With Microsoft Teams Phone, we have been steadfast in our belief that the future of calling is built on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling that delivers rich voice and video experiences across organizational boundaries.1 Additionally, Teams Phone VoIP calling capabilities are complemented by an enterprise-grade public switched telephone network (PSTN) service that provides customers with the ultimate flexibility in how they communicate and collaborate.
In June 2022, we reached the milestone of 12 million Teams Phone PSTN users, nearly double the number from a year prior—all with a phone number assigned using Operator Connect, Direct Routing, Microsoft Teams Calling Plans, or a combination of these three options.
We’re honored and humbled to see customers like SAP, Schlumberger, and REI Co-op trust Teams Phone to keep their businesses connected. There is more work ahead to continue delivering innovative calling features, reliable service, and a simple-to-deploy experience, but we’re excited for what is yet to come and grateful to everyone who has been on this journey with us!
Innovation built for modern business calling
Cloud-based calling has created new opportunities and expectations for what a calling service can and should do. Users can stay productive and connected across a range of devices, and calling has become linked with collaboration—allowing users to place and receive calls in the same tool they use to chat and host video meetings. We’re committed to creating new business calling experiences, including the innovation below.
· Mobile calling: Earlier this year, we announced Microsoft’s mobile-first calling experience in partnership with some of the world’s most innovative telecommunication operators. Operator Connect Mobile, which will become generally available later this year, enables Teams Phone’s enterprise-grade calling service using the native dialer on the mobile device you already use.
· Contact center meets collaboration: The recently announced Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform brings together the collaboration capabilities of Teams with the rich agent experience of Dynamics 365, bolstered with industry-leading conversational AI from Nuance. This integrated Teams experience means that anyone in the organization can help serve customers using their experience and knowledge, turning customer service into a team sport.
· Flexible calling plans: To meet the spectrum of customer calling needs, Teams offers a range of calling plan options from low usage plans to virtually unlimited plans. For users who just need to place or receive an occasional call, we recently launched a Pay-As-You-Go calling plan option in select markets, providing customers the flexibility to only pay for the minutes they use.2
· Modern calling devices and experiences: Users can choose the calling endpoint that best keeps them productive and connected. We have recently announced new device features such as native Bluetooth certification, and enhancements to our Common Area Phone SKU allow more advanced calling on a shared device.
Get started today with Teams Phone
Stay connected with voice and video calling using Teams Phone on your computer, tablet, mobile device, or desk phone. Learn more
Reliable calling on the only native voice service for Teams
Calling relies upon trust—trust that the service “just works” allowing you to make and receive calls whenever you need. As the only native calling service for Microsoft Teams, Teams Phone delivers on the promise of reliable PSTN service and enables ways to stay connected even when a disruption occurs.
· End-to-end reliability: Since Teams Phone runs on Microsoft infrastructure, it can enable reliability in ways that are difficult or impossible to replicate from other providers. Our end-to-end reliability approach builds upon tools and systems such as proactive network monitoring, automated system optimization, and fault-tolerant redundancy.
· Financially backed service level agreement (SLA): As a signal of our commitment to deliver calling that works when you need it, we recently increased our Teams Phone SLA to a 99.99 percent financially-backed uptime guarantee. While reliability goes far beyond financial compensation in the rare event that the service is unavailable, Microsoft provides one of the most generous financial agreements in the industry.
· Survivable calling capabilities: For the most important calls, it’s useful to have a backup plan to stay connected. In the event a site cannot connect to the Microsoft cloud, the Survivable Branch Appliance capability permits users to continue placing and receiving PSTN calls.
· Enhanced voice and video quality: We continually work to make calls more natural, resilient, and efficient. Teams uses AI to improve voice and video quality, and adaptive wideband code technology delivers a high-fidelity audio experience for PSTN and VoIP calls.
Simple deployment and adoption
You don’t need to be a legacy voice expert to set up and manage Teams Phone. The resources below make it simple for any organization, large or small, to deploy Teams Phone and enable their users to begin making calls.
· Step-by-step deployment wizard: The Teams Phone setup guide (requires admin access) walks you through every step of the deployment process—from purchasing licenses for your users, configuring your PSTN options, to setting up advanced features like auto attendants and call queues.
· End-to-end expert guidance: With FastTrack for Microsoft Teams, you can get help deploying Teams Phone from Microsoft engineers and FastTrack Ready partners at no additional cost, for the entire life of your eligible subscription.
· Resources to support adoption: Once you’ve deployed Teams Phone, help your organization start benefiting from their new calling service. Ask your account team to share the Teams Phone adoption kit, containing email templates to help drive awareness, practical guidance for users to stay connected and productive with Teams Phone, and product overviews to prepare your helpdesk to answer user questions.
Get started with Teams Phone
Teams Phone helps organizations do more with less and this report details how enterprises experience an average of 132 percent return on their Teams Phone Investments.
To learn more about Teams Phone and features, check out our Get Started with Teams Phone!YouTube playlist, which we’ll be updating with feature demos.
To learn more and deploy Teams Phone, talk to your Microsoft account team or a certified partner.
Reference
Discover how Microsoft Teams Phone keeps 12 million PSTN users connected, Nicole Herskowitz, Microsoft 365. August 29, 2022.
1 New Microsoft Teams Phone features give calling a modern makeover, Nicole Herskowitz, Microsoft 365. September 27, 2021.
2 Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plan Zone-1: Buy this for users in the United States, including Puerto Rico, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Zone 1 licenses aren’t currently available for sale in the United States and Puerto Rico but can be provisioned to US and Puerto Rico users if bought in other countries.
Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plan Zone-2: Buy this for users in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Zone 2 licenses aren’t currently available for sale in the United States and Puerto Rico.