Seduced by the benefits of voice calling via Microsoft Teams?
Surely it’s a no brainer for enterprises large and small: to fully-leverage the cloud-powered smarts of the giant communication platform that is now the go-to for millions around the world.
Many organisations have already taken the first transformational step by successfully deploying Microsoft Teams’ voice functionality for internal conversations with colleagues and collaborators.
The next phase of their digital journey is to activate external PSTN voice calling – providing users with a brilliantly slick experience whilst simultaneously eradicating traditional telephony costs.
However, for enterprises and their technology partners, the transition’s telephone number management implications can be dauntingly-complex.
Here, Tim Jalland, Solution Manager at leading digital workplace management software provider VOSS Solutions, shares the top five priority areas of its dynamic ‘Give Teams a Voice’ programme that is helping organisations of all kinds keep it simple…
1. Allocation & Retrieval
“Staff turnover, particularly in larger organisations, can be significant, and of course that affects the management of telephone number databases. Best practice is to have a single, central location for all numbers and to automate the processes of allocating and retrieving them when necessary. So, somebody joins, and the next free number is pulled from the central pool. When somebody leaves, it is automatically returned. With an automated back end, and with a central number database that is kept up to date in that way, it’s also possible to enable local department managers to on board and allocate services. It’s about simplifying and streamlining through automation across all systems and components. The impact of that approach on the wider business delivers big gains everywhere.”
2. Quarantining
“When people leave an organisation, it’s best for their number to be quarantined for a couple of months and therefore rendered unavailable for a new arrival or anyone else. When someone calls that number, it’s either just dead or it can be strategically redirected to a particular part of the business, such as a main reception desk or department. When the quarantine period expires, an automated workflow can return it to the central pool of free numbers for future reallocation.”
3. Reserving
“Every organisation has a pool of certain numbers they consider special or ‘gold’, and which need to be reserved for particular people, such as senior executives, or specific departments or purposes. It’s important that those numbers are centrally stored and not dotted around the organisation, and it’s important that they are able to be allocated in slightly different ways where required, such as by authorised users or via secure self-service functionality. They are distinctly different to numbers in an organisation’s main pool and should be managed differently. Again, workflows can be automated to achieve that, with relevant user preferences and distinct management protocols.”
4. Auditing & Reporting
“Most organisations have multiple numbers assigned to multiple systems; for example, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, meeting rooms, lifts or elevators, intercoms, contact centre desks and legacy PBX systems. It’s really important to regularly audit the entire organisation and to understand what numbers exist and where they are located. Numbers are assets, so think of it like a stocktake. In larger organisations, that kind of discovery process can also feed into analytics and reporting. Usage, charging, and consumption metrics can be highly-valuable to multiple areas of a business and can support cost management, accounting, staff planning, workflow redesign, and even human resourcing.”
5. Optimisation & Streamlining
“There is a cost associated with every number within an organisation – whether that’s via usage or licensing. It’s good to identify top and bottom talkers; that is to say members of the workforce who have numbers assigned to them that represent varying levels of return on investment. Do some of those people actually need a particular number or service? Do they need the handset to which their number is assigned, or would an alternative device serve them and the organisation more effectively and efficiently? Again, the answers to these questions can have a profound effect on the overall performance of an organisation.”
In Summary
“Voice communications have evolved and user expectations have evolved with them. Users who apply for a number or a service expect a fast, slick, digitised turnaround. We are all used to clicking something on the web and getting it instantly. Automating number management means it no longer has to be labour-intensive or highly technical. IT departments are able to delegate it to departments around an organisation because the back end is supportive and secure. Ultimately, it means transitioning external voice calling to MS Teams need not be the complex headache it may first appear.”
- To learn more about how VOSS Solutions can help your or your customers’ businesses ‘Give Teams a Voice’, click here.
