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.
Indeed, providers can create a Teams UI for informal agents and external subject matter experts (SMEs). Meanwhile, they may offer a dedicated agent interface for formal reps.
That dedicated interface could include rich agent controls and enable more native AI features. Some providers may even enable embedded third-party apps.
Despite the different UIs, the system enables a cohesive contact center offering.
Unsurprisingly, no Unify contact center integrations have yet to be certified. However, early candidates for accreditation include AudioCodes, Landis Technologies, and Luware – amongst many other possibilities.
A Move Hot on the Heels of Microsoft Teams Phone Extensibility
The announcement of Unify comes shortly after the launch of Microsoft Teams Phone extensibility, as unveiled at Enterprise Connect 2025.
According to Arbuthnot, that’s no coincidence. He said:
Unify… relies on “Teams Phone extensibility”, the name for the technology that ISVs (independent software vendors) and Dynamics 365 Contact Center will use to integrate to Teams.
With this, end-users may benefit from a single telephony solution available globally, which allows them to standardize voice communications across locations.
Moreover, with ACS on the back end of Unify contact centers, brands may standardize digital conversations and streamline their communications billing.
Meanwhile, by bringing communications together, Unify can help organizations reduce their management burden and deliver a smoother user experience.
Where Does Unify Fit Within Microsoft’s Broader Contact Center Portfolio?
Microsoft is making a beeline for the contact center market, making two major moves over the past 12 months.
First, it released the Dynamics 365 Contact Center, a fully-fledged CCaaS platform for midmarket and large enterprises.
It’s building the solution out quickly, too, recently announcing native AI agents, which go far beyond customer contact automation.
Shortly after, the tech juggernaut announced its Queues App targeting SMBs, allowing them to manage and respond to inbound and outbound calls through Teams.
Since then, Microsoft has even introduced a live chat for customer service widgets to further cater to these smaller businesses.
Yet, some organizations want a more complete solution without all the bells and whistles of a fully-fledged enterprise platform.
According to Liz Miller, VP & Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, these businesses often go underserved in the contact center space. She told CX Today:
What’s getting missed is the mid-market: fast-moving organizations that aren’t small but don’t have massive contact centers either. They’re in a weird in-between space, but it’s still a multi-trillion dollar market.
The Teams Contact Centers enabled via this integration program fit that bill, which is perhaps why – after all these years – Microsoft has pushed through its Unify model.
For more thoughts on the latest Microsoft Teams Contact Center integration from Miller and several other prominent industry analysts, watch out for CX Today’s upcoming Big News Show.
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