Insights
Insights
Every business needs a good phone system – it’s often much easier to pick up the phone than write a long email. But like many, you may be working with older handsets and PBX based systems that are slow, clumsy to operate and expensive to use and maintain.
Moving your phone system to the cloud greatly reduces the hardware you have in the office – sometimes just a mobile phone app with a good WiFi connection is all you need, with handsets and headsets being an optional extra.
This is ideal for hybrid teams, who need to be able to place and receive calls from any device and workspace. There is a huge range of cloud telephony systems available but there’s one that works in a system that you’re quite likely to have access to already – it’s called Microsoft Teams Calling.
If you’re one of the 145 million users of Microsoft Teams, you’ll be an expert in the basics of file sharing and video calling. But did you know you can also take advantage of its VoIP service?
Telephony is available as an add-on to Microsoft Teams with Microsoft 365 Business Voice. Calls are routed directly into Teams and use Microsoft’s phone system capabilities. This option is a perfect fit for businesses that may require fairly basic call control capabilities and already use Microsoft software.
Perhaps two of the biggest concerns about hybrid working is that communication and productivity may suffer if your employees are sometimes in the office, sometimes at home and elsewhere.
Teams calling allows you to transform Teams into your complete hub for communications. The platform already has features like online meetings, chat messaging, and screen sharing to encourage interaction, and adding in a phone system brings everything together into one workspace.
If you’ve ever had to fight to get your applications and software to work together, you know the frustration of using multiple systems at once. Everything in Teams is designed to work together and you shouldn’t experience any compatibility issues.
Your staff also don’t need to leave Teams to open another VoIP app. Add those time savings up and it makes people more productive with less cause for distractions.
One of the biggest benefits of using Microsoft Teams for your phone system is that it works within the cloud. As with any cloud-based service, you have the ability to access it from anywhere.
Microsoft Teams can be used on any device from any location, whether your teams are remote working, working from home, or in the office. Why have a separate application or piece of hardware when you can simply use a software that you’re probably already using every day.
Using your traditional PBX system, if you need to contact someone in your office, you’ll have to try calling their desk. This works the same for anyone outside of your organisation. With Teams call systems, the call goes to the person, not the device; they can answer no matter where they are, so long as they’re connected to the internet or on 4G/5G.
A big benefit of Teams Calling is that you’re longer tied to fixed desk phones. Because the Microsoft Teams app works on desktop, laptop or mobile, you can make calls from wherever is best for you.
You don’t even need a VoIP system because we can enable it through your existing PSTN set-up, and this way you can extend connectivity to landlines as well. It’s also easy to transfer all of your existing numbers.
We can help you set up a range of phone features you’ve come to rely on too, like call queues, call forwarding, voicemail transfers, caller ID, and group calling.
If you are already using Teams, you’ll know it is an extremely secure platform, enforcing two-factor authentication and single-sign on.
But Microsoft recently unveiled its plans to add new security features to Teams, including end-to-end encryption support for voice calls, which should be rolled out in August.
Currently, all kinds of communication (calls and messaging) between Teams users and the service is encrypted using TLS (a lesser secure type of encryption).
Now, you will be able to turn on the encryption for 1:1 unscheduled calls by enabling the “E2EE” option in Settings, and admins or your IT provider will have full control of who can use this function. Microsoft have also said they will expand this functionality to support scheduled calls and online meetings in future updates.
If you’re adopting a hybrid way of working, now is the time to consider if your current phone system can deliver it. We can offer you a number of options for cloud-hosted or hybrid telephony systems, based on your exact requirements.
For more information, please get in touch with our team at info@auratechnology.com.