Complete Voice Guide to Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines chat, video meetings, file storage, and more, all in one service that’s integrated with the Office 365 productivity suite and includes extensions to integrate with other non-Microsoft products. There is a range of plans available, from free to enterprise, offering businesses of any size an option that’s right for their budget and needs. This guide will help you understand the value Teams delivers, key voice considerations, what Direct Routing is and how to implement it, and how to find a Teams partner.

Why Teams?

There are a lot of communication and collaboration tools out there to choose from. Microsoft Teams makes it easier to collaborate, eliminating the hassle of switching back and forth between different apps, and it lets you work from wherever you are on whichever device you want to use. The following articles discuss why Teams are a good choice for businesses of all sizes.

Voice considerations for Teams

Microsoft built teams not as an enterprise communications system, but as a collaboration platform with basic calling features that can’t completely replace a phone system, particularly for more complex or sophisticated enterprise environments. Here are some resources to help you understand the key voice considerations for Teams in your organization.

Teams and Direct Routing

Direct Routing is the process that allows you to connect a session border controller (SBC), via the Microsoft Phone System, to a SIP trunk or on-premise public switched telephone network (PSTN, the traditional phone network) to route incoming and outgoing calls through Microsoft Teams. In essence, Direct Routing allows you to use Microsoft Teams as a robust, enterprise-level PBX. Following are resources to understand Direct Routing and make the right decisions for your organization.

Finding a Teams Partner

While you can connect Microsoft Teams to your existing phone systems yourself, it is much easier and faster to partner with a managed
service provider to provide an end-to-end solution. Here are some articles that provide guidance for finding the right partner so you get
peace of mind that your network is optimized and your IT staff can focus on other initiatives.