When the pandemic started, many organizations rushed to Teams as it provided the power to keep their businesses running, even with everyone working remotely.
As of January 2022, the platform has 270 million monthly active users. Yet, only about 12 million of those users are taking advantage of Teams’ full voice calling capabilities (AKA Microsoft Phone System).
So, what is holding Teams back? EnableUC asked this question in a LinkedIn poll and uncovered the four reasons:
- Inadequate features (30%)
- It’s too expensive (28%)
- Existing contracts/leases (24%)
- It’s technically difficult (18%)
Given these obstacles, why are organizations adding Phone Systems to Teams vs choosing other UC options?
Here are a handful of key benefits that make Teams voice compelling:
- The "bundle proposition" = cost savings, improved user experience (UI), easier IT admin
- Fully supports hybrid work
- Access to an almost limitless ecosystem
- Teams delivers much more than voice
From a customer experience perspective, its ability to connect the enterprise and kickstart collaboration to improve customer journeys is another significant plus.
These benefits and a rundown of and the Teams value proposition were part of a recent Ribbon webinar, with Kevin Kieller, Digital Transformation Strategist and Co-Founder of EnableUC and Greg Zweig, Director of Solutions Marketing at Ribbon.
The pair leaned on their immense implementation experience to put together the following checklist for Teams migration success:
- Define success
- Make sure you "know where you are"
- Evaluate your options
- Consider the interim state – it takes time to move all your sites
- Understand legal requirements (e.g., emergency calling)
- Engage a team with both experience and expertise
- Plan for the long-term
Think of every point as a "step" towards Microsoft Teams Voice success and tick each box by considering the guidance below.
Step 1 - Define Success
It’s best to start by documenting the business drivers for moving to the Microsoft Phone System and the best measures of success. By doing so, companies can make better trade-off decisions.
Typical drivers may include support for hybrid workers, cost saving, enhanced customer/employee experience, and increased productivity.
Step 2 - Know Where You Are
Legacy voice systems are deployed and grow over the years or even decades, meaning that many companies are often unsure of the current, complete makeup of their telephony system.
For example, understanding how calls are routed is often tricky. Documenting the status quo, including boss-admin scenarios, reception and after-hours handling, and call pickup groups is helpful here.
Don’t forget to document analog devices, including fax machines, postal meters, alarm systems, elevator phones, and security phones.
Finally, consider paging, IVR flows, and lobby phones. Documenting all this will ensure Microsoft Teams Voice fits into the existing ecosystem. As Zweig states:
All this "quirky" stuff has to work when you make the migration to Teams. So, if you don’t put this heavy lifting up front and fail to understand how each site is set up and how people work in those environments, you can create a lot of challenges for a Teams migration.
Step 3 - Evaluate Your Options
Avoid trying to implement a like-for-like solution, recommends Kieller. He says:
Teams provides a whole host of voice capabilities, but some of them work differently. So a rigid "like for like" approach is sometimes problematic and does not provide the best user experience.
Companies should consider the following options to connect Teams to the PTSN, which can either be used exclusively or combined: