Teams Voice is a complete replacement for your enterprise telephone system. It equips your business with a robust, fully unified communications environment that travels with your users. Here, we answer Teams Voice frequently asked questions.
And to help you get started, we’re offering a complimentary Teams Voice Value Assessment. Our free Teams Voice Assessment will help you determine the value of moving to Teams Voice, either now or if you’re considering it for the future.
What is Teams Voice?
Teams Voice is a modern cloud-based telephony solution in Microsoft Teams. It enables users to make, receive, and transfer calls to and from landlines and mobile phones on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) in Microsoft Teams.
Depending on your existing Microsoft 365 licensing, you may require additional licenses to be able to use Teams Voice, as well as paying for calls. But the different solutions offer great value for money, and the total cost of ownership is often far less than traditional phone systems.
Who is Teams Voice suitable for?
Microsoft Teams Voice is suitable for most organisations – large and small – and in many industries. Add-on solutions are available, such as compliant call recording, Attendant Console, and call centre functionality.
Different licensing options are available. Business Voice offerings are available for 300 users or less, and Enterprise licensing is open to customers with Enterprise M365 or O365 licenses.
Artificial Intelligence and the power of the Microsoft Cloud can be leveraged to develop specific solutions that easily integrate with Teams Voice. Plus, you get cloud-powered AI with voicemail transcription, inline chat translation, and real-time captioning in meetings as standard.
Is Teams Voice Secure and Reliable?
Teams Voice is an enterprise-grade phone system. Microsoft’s cloud provides built-in redundancy and load balancing with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Teams Voice sits within the Microsoft 365 cloud platform with all the security features and accreditations that come with every Microsoft cloud offering.
What are Microsoft Calling Plans?
Microsoft Calling Plans are subscriptions that enable Microsoft to be your telephony service provider. Different Calling Plans are available for national and international calling, with various bundles of minutes included that are available in 12 different countries.
What is Direct Routing?
As an alternative to Microsoft Calling Plans and Consumption Credits, Teams Voice can be joined to the PSTN (public switched telephone network) through Direct Routing. This solution requires you to build and operate your own direct routing architecture and manage the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) breakout, or you can partner with us to provide this.
Content+Cloud has strong relationships with several telephony providers, which we leverage to provide a managed direct routing service. This option affords flexibility and value for money for calling within Teams Voice and is backed by our Managed Service, which is a popular choice with our customers.
What is Audio Conferencing?
Audio Conferencing connects the PSTN (public switched telephone network) to Teams meetings specifically and adds the ability to dial into or out of a Microsoft Teams Meeting. It does not require a license for Teams Voice but calling is limited to dialling in or out of meetings. Audio Conferencing is subject to a separate license fee which is also included in some other license bundles. Audio Conferencing is available in over 100 countries worldwide.
I’m stuck in a contract for my old phone system, can I still move to Teams Voice?
An ideal time to change your phone system is at a breakpoint in your existing contract. Teams Voice is likely to deliver significant benefits compared to your old system and may also offer hard cost savings. It could make economic sense to move to Teams Voice even if you still have a contractual obligation to your current provider.
Register to request our Teams Voice Value Assessment and we’ll help you to determine the value of moving to Teams Voice now or in the future.
What is the Content+Cloud Managed Service?
Within the Content+Cloud Managed Service, we provide a Direct Routing solution to provide PSTN break-out, and we manage the entire service end-to-end for you. Our service will:
+ Manage incidents relating to Teams Voice
+ Investigate and manage any issues with call quality
+ Implement user requests or changes for new or modified services within Teams Voice
+ Escalate issues to Microsoft, and our direct routing partner, managing the Teams voice service end-to-end
We have strong relationships with several telephony providers, which we leverage to provide a Managed Direct Routing service. This option delivers flexibility and value for money for calling within Teams Voice. And it’s backed by our own Managed Service, which is a popular choice for our customers.
Where can I learn more about Teams Voice?
To help you determine the value Teams Voice could bring to your organisation, request our free Teams Voice Value Assessment. Or if you’d prefer an informal chat to begin with, you’re welcome to contact us here.
