As your business embraces cloud solutions or evolves to require more advanced digital tools in the Microsoft cloud, you’ll need to make decisions about your voice technology. You can’t leave voice behind to wither on legacy systems while you move full-steam ahead into digital transformation. Luckily, Microsoft has voice solutions that fit any business need or goal.
From full-cloud options to bring-your-own-carrier, Microsoft voice solutions can adapt to your requirements—it can just feel daunting to decide on the right one. Below we offer ways to plan for your Teams voice solution and decide which is the best for your organization.
Phone System with Microsoft Teams Calling Plan
If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, Microsoft’s Phone System with Microsoft Teams Calling Plan—the simplest option—could be for you:
- Is Microsoft Teams Calling Plan available in your region?
- Do you want to move away from your public switch telephone network (PSTN) carrier?
- Do you want to use Microsoft-managed access to the PSTN?
In this scenario, Microsoft becomes your PSTN carrier. Phone System with Microsoft Teams Calling Plan is all-in-the-cloud option and provides private branch exchange (PBX) capabilities and calls to the PSTN.
Phone System with Operator Connect or Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams
If your situation is a bit more complex, you might need an alternative option. Let’s say Microsoft Teams Calling Plan isn’t available in your region, or you need a voice system across countries and many locations. If either of these factors are in play, you can bring your own carrier and leverage their Microsoft Operator Connect or Direct Routing for Teams offering to access the PSTN.
With Operator Connect*, you can leverage existing contracts or find a new operator from a selection of participating ones to manage your infrastructure, PSTN calling, and session border controller (SBC).
*In Canada, the only operator providing Operator Connect is Rogers.
With Direct Routing, you connect your own supported SBC to Microsoft Phone System directly without needing additional on-premises software. You can use any voice solution carrier that offers this service, and you can configure interoperability between your voice solution equipment and Phone System.
Opting for these solutions might be best if you answer “yes” to any of the following questions:
- Do you want or need to keep your current voice carrier? (For example, do you need to keep your current carrier because of an existing contract?)
- Do you have an existing on-premises legacy PBX that you want or need to keep?
- Does your current legacy PBX offer unique features that are critical to your business?
A fourth option is combining all of the above to use Phone System with Microsoft Teams Calling Plan, Phone System with Operator Connect, and/or Phone System with Direct Routing and operator calling plan.
Because there are a number of requirements you should have in place before going with any of these solutions, it’s wise to look at an overview of what you need to prepare for cloud voice first. Microsoft offers checklists for onboarding voice solutions, and they show you how to:
- Prepare Microsoft 365 or Office 365 for Teams (required for any of the voice options)
- Configure Teams core capabilities
- Prepare your network
- Configure cloud voice workloads in Teams
- And configure Direct Routing in Teams
Leverage an Expert Partner for Voice in Microsoft
As you’ve likely gathered, selecting the right voice solution with Microsoft Teams has many moving parts and components to consider. This is where having a knowledgeable third-party expert is crucial. Most businesses don’t have the time or understanding of Microsoft’s options to make the right decision. Point Alliance has been helping organizations like yours determine which voice solution is best for years. Contact us if you have any questions about proceeding with your Microsoft voice decisions—we would love to hear about your needs.
