Microsoft Teams has emerged as one of the most valuable tools for communication, productivity, and collaboration in the modern world. Offering businesses an all-in-one ecosystem for knowledge sharing, team synchronisation, and creativity, Teams supports millions of users worldwide.
However, one of the core things that makes Microsoft Teams such a compelling solution for today’s business leaders is its flexibility. While Teams offers amazing functionality on its own, the benefits of the platform can be enhanced and upgraded with support from the right partners. Microsoft’s broad network of partners offer everything from dedicated hardware for Teams Rooms, to managed services, direct routing, and more.
Here's how partners can add value to the Microsoft Teams ecosystem, and help businesses unlock the full benefits of the evolving platform.
1. Bringing Business Telephony into Teams
One of the most common ways businesses today are working with partners to enhance the functionality of Teams, is to unlock business telephony capabilities within the platform. While Teams offers its own calling plans for inbound and outbound calling, many companies prefer to integrate their existing carriers with the Teams platform.
Solutions like Operator Connect and Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams allow organizations to leverage unique advantages, such as the ability to retain crucial numbers, preserve pricing packages, and unlock calling functionality in various geographical regions.
Partners can work with organizations to implement direct routing as a service, allowing staff to seamlessly place and receive calls within Teams with turnkey solutions. The right partner will allow companies to adapt their business telephony solution according to their specific needs, with support for all kinds of numbers, fast and reliable call routing, and even personalised training services.
2. Implementing and Optimizing a Teams Ecosystem
While the Teams platform itself might be user-friendly and intuitive, effectively configuring and deploying a collaboration and communication platform across a broad business landscape can be challenging. Partners bring a wealth of experience and expertise to business owners when it comes to not just deploying Teams software, but also planning and configuring the solution for all users.
A Managed Service Provider specializing in Microsoft Teams ecosystems, for instance, can help businesses to assess the needs of all of their users, and adapt their Teams environment to specific requirements. They can assist with training and adoption support, ensuring business users can make the most out of the technology available, and even work with business leaders to ensure the Teams environment integrates seamlessly with existing tools and technologies.
"As the conversation develops, we see the customer have an epiphany of realizing how they can leverage Teams to improve communication and integrate with an organization's existing vision of improved workflows. Sometimes it is as simple as education on the correct tools, and sometimes, it includes custom integration. Two of the most common we see are optimizing the Town Hall experience with the appropriate Teams tools and services; another is integrating with their incident ticketing and support help desks tools to support the Teams users and experience better."
- Eric Bixler, National Director of AV Solutions, New Era Technology
A Teams partner can help business leaders to leverage the right integrations, APIs, and connections between Teams and tools like CRM, ERP, and productivity tools. Plus, they can ensure the right resources are in place to monitor crucial metrics, KPIs, and performance levels.
3. Configuring Teams Hardware and Rooms
Building a comprehensive Teams ecosystem for communication and collaboration doesn’t just mean correctly configuring the software side of the landscape. Today’s businesses also need to ensure their teams have access to the right hardware, devices, and endpoints to enhance meetings, customer interactions, and video calls in the Teams environment.
Partners in the Microsoft Teams landscape can help businesses to take full advantage of solutions like Microsoft Teams Rooms, for an immersive meeting experience that combines video, audio, and content sharing capabilities. A good partner will be able to work with an organisation to define their meeting room needs, choose the right endpoints, and implement technology effectively.
