Microsoft Teams has become the epicenter of enterprise collaboration, reaching hundreds of millions of users worldwide. For UC providers and resellers, that rapid adoption is a double-edged sword: huge potential on one side, massive risk on the other.
Customers now expect voice to work flawlessly inside Teams, and falling short could mean losing them to competitors – or worse, becoming irrelevant. Yet for some UC providers and resellers, integrating voice into Teams remains a complex and strategic challenge.
“UC providers today have three options, but only one is delivering scalable results,” said Scott Jenkins, Product Manager for Call2Teams at Dstny.
Option One: Stand Apart
Some providers retain separate PBX or UC platforms, effectively treating Teams as a competitor. On paper, it avoids integration headaches, but the risks are growing.
“During the pandemic, Teams adoption went global almost overnight,” Jenkins recalls.
“Vendors who weren’t ready had to watch that momentum pass them by. Doing nothing means remaining just a competitor, without capturing any of the growth Microsoft is driving.”
For enterprise customers increasingly reliant on Teams as the de facto endpoint for communication, ignoring integration risks not only revenue but relevance.
Option Two: Build Your Own
Building a bespoke Direct Routing solution offers control, yet it carries a substantial opportunity cost.
Every UC stack is different, and developing a bridge to Teams demands extensive resources, specialist expertise, and ongoing maintenance.
Certificates, SBCs, PowerShell scripts, and policy management create layers of complexity that can delay go-to-market and stretch IT teams thin.
“You tie up your resources maintaining something that doesn’t differentiate you in the market,” Jenkins explains. “It slows down your ability to deliver value elsewhere.”
For CFOs and procurement leaders, the hidden costs – both operational and strategic –can be significant.
For IT leaders, the burden of sustaining a bespoke solution competes with other pressing digital transformation initiatives.
Option Three: Call2Teams
The third path is to leverage a third-party integration such as Call2Teams.
The platform acts as an agnostic middleware layer, connecting any UC platform directly to Teams without additional infrastructure or complex configuration.
“Through zero-touch provisioning and auto-sync, partners can enable Teams calling with just a few clicks,” Jenkins says.
“We remove the pain of certificates and call policy management, allowing providers to focus on their customers rather than the plumbing.”
Call2Teams also supports full white-labeling, preserving brand equity for resellers and carriers. “From portal URLs to the calling experience, Call2Teams fits seamlessly into their world,” Jenkins notes.
“Providers can offer a native Teams experience without revealing the complexity behind the scenes.”
A Market in Transition
The broader context is clear: while on-premise systems remain reliable, the enterprise voice market is steadily moving to the cloud.
Microsoft’s ongoing experimentation with Teams bundles and pricing models reflects its intent to capture cost-sensitive segments globally.
“With Call2Teams, we’ve enabled millions of users to call natively in Teams,” Jenkins observes. “It’s a win-win: providers safeguard their brand, and customers get the certified Teams experience they expect.”
For IT leaders, the operational relief is significant: fewer integration headaches, less firefighting, and a smoother roadmap for digital transformation.
Business executives gain from a unified communications experience across locations and devices, enabling stronger collaboration and productivity.
Finance leaders, meanwhile, benefit from predictable cost structures, avoiding the spiraling expenses of custom solutions.
The Bottom Line
For UC providers, remaining separate from Microsoft Teams risks irrelevance.
Building in-house integrations is costly, slow, and resource-intensive.
Third-party solutions like Call2Teams can offer a middle path: rapid deployment, minimal risk, and a native Teams experience for end users.
“All the rewards, none of the risk,” Jenkins concludes – a proposition that speaks to both the practical and strategic imperatives facing today’s enterprise tech buyers.
