One of the largest challenges to rolling out cloud-based unified communications and collaboration tools has been the continued existence of the PBX. Many enterprises have made substantial investments in their PBX and are only a few years into an expected lifespan of a decade or more. These businesses can’t simply retire their PBX and move to cloud-based collaboration tools even if their workers are now less and less on the premises because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are many, many organisations out there that have invested money in PBX and now want to use Microsoft Teams and remote working but their PBX won’t allow it,” explained Saif Ahmed, a director at SCB Global, which has the capability to put Microsoft Teams capabilities on the PBX. “We can make it easy for them and say relax, don’t worry, you can use what you’ve got.”
“We’ll help you adapt and be fully cloud enabled on Microsoft Teams with OPTO4Teams”
Nicola Hollerhead, a client account manager at SCB Global, added: “We’re opening up collaboration to everybody because at the moment it’s only those already on the cloud that can take full advantage. With our unparalleled and unique solution using OPTO4Teams, we are opening Microsoft Teams up for everyone.”
Aside from the obvious value of enabling organisations to run Teams collaboration tools without having to write-off PBX investments, the approach of OPTO4Teams with the existing PBX has several features and benefits. “We provide a middle layer to put Microsoft Teams and any onsite PBX together so you can continue to use your existing handsets from the PBX provider, for example,” added Ahmed. “Users may not want to rock the boat and are familiar with their phones and many are against a major change, but there’s a need to enhance remote working and make full usage of Microsoft Teams.”
This middle layer works with all vendors’ PBX and SCB Global is able to make any PBX work with Microsoft Teams. “Other vendors have cloud offerings that sit next to Teams but we’re making Microsoft Teams the main communications piece, everything is on Teams and the user never sees any other tool,” he explained. “We want it to be successful for as many people as possible. In many ways, this gives longevity to the PBX’s ROI and the organisation doesn’t have to do much internally to make that a reality.”
This could be particularly valuable as people start to return to work from pandemic-related lockdowns. The flexibility will mean that those who return to the office can use their existing phones on Microsoft Teams while those who work from home can utilise Microsoft Teams for remote working and collaboration in a hybrid deployment.
“We’ve always been flexible in terms of the on-site versus cloud argument and have never forced customers to decide,” added Hollerhead. “There are different solutions and different people will benefit from each but we have always been behind Microsoft Teams and have been doing this for over 18 months since December 2018. This experience enables us to be flexible and adaptive and we’re able to fully cater for different set up requirements, on-demand and bespoke solutions.”
“The inherent flexibility is what organisations need to support their remote workers and those in the office to collaborate effectively”
