This has been a tough year for most businesses across the board. Gyms and movie theaters have been shuttered, and we wait week-by-week to see if daycare is still going to be allowed to stay open. In many places, delivery is the default and not a convenience.
As the conditions of the pandemic make many of the old ways of working redundant, other types of businesses have risen to fill the gap. In some cases, they are witnessing massive growth as people adjust to the new normal.
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William Rubio[/caption]
Microsoft Teams has been one of these beneficiaries over the past eight months, making it possible for many of us to continue working remotely with minimal interruption. As more people and organizations have made the switch to remote working, they are turning to Teams as their main interface for communicating with colleagues and customers outside the confines of the standard platform.
Along with the many unified communications (UC) features available on the standard Teams platform, many organizations have added a voice component in order to make calls out to the telephone network over the PSTN. Since this voice component is not a core service offered by Microsoft, organizations acquire this service through contracting with providers of Direct Routing that facilitate connection between Teams and the phone system.
Adding the Voice Component to Microsoft Teams with Direct Routing
One of the leading players in the Direct Routing (DR) field is US-based CallTower. As a provider of Teams with Direct Routing, they are able to offer their clients the voice component they need within the Teams environment, as well as many of the additional features that are external to Microsoft. With customers in multiple countries and a longtime relationship with Microsoft as a Gold Partner, CallTower has seen explosive growth in their number of sales for Teams Direct Routing.
According to reporting by CallTower, their Native Teams Direct Routing Solution sales through October 2020 increased by 293% over 2019 sales figures.
Clearly COVID-19 played a pivotal role in pushing CallTower’s Teams sales up nearly 300%. I have been calling the rush to find remote solutions “the Great Scramble of 2020”. Not a perfect characterization but it is close enough.
That said, there is still more to this story.
Speaking with CallTower’s Chief Revenue Officer, William Rubio, he sheds some light on a number of fascinating indicators about where we stand in the working world, and where we might be headed.
Where is the Growth Coming From?
While there may be a generational gap issue here (cards on the table I’m in my mid-30s and remember a time before cell phones) most folks that I know will usually opt for the “computer audio” option that many of us have become accustomed to.
However, the PSTN phone line is still the workhorse of business. Similar to email, it works with everyone and isn’t tied to a proprietary platform. These crucial factors are unlikely to change any time soon, and making phone calls remains an essential option for reaching people who find the phone to be more convenient.
This may be because they live in a more rural area that does not have good broadband internet, so the phone still makes for a clearer conversation.
Then there are always going to be the more “traditional” users who frankly are less comfortable with using an app to make their calls and prefer the security, familiarity, and general simplicity of joining the conference call with a DID call in number.
