Coming up with solutions is really the best part of my job. Tell me what you currently have, tell me what you want, pain points, wish list, where do you see your business in 3 years, 5, 10…
Wanting to use Microsoft Teams for your voice solution may feel like a complicated endeavor. But it doesn't have to be! I enjoy giving businesses new capabilities to make their work lives easier, less confusing and easy to use. This is where Direct Routing with Microsoft Teams fits in. It allows you to potentially keep an investment you’ve already made (Mitel, Cisco, PRIs, SIP Trunks, AudioCodes, Ribbon) and expand your investment with Microsoft, while giving your employees what they need to be successful; FLEXIBILITY, MOBILITY, basically anything ending with ITY 😉.
First, lets talk about the alternative. Microsoft Calling Plans. Seriously a great offering from Microsoft. But it comes with limitations such as being able to page using Teams, having dynamic E911 routing and it is ideal for businesses with a small number of users (or a big Microsoft Licensing budget). What most customers want is Direct Routing. Direct Routing offers businesses the option to integrate with their existing Legacy PBXs by implementing Session Border Controller(s) (SBC) to use with Teams.
This means all the time, effort, training, money you have put into your Mitel environments, wasn't a waste! You might ask, why would I keep my Mitel environment around at all? That is a great question. In reality you don’t need Mitel in the middle. Teams works directly with a Microsoft Teams certified SBC. The answer is call center, analog devices (telephones, fax machines), maybe you have a large investment in Mitel physical phones, or you just upgraded your Mitel 3300 Cx controller, and it has at least another 10 years of life! Okay, maybe not 10, but you get the point. There is no porting of numbers to a different carrier or users losing their DIDs, inbound and outbound calling would still flow through your Mitel controller, and it decides to send the call to Microsoft Teams. A hybrid model like this allows a business to limit their number of Teams Voice users to save on costs and gives them the time to adapt users to a new system and potentially phase out legacy hardware.
Okay, so what about Cisco folks?? I have amazing news! Did you know the Cisco CUBE is a certified SBC for Microsoft Teams?! This means you can continue to use your CUBE how you do today AND have outbound calling available for your Microsoft Teams users. Seriously NO additional hardware. I love this solution for businesses, it just makes sense!
These are high level solutions, of course. Every single environment is unique and requires the attention, detail, and skills to implement. Marco Technologies is ready to help your business take on the adventure of using Microsoft Teams Voice! Use the investments you have already made in Microsoft and your Legacy PBXs and give your users the tools they need to be as successful as possible!
