Last week, Microsoft announced a new model for contact center providers to integrate with Microsoft Teams.
It is the third and most advanced integration model that Microsoft has brought to market.
Named "Unify", it allows contact centers to leverage Azure Communications Services (ACS) – Microsoft's CPaaS platform – to build their own contact center solutions inside of Microsoft Teams.
Alternatively, providers can embed ACS within a third-party client.
ACS underpins Microsoft Teams, providing chat, video, voice, recording, and AI APIs.
As such, the vendors that build solutions via the Unify model will establish one common communications layer that runs across their CCaaS and UCaaS offerings.
Sharing more, Tom Arbuthnot, Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, told CX Today:
The tight and easier integration to Teams should bring some benefits, including better options for AI integration, but it also brings a new consumption-based cost model for the ACS service usage.
Arbuthnot also noted that "Unify" is the same integration model Microsoft teased more than three years ago; only then it was billed as "Power".
However, while the tech giant may have changed the name, it functions in the same way as Microsoft first touted.
How Does Unify Differ from Existing Teams Contact Center Integrations?
As of April 2025, Microsoft has certified 33 Teams contact center integrations from 29 vendors.
These integrations follow the existing “Connect” and “Extend” models.
Only Anywhere365, ComputerTalk, Enghouse Systems, and Sikom offer both.
Here’s a quick rundown of how they work, which helps to frame what makes Unify stand out.
Model #1 - Connect
Connect is the most basic integration model. It allows businesses to integrate with Teams via a session border controller (SBC).
Essentially, this means that the contact center provider routes calls outside of Teams and passes those onto the UCaaS platform as an end-point.
The prominent CCaaS providers Cisco, Five9, Genesys, and NICE all offer this type of integration.
Model #2 - Extend
Extend leverages Microsoft’s Graph API, allowing businesses to manage Teams calls inside a tenant.
As such, contact centers can create apps that appear directly in the Teams interface, with native reporting. It also removes the need for SBCs and direct routing.
Moreover, as the media stream is in Teams, Microsoft can ensure encryption, quality, and security.
Model #3 - Unify
Unify brings the same benefits of the media stream and native reporting as Extend.
However, it enables native Teams connectivity, removing the need for SIP and Calling Plans.
Additionally, with Unify, organizations aren’t limited to the Teams UI only.
