Teams Rooms Managed Services does, in essence, what it says on the tin. For an additional fee on top of a standard package, Microsoft will manage (virtually) your Teams meeting rooms for you.
Here is how it works, where it thrives and where it, perhaps, falls a little short.
When was Teams Rooms Managed Services Launched?
The service has existed in a handful of guises since first being announced at Microsoft’s Inspire partner event in 2019.
It was first known as Managed Meeting Rooms while in private preview, before being renamed to Microsoft Teams Room Premium when it launched formally in July last year.
The branding has since been rejiggled again to Teams Rooms Managed Services, making it one part of the overarching Teams Rooms Premium subscription – which, like the Teams Room Standard licence, includes the core licensing SKUs (at reduced/bundled cost), allowing a Teams Room to be licensed without buying and assigning individual aspects – this includes:
- Core Teams Licence
- Skype for Business Online Plan (soon to be retired)
- Phone System Licence
- Audio Conferencing Licence
- Intune (for device/meeting room management)
How Does it Work?
The managed service provides proactive monitoring and technical support from Microsoft direct to end-users, via their help desk, covering areas such as faulty devices, known issues, updates and threat detection.
The service is built up of an artificial intelligence layer of support, with a team of Microsoft engineers on hand to provide 24/7 support for anything not swept up by the AI.
Together, the two layers continuously monitor the environment, checking for any faults, software updates and break-fix guidance.
Microsoft will raise tickets proactively when it finds an issue and will in many cases fix the problem without any action needed from the customer’s IT partner or in-house support team.
If a device has been unplugged, for example, it will flag the issue for the customer and advise on how to fix the problem.
Each issue, and the steps taken by Microsoft to remediate the problem, is logged in the service’s portal. Customers can also raise tickets themselves, for Microsoft to investigate.
That is, in a nutshell, how the service works. Microsoft takes over the running of the environment, so the customer does not have to manage it.
How Can the Service be Bought?
Teams Rooms is broken into two tiers: Teams Room Standard, which is $15 per device per; and Premium (which includes the managed service) is $50 per device per month.
Microsoft had initially planned for the premium service to be $50 on top of the standard $15 rate but ultimately landed on a flat $50 for the advanced tier.
Customers in the US and Canada can buy the service directly from Microsoft, with UK businesses buying through CSPs and LSPs. The UK price works out roughly the same when converted into Sterling.
Customers can also try the service free for three months here, or via a partner.
Is There Demand for the Service (or Service Like It)?
In short, yes.
Rob Quickenden, Chief Strategy Officer, at Microsoft partner Cisilion, told UC Today that interest in the managed rooms services is has rocketed over recent weeks, as businesses start to prepare for returning to offices and meeting rooms.
He explained that it has been relatively simple to make all-remote meetings inclusive of all participants, but this will become trickier with hybrid working.
“We’re spoilt for choice for tools when we’re remote if we use Teams properly,” he said. “We can jump on whiteboards, share files, record and transcribe meetings, and all of these wonderful things.
“But people are going to go back to the meeting rooms that they haven’t touched in 12 months and say, ‘well the whiteboard is on the wall now; no one can see that if they’re not actually in the room’"
“Suddenly, someone is going to be disadvantaged, so we’re seeing as much demand for meeting rooms now as we did for home working devices last year.”
Demand for smart meeting rooms has increased, particularly smaller “huddle spaces”, he said – but these rooms need to be maintained by someone.
Is Teams Room Managed Services the Answer?
In short, it is hard to say.
Cisilion uses the Premium service for its four meeting rooms in London, and Quickenden said the offering does what it says it will do, in a fast and effective way.
“The SLA is four hours but if we test it but unplugging a USB device or something like that, we find that a ticket is usually raised by Microsoft within two hours,” he said. “It’s really, really good.”
The challenge comes in what the service does not do.
