As companies rely more and more on cloud-based platforms like Teams, it is only a matter of time until it becomes a business staple even for traditional communication channels like telephony. Prescient as always, Microsoft has spent the better part of the last few quarters on strengthening telephony on Teams. You can now go well beyond the occasional phone call or a video-less group conference for collaboration. Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling supports advanced use cases such as webinars, telephone customer support, and even full-fledged contact centres, thanks to the newly released Advanced Communication plan.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves – before you can deploy Microsoft Teams for use cases outside of the original notion of team-based collaboration, we must answer one basic question. What is Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling?
Understanding Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling
Teams gives you a bunch of options when setting up a telephony system. In addition to Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling, you can also stay with your existing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) infrastructure, or opt for a combination of cloud and PSTN, depending on the region.
Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling can be defined as an entirely cloud-based telephony system where the Microsoft 365 Cloud acts as the intermediary between Teams users and the back-end PSTN infrastructure, with Microsoft effectively becoming your PSTN carrier.
Microsoft will provide you with a set of four numbers that can be used internally, externally, across domestic channels, as well as for international calls. At the moment, cloud calling is available for both Teams and Skype for Business Online – but the latter will be retired soon, giving sole priority to the Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling offering.
Why Use Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling Vs. Traditional Telephony Systems?
The Teams cloud calling solution comes with several advantages over traditional telephony systems.
- To begin with, you gain from the resilience of the public cloud. Regardless of internal conditions or local carrier availability, your telephony lines will remain up and running. At Ignite, Microsoft also announced the survivable branch appliance (SBA) for Teams telephony to keep emergency lines running even when you are offline
- New businesses can quickly procure and assign phone numbers without going through a complex carrier subscription process. Currently, automated phone number generation is available in ten countries when you use Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling
- You get all the benefits of a cloud-based contact centre, built into the Teams platform. The offering supports configurable call queues with custom greetings, music on hold, and shared voicemail on the cloud. Teams can convert voicemail into transcriptions to streamline your service requests
- Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling comes with advanced routing capabilities through its auto-attendant feature. The auto-attendant registers customer preferences and your user availability to rout calls as per time zone, language, and other parameters
- You can switch between a one-on-one telephone conversation and a rich video calling experience at the click of a button. Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling blends our usual video conferencing experiences with business telephony, giving you the best of both communication and collaboration worlds
- Cloud Calling is a priority feature for Microsoft right now, so you can expect the experience to consistently improve over time. In August 2020 the company announced upgrades to Teams Calling, consolidating the myriad telephony options on the Teams platform that have been scaling gradually. And this isn’t limited to software features – Microsoft’s certified endpoints like SIP phones, 3PIP phones, USB phones, and the new Microsoft displays all work with Cloud Calling seamlessly
But is Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling for everyone, or are there any prerequisites that can hold back implementation?
Prerequisites for Microsoft Teams Cloud Calling
There aren’t any prerequisites that could hold back adoption as such, but you do need a Phone System add-on license and, of course, a Teams client installed for every user. Microsoft will bundle in PSTN capabilities that kick into action when connecting with external users.
