Microsoft has gradually broadened the UCaaS potential of the Teams chat-based collaboration tool, focusing more on voice. Moreover, by October 2020, Teams users will have made over 650 million calls, a more than ten-fold increase from March 2020. Microsoft offers a variety of Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) alternatives to provide this enormous network of Teams-based telephony users with additional choices.
Operator Connect Accelerator is a collection of infrastructure, software, and services that enable operators to integrate calling services with Microsoft Teams through Operator Connect. By using an accelerator partner, operators may streamline their Operator Connect experience and access an automated solution ready to grow their clients.
How Does Operator Connect Accelerator by Microsoft Work?
Operator Connect Accelerator is a program built up of trusted, Microsoft-authorised partners that can help carriers gain Operator Connect approval.
These partners expedite the onboarding of qualifying operators to Operator Connect and the delivery of services to clients.
Microsoft has collaborated with a handful of essential partners to deliver additional value to all operators to provide a more streamlined and automated method of offering Operator Connect to their consumers in their respective areas. Azure for Operators (AfO), AudioCodes, NuWave, PingCo, Ribbon, and Sippio are the current partners of the Operator Connect Accelerator. Azure for Operators is a Microsoft service developed by the Azure team, which is an interesting fact.
The company’s purchase of Metaswitch enables this. It is an entirely Azure-based solution that offers SBCs and software. Before operators may qualify for Operator Connect certification, they must satisfy the following criteria:
● They must be a licensed and/or licensed provider of PSTN services and phone numbers.
● They must have two Microsoft 365 Certified employees: Administrator Associate for Teams
● They must be capable of Tier 1 customer assistance.
● They must comply with connectivity, architectural, and integration criteria (to be shared on onboarding)
The solution may assist carriers in unfamiliar areas, such as Microsoft’s API framework. Using the technology of approved Operator Connect Accelerator partners may further cut initial expenditures.
Getting Started with Operator Connect Accelerator
Operator Linkup Accelerator partners must offer software solutions for Operator Connect integration, including interaction with APIs and automation of essential use cases. In addition, they may offer the following:
● Deploy managed, certified SBCs in the environment selected by the client.
● White-label gateway for customers
● Admission and verification
● Enhanced reporting, monitoring, and problem diagnosis
● Other managed services in addition to Operator Connect
● Customer portals that can handle Direct Routing and Operator Connect
● Assistance beyond the technical
It currently has no impact on customers. In the future, however, this initiative will result in many more operators being offered under Operator Connect, a broader geographic footprint, and additional PSTN connection possibilities. Contacting Microsoft will help verify your eligibility for the Operator Connect program, which remains the first step in starting work with Operator Connect Accelerator.
After receiving Microsoft’s clearance, it may collaborate with its preferred Operator Connect Accelerator partner.
“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,” Mark Bunnell, Chief Operations Officer at NuWave, one of the first Operator Connect Accelerator partners.
Read the pros and cons of Operator Connect here.
Discover Operator Connect Providers in our Marketplace.
Read the official Microsoft Operator Connect announcement here.
