{"id":27788,"date":"2023-10-30T15:22:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T15:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=27788"},"modified":"2023-11-29T15:30:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T15:30:35","slug":"cavell-report-third-party-telephony-solutions-for-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/cavell-report-third-party-telephony-solutions-for-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Third-Party Telephony Solutions for Teams Lead the Market?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Teams is now the collaboration application of choice for many businesses, especially those with remote teams or hybrid working policies in place. However, a recent <\/span>report by the Cavell Group<\/span><\/a> found that more than 80% of Microsoft Teams users who have telephony enabled, use third-party solutions rather than Teams\u2019 in-built telephony. We\u2019re going to share some more insights from this report to explain why that is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why choose a third-party phone solution for Microsoft Teams?<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t
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\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRing Central Logo<\/title>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\tDownload the report\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\tRing Central Logo<\/title>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/path>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/path>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/a>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

Is telephony still that important?<\/span><\/h2>\n

With all the talk of video, messaging, and other digital channels, you would be forgiven for thinking that the humble phone call might have had its day \u2013 but not so. In their research, Cavell found that 92% of businesses still use phone, and alongside email, it\u2019s their most popular communication channel for both internal and external communication. Our own <\/span>research with Ipsos<\/span><\/a> supports this too.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the telephony options in Teams?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Teams provides many communication and collaboration methods, but telephony isn\u2019t included in most Teams packages. If you want to enable it, there are several ways to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Microsoft Calling Plans<\/span><\/h3>\n

You can choose to purchase Microsoft Phone System licences (included with E5 licences) along with Calling Plans, which includes a phone number and a bundle of domestic or international minutes. This route adds simple telephony functions into Microsoft Teams, with Microsoft providing the entire service end to end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Direct routing with a third party<\/span><\/h3>\n

Organisations can connect Teams to a third-party telephony provider for an enterprise-grade, high performance solution. It will connect your Teams and Microsoft 365 deployment to the PSTN networks, allowing users to make and receive external phone calls from anywhere on any device running natively in the Teams application.<\/span><\/h3>\n

3. Operator Connect<\/span><\/h3>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Operator Connect lets you use phone numbers and telephony services directly from a third-party carrier, from within the Teams Admin Centre. There are about 60 operators in the programme. From a technical perspective, it\u2019s simpler than Direct Routing \u2013 <\/span>it gives you the flexibility and convenience of managing everything in your tenant so you don\u2019t need to configure new solutions to connect to your environment, as you do with Direct Routing. Instead, it\u2019s the operator\u2019s responsibility to connect you to the right services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Third-party application<\/span><\/h3>\n

The final option is using a unified communications provider to enable telephony in Teams. It\u2019s the simplest option to set up because the third party does all the heavy technical work for you. It\u2019s also the only option you don\u2019t need a Microsoft Phone System licence for, so it can save you money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Businessman<\/p>\n

Why are the third-party telephony solutions more popular?<\/span><\/h2>\n

If you use Operator Connect or Microsoft Calling Plans to enable telephony, you must use the Microsoft Phone System for each user\u2019s PBX call control. But as the Cavell report highlights, Microsoft\u2019s phone system has some limitations. Third-party telephony providers can usually offer:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n