As collaboration becomes a crucial concern for companies around the world, Microsoft Teams is one of the platforms leading the way for today’s enterprises. The fastest-growing offering in Microsoft’s portfolio, Teams provides everything a business needs to stay connected, from file sharing to instant messaging. However, organisations still need to find a reliable way to port their numbers into the Microsoft Teams calling experience.
Bandwidth is the only Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) provider on the market with their own Tier 1 network. This unique company already powers the calling packages behind Microsoft Teams and are equally well positioned to provide Direct Routing to companies requiring something more advanced. Not only does Bandwidth own and operate one of the largest all-IP voice networks in North America, but they’re a trusted cloud-native carrier for Microsoft’s Direct Routing strategy.
I caught up with Lauren Brockman, Product Manager at Bandwidth, to learn more about their Microsoft Teams Direct Routing solution.
A Fully Native Carrier
As Product Manager, Lauren Brockman is responsible for developing new products for the company – specifically in the voice area. Lauren works on everything from SIP and toll-free services to network connectivity into UC and CC platforms.
For the last 2 decades, Bandwidth has focused heavily on the wholesale space, powering companies like Skype for Business on the voice side. “We’ve built a product framework that allows us to connect to end-users. Now we’re expanding or connectivity options to cloud platforms that support Direct Routing options.”
As a fully native cloud carrier, Bandwidth can give businesses everything they need to transform their communication solution. With Bandwidth, businesses can directly implement scalable SIP trunking, connect to the PSTN, trigger ports, manage numbers in real-time, and more. Bandwidth essentially offers a more flexible way for businesses to move their numbers into the cloud, or simply upgrade their communications network.
Flexible Porting
As a Direct Routing solution for Microsoft Teams, Bandwidth offers a range of incredible benefits to customers, including the option to easily control disaster recovery and IP failover, and build a more scalable environment. According to Lauren, one of the biggest things that Bandwidth does well is deliver flexible porting. “We have an entire team devoted to giving people the flexibility they need in their porting strategy. ”
Customers working with Bandwidth can manage their entire porting experience via a self-service dashboard, getting automatic status updates and tracking their performance at the same time. “Porting is often a very disruptive process for businesses. It’s one of the main reasons why people are so afraid to leave their existing carriers and seek out new solutions. People don’t want the disruption that comes with porting.”
Brockman told me that with Bandwidth, businesses can port in a more seamless and stress-free way. “Your number is still yours when you port to us. Using our Direct Routing scenario, you get to decide exactly how your journey looks. Then, when you choose to move to Microsoft Teams, you simply move your numbers at the exact date and time you choose. Long porting intervals no longer apply.”
Sophisticated Routing Made Easy
Bandwidth powers Microsoft’s Calling Plans, but it also ensures that companies can take a more customisable route to Microsoft Teams with a secure and reliable Direct Routing strategy. One particularly impressive component of their Direct Routing capability is that it’s possible to self-service and self-configure the routing. “If you have hybrid instances of various platforms in your data centres, and you’re moving to the cloud, you can choose how your calls route in an easy-to-use self-service platform. You decide which IP address you want your calls to come to.”
Additionally, it’s easy for customers to control their disaster recovery and IP failover strategies too. If something goes wrong in the network, businesses can change their failover strategy wherever they are by simply logging into their self-service interface. “Our customers can also choose who in their team should have access to certain parts of the portal.”
Now that business agility is more crucial than ever, Direct Routing with Bandwidth is one of the simplest ways to start growing with Microsoft Teams. Thanks to their sophisticated network, it’s also easy for SIP trunking to scale up and down according to the individual needs of clients too.
Is Direct Routing a Good Choice?
According to Lauren, Direct Routing is an excellent option for a lot of companies. “For Microsoft, it opens up access to a market of people that want to move their voice into Teams, but may have technical or contractual blockers that require them to phase that migration.”
Choosing Bandwidth as a Direct Routing partner means that companies can get the agility and flexibility that they need. “With Bandwidth, customers get the steppingstone that they need into the Microsoft Teams calling world.”
“We offer APIs, a self-service dashboard, and all the handholding that you might want during the porting process. You get to choose exactly how you port your numbers when you move into Microsoft’s cloud”
Additionally, when companies decide that they are ready to move fully into Teams, the experience can be handled in minutes. “It’s fast and easy when you decide to migrate. There’s no need for the traditionally disruptive porting experience.”
Is this The Easiest Way to Migrate to Microsoft Teams?
When it comes to migrating calling into Microsoft Teams, Bandwidth offers one of the simplest ways to get started. The company simply plugs their services into the customer’s legacy system, so that they don’t need to do anything to get started. Then, the numbers the customer wants to maintain are ported to Bandwidth, and the customer can continue using them on their legacy system. “Then, when people want to move to Microsoft Teams, it’s a seamless process.”
Lauren told me that wherever Bandwidth customers want to go, they can access the support they need. Bandwidth even makes it easier to move toll-free numbers into Microsoft too. There’s no need to forward calls around the country.
“We’re all about making porting less of a nightmare for our customers”
Want to see if Direct Routing with Bandwidth is a good fit for your business? Get in touch with Bandwidth here.
