1. What are the advantages of using OC over other options for adding voice to Teams?
Nathan Ronchetti, CTO at Voiceflex:
"Operator Connect offers companies a simple way to get their Teams users PSTN calling while still making a saving over Microsoft calling plans."
"It allows the Teams telephony to be managed directly by the end-users Administrators and can be enabled from within the Teams management portal."
"The simplicity of setup comes at the cost of some flexibility when compared to Direct Routing options, although not all Direct routing options are the same."
"For example, Voiceflex operates a cost per channel rather than cost per user with their Direct Routing product. It also allows you to fork your calls simultaneously between Teams and SIP-enabled PBXs. These features are not available through most Operator Connect providers."
Mark Bunnell, Chief Operations Officer at Nuwave:
"Microsoft's Operator Connect offers a direct on-net connection between a carrier's SIP and the Microsoft Tenant. By doing this, carriers and customers can experience a higher call quality over direct routing."
"The other added benefit of Operator Connect is that you can have faster deployments as Operator Connect allows you to manage, provision, and deploy your users through the Operator Connect portal in Microsoft Teams."
Richard McPhee, Solutions Director at Gamma:
"The three biggest advantages are simplicity, speed of provisioning and service level. In terms of simplicity, finding a provider and day-to-day administrative tasks can all be run from the native Microsoft Teams Admin Centre in Office365."
"Once a customer has chosen a provider, provisioning the service can be done through a few simple 'clicks' with no need for PowerShell, DNS changes or domain authorisations."
"Finally, at both a technical and operational level, Operator Connect (OC) has been designed to deliver the highest service levels available for telephony in Microsoft Teams."
"As a programme provider, Gamma also provides direct peering through Microsoft Azure Peering Service (MAPS) to prioritise voice traffic using QoS from our network to Microsoft."
"At an operational level, the Operator Connect Excellence program is designed to prevent your company from being stuck in the middle of a support incident – with both ourselves and Microsoft having the ability to raise support issues with each other."
Kade Herbert, Marketing Content Strategist at CallTower:
"Operator Connect allows Microsoft Teams administrators to open the "Operators" tab in the Teams admin centre to connect calling services, acquire phone numbers, and assign users."
"Operators, such as CallTower, will provide technical support and manage the voice network and infrastructure. Operators can also enable PSTN voice services in unavailable regions through Microsoft Calling Plans. Implementation of voice services can be online in a matter of hours."
2. What does OC mean for customers from a price perspective?
Nathan Ronchetti, CTO at Voiceflex:
"Operator connect will generally be cheaper than going with a Microsoft calling plan, but it does require a Phone System license on your Office 365 user, which is worth considering."
"Different operators offer different packages with the usual array of call plan bolt-ons. These could be discounted further depending on the customer's current contracts and terms with the operator."
"Operator connect offers the end-user the possibility of direct relationships with the carriers, thereby circumventing the telecoms channel in the UK. This could mean a lower cost for the customer or higher margins for the carrier."
Mark Bunnell, Chief Operations Officer at Nuwave:
"From a consumer price perspective, there is no difference between Direct Routing and Operator Connect. It depends on your specific need and complexity of your specific solution."
"From a sales journey perspective, the biggest difference in taking the Operator Connect route is being able to procure their Microsoft Teams voice service directly inside Microsoft Teams without navigating the traditional sales cycle."
"It is through apps and services like iPILOT a customer can see the real benefits and cost savings that are available through a Microsoft Teams voice service. The iPILOT platform allows for self-serve voice & capacity management through a zero-touch experience."
"iPILOT is paving the way with innovative features that take the heavy lift out of voice deployment and decrease the overall reliance on skilled labour and significantly reduce the overhead of voice service management."
Richard McPhee, Solutions Director at Gamma:
"OC is designed to drive innovation across providers to deliver customer value at a competitive price point."
"The solution ensures that a baseline level of service should be expected for what you pay. From this baseline, it's up to the providers to deliver a quality service, customer experience and differentiate their offerings (like in any market) that align with their pricing structure."
"Gamma has a heritage in providing innovative solutions across our managed communications offerings like SIP and Teams Telephony."
"We've applied these innovations, such as SIP Trunk Call Manager (STCM), to our Operator Connect offering as our customers and partners have come to rely on and expect these features."
"Leveraging STCM, our customers can also derive value through high availability. In the event of a service failure, customers can simply manage calls on the Gamma cloud using STCM, thus ensuring they never miss a call."
