(Editor's Note: This post and research note was written for 8x8 by Metrigy President and Principal Analyst Irwin Lazar.)

Sixty-two percent of the more than 1,400 companies participating in Metrigy’s Workplace Collaboration MetriCast: 2023 global research study are now using Microsoft Teams, primarily for inter-company chat and for video meetings. Adopters are often at an inflection point as they consider the best way to integrate calling into Teams, and to extend Teams into their contact center to optimize customer engagement.

There are a variety of options for adding PSTN calling into Teams. Organizations can adopt Microsoft’s own Teams Phone features, typically at an additional license cost; or they can integrate a third-party calling platform into Teams. Those who go the Microsoft Teams Phone route must then obtain PSTN connectivity separately from the Teams Phone license. Here, they can purchase calling directly from Microsoft via Calling Plan, or connect their Teams Phone instance to the PSTN through a third-party service provider.

The third-party service provider option provides yet even more choices (and flexibility). Teams Phone customers can obtain services from Microsoft Operator Connect-certified providers who are able to directly connect their PSTN access to Microsoft through Microsoft Azure. Or, Teams Phone customers can leverage Direct Routing which allows them to connect new or existing Session Border Controllers to SIP trunking providers.

Metrigy has closely tracked the adoption of both Direct Routing and Operator Connect. Among our study participants, roughly half of companies with fewer than 2,500 employees are using Operator Connect compared to 70% of those with more than 2,500 employees who use Direct Routing.

However, Microsoft Teams Phone isn’t the best Teams calling option for everyone. Our research shows that of those using Teams for meetings and chat, 65% plan to use, or continue to use, a separate provider for PSTN calling. There are a number of reasons for this:

  • Companies may have existing investments in enterprise phone systems that they do not wish to replace
  • Employees may need access to calling features that Teams Phone does not support. Examples include SMS/MMS messaging and fax
  • IT and business leaders may not want to put all their eggs in the Teams basket such that a Teams outage takes down all internal and external communications and collaboration
  • Companies may have existing contracts with other telecom service providers
  • Geographic availability limitations of Teams calling plans
  • A desire to leverage integrated contact center and UC services, since Microsoft does not offer a Teams-native contact center platform of its own.

Among our research participants, almost 72% say they are converging contact center and unified communications.

Among those using, or planning to use, a non-Microsoft UC provider, nearly 82% consider the availability of Teams integration to be important or critical in their vendor selection process. Today, combined UCaaS and CCaaS providers are delivering this integration, though capabilities differ. There are both a number of certified contact center providers that integrate with Teams, as well as providers offering support for Operator Connect, Direct Routing, and / or calling features that integrate into the Teams app, but rarely do providers offer all of the above.

Buyers should do their due diligence and select communications partners who:

  • Offer support for a variety of Teams calling approaches, including the ability to support both Teams Phone and third-party UCaaS and CCaaS connectivity with presence federation
  • Support for a variety of Teams Phone PSTN access approaches including Direct Routing and Operator Connect
  • Enable Teams users to manage their phone features and place and receive calls within the Teams app, without having to switch to a different app
  • Have the geographic reach and scale to support both current and future needs
  • Have the experience delivering flexible solutions for extending calling into Teams
  • Provide a minimum of five-9’s (99.999% reliability) including support for fail-over scenarios to protect calling even in the event of a Teams outage
  • Provide Teams Certified omnichannel contact center platform with appropriate analytics to evaluate system performance and customer engagement.

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Learn more here about the 8x8 for Microsoft Teams portfolio, including 8x8 Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams, 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams offering Direct Routing as a Service, the 8x8 Phone App for Microsoft Teams, as well as the Teams-certified 8x8 Contact Center for Microsoft Teams.