particularly useful for complex projects, Elliot said.
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Many in the industry are questioning the future of Direct Routing, with Operator Connect now gathering steam. But Elliot said he expects Direct Routing to still play an essential role in the Teams voice ecosystem, particularly for complicated deployments. "Operator Connect is a hot topic for Service Providers, but Direct Routing will remain very relevant for complex enterprise Teams voice environments and in any scenario where the enterprise end customer wants control and choice when it comes to their preferred service provider for voice services," he said. "Operator Connect and Direct Routing will co-exist happily in this growing market for Teams voice."
