Should You Migrate from PBX Systems to Enterprise-Level Microsoft Teams?

While your organization may only use Microsoft Teams as a collaboration tool, there’s a golden opportunity to enhance your business communications with the right partner and replace your PBX with enterprise-level Microsoft Teams. According to UC Today, a staggering 280 million people utilized Teams monthly during the first quarter of 2023.

Nearly 5 million seats are connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) for inbound and outbound calling. This signifies that users are already making calls from Teams, but here’s the catch—the right partner can ultimately enhance the experience for your business and users by integrating Teams into a UCaaS solution.

In this blog, we will explore how an enterprise-level Microsoft Teams platform can replace your in-house or hosted PBX, weigh the advantages of Teams over traditional public branch exchange (PBX), identify the challenges of migrating to Microsoft Teams, and uncover strategies to overcome them. We will also discuss the types of organizations that benefit from migrating to Teams and how you can make your migration as seamless and easy as possible.

How Can Enterprise Microsoft Teams Replace Your PBX?

When businesses think of replacing their business phone system with an enterprise-level Microsoft Teams solution, they often ask if it is suitable. There’s the lingering question – does the platform offer enough features and functionality to replace your PBX completely? While some organizations may find themselves bound to a hardware or software-based PBX for daily operations, Microsoft Teams can be a suitable solution for various businesses.

Related: Can Microsoft Teams Make External Calls? 

Chances are, your business may already use Teams for communication and collaboration within the platform. However, with the right partner, the door opens to use enterprise-level Microsoft Teams to make and receive phone calls, conference calls, video calls, instant messages, and share files. In many cases, a Microsoft Teams business phone system can meet all your needs at an affordable price with the collaborative features of Teams enhancing the user experience.

What Are the Advantages of Using Microsoft Teams as a PBX?

The thought of making a switch from a traditional PBX to Microsoft Teams may cross your mind because you already use the platform to connect and collaborate. Apart from this, there are several other reasons to migrate for affordable and effective online communication and voice over traditional PSTN. The following advantages incentivize switching to enterprise Microsoft Teams for your business phone solution:

• Enterprise-level Microsoft Teams can be an all-in-one solution, consolidating your arsenal by minimizing dependence on various vendors and technologies for voice, video, and instant messaging.
• More bang for your buck with Lower-cost calling than traditional carriers.
• Seamlessly migrate contacts and port phone numbers to Microsoft Teams, allowing you to keep the same business phone numbers.
• Your users will have a consistent experience using the public internet for communications regardless of where they connect.
• You can reduce your cost and dependency on hardware PBX solutions. Microsoft Teams works with various IP phones, software phones, and certified hardware for native support of desk phones, headsets, and speakerphones.
• Updates are handled through Microsoft Teams, freeing your IT department from the hassle of managing a PBX.
• Get the best of both worlds as your users can access various enterprise-grade features offered by traditional carriers and PBX systems, like conference calling and hold music. 

Are There Any Disadvantages to Switching to Teams?

While using Microsoft Teams as a business phone system can be ideal for many companies, some may face challenges migrating to Teams for their phone service. However, the good news is, you can mitigate several challenges by finding the right partner for your Teams integration.

For instance, using Microsoft Teams with Business Voice will limit you to 300 seats. Large businesses and call center environments may require more than 300 users, so a standard or business-level Teams solution will not suffice. By leveraging an enterprise Microsoft Teams solution model, the cap is removed and you can procure as many seats as you need. 

Microsoft Teams does not include paging, queuing, or auto-attendant features. Standard and business-level Teams plans may fall short if you need paging or call center features—such as auto-attendant service and queuing. However, there is a workaround. You will need to find the right partner to get a complete solution. An enterprise Microsoft Teams solution will provide the features you need along with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking and advanced call routing for off-hours and holidays to ensure a seamless and business-enhancing experience.

What Type of Business Will Benefit Most From an Enterprise Microsoft Teams Solution?

Enterprise-level Microsoft Teams can benefit various businesses and organizations. Whether you already use Teams or want to integrate it to replace your existing PBX, your users and business can enjoy the benefits.

You Want to Make Calls With Microsoft Teams

If you already use Microsoft Teams for internal communications and collaboration, you can also make calls over your VoIP or PSTN service, provided you have the right partner. Receiving and making phone calls from Teams allows your users to access all their communication tools from a single platform. If you are already using a PBX, you can replace it with Microsoft Teams, and if your business does not have a PBX, you can use the platform as your business phone system without needing one.

You Want to Integrate Microsoft Teams and SIP

If you already have  SIP, you can easily integrate Teams. Your business’s SIP can be connected to the internet using session border control (SBC) to allow Teams traffic to access the SIP trunks. An enterprise Microsoft Teams solution provides the required licenses and various features, including the ability to receive and make calls using Teams via SIP. If you’re already using SIP and Teams, an enterprise-level provider can connect your Teams environment and SIP trunks with hosted SBCs.

An enterprise-level Microsoft Teams solution can provide SIP trunking and Teams support if your company is not yet using a SIP. A SIP solution allows your business to route communications traffic over the internet without costly primary rate interfaces (PRIs). A cloud-based SIP solution also offers a virtually limitless number of simultaneous inbound and outbound connections for your voice and Teams sessions. If you already have Teams, integrating it into SIP is simple. A provider can supply the necessary licenses if you’re interested in both Teams and SIP.

You Want to Implement Microsoft Teams With a UCaaS Solution

If your company uses unified communication as a service (UCaaS) solution, an enterprise Microsoft Teams provider can provide the licenses and support your need to implement Teams into your communications system. If you use an in-house or hosted PBX, a reputable provider can help you replace your PBX with Teams.

If your company moves from an in-house PBX to UCaaS with Microsoft Teams, an experienced enterprise-level partner can ensure a smooth transition to cloud-based communications and Teams for your business calling needs..

How Can You Make Your Migration to Teams Easier?

If you have decided that migrating to Microsoft Teams is the right choice for your business, you may be considering some of the challenges to avoid to make your transition more seamless. The first step is to plan for your migration and have a clear goal.

Choose a leader to take accountability and ensure the migration is a success from start to finish. Lay out your procurement, preparation, and implementation plan, and continue to plan for the future. A study in Harvard Business Review found that nearly 9 out of 10 digital transformations fail to meet the business’s objectives. Having the guidance of an experienced partner during your migration can help to ensure its success.

The second critical step in making your migration simple is choosing the right platform. A telecommunications partner with a deep understanding of enterprise-level Microsoft Teams, and experience integrating Teams for various types and sizes of businesses, will ensure you and your company face fewer challenges and delays.

Related: Can Microsoft Teams Replace Your Phone System? 

The third step is to migrate at your own pace. An ideal partner will facilitate the migration on your schedule, allowing you to integrate Teams into your business in small sections or all at once, whether your users are in one building or throughout the world. Depending on your needs, you can decide to use a hosted network and partial or complete SIP, and you’ll have the flexibility, pricing, and scalability that suit your situation. A top-notch platform can also help you plan out your migration and future needs with a custom roadmap.

What Are the Additional Benefits of Finding the Right Enterprise Microsoft Teams Partner?

While you may be switching from a PBX to enterprise Microsoft Teams for its inherent advantages, you can get additional benefits and features when you partner with the right platform.

Enhance Your SIP or UCaaS Solution

Integrating Microsoft Teams into your SIP or UCaaS solution for PSTN calling gives you more flexibility and scalability than the standard or business Teams platforms. Enterprise Microsoft Teams is ideal for connecting remote users providing the benefits of Teams and the scalability of SIP or UCaaS at an affordable price. A reliable provider simplifies the process of setting up and configuring your Teams solution, offering advanced call routing for Teams and features like call queuing.

A reputable provider can offer advanced Microsoft Teams and voice capabilities, such as hybrid options, allowing certain users to use the SIP for voice and others to use Microsoft Teams for voice or a combination. You can also link and share your SIP trunks and cloud-based VoIP calling. The right platform provides a robust and secure solution with disaster recovery and uptime reaching nearly 100%.

Provide Seamless Collaboration for Your Users

Communicating and collaborating with users in your organization can be simple with Teams, even if your entire workforce is remote. Teams offer video, voice, instant message, and file-sharing features enhanced by your organization’s SIP or UCaaS solution. Leaders will control collaboration management and can add or remove users from the chat. They can also choose up to 10 co-organizers to guide the chat or conference calls.

When your business is collaborating with a diverse remote workforce, you can add captions to your meetings in several languages. Microsoft Teams allows users to switch between devices for seamless calling and collaboration on desktop and mobile devices.

Leverage Team’s Business Enhancing Features

In addition to enhancing your communications and collaboration, an enterprise-level Microsoft Teams solution can provide advantages to your business. It provides a full-featured business phone system with the benefits of Teams for messaging, video, conference calling, chat, and file sharing.

When you replace your PBX with Teams, you get the following features:

• Determine what happens when a call recipient receives a call during a call or conference
• Receive voicemails in a Microsoft Exchange mailbox
• Dynamic caller ID allows for user control of the user’s identity to recipients
• Hold music with various options
• Share incoming calls between users
• Block calls and disable Teams chat for certain users

Partner With an Experienced Provider for Your Enterprise Microsoft Teams Solution

When you partner with an experienced Microsoft Teams provider, you get Teams’ communication and collaboration benefits with an enterprise-grade communications system to replace your PBX. An excellent provider will be able to meet all of your needs for Microsoft Teams calling and offer enhanced options. A Direct Gold Microsoft Partner provides a seamless experience, including training, deployment support, calling plans, and an enterprise-grade platform. They will ensure you have the licenses and Teams-certified devices to get the most out of the platform.

BCM One is a hosted UCaaS provider offering enterprise-level Microsoft Teams services. As a Direct Gold Microsoft Partner, we can provide an end-to-end solution for your Microsoft Teams communication and collaboration needs. We can provide SIP, UCaaS, and Microsoft Teams in one solution and make migration easy at the pace you are most comfortable with. Contact us to begin using Microsoft Teams to enhance your business communications experience.