Real numbers in Teams
Desk, mobile and laptop all ring through the Teams app, on numbers customers can dial normally.
Unified Comms & Telco
Microsoft Teams Phone System
Your team already spends the day in Teams. Teams Phone adds real telephony to it, so the phone lives where everyone already is rather than in a separate app they forget to open.
Making Teams the phone as well as the meeting app
Teams Phone gives you a number that rings into the app, the ability to dial out to ordinary phone numbers, voicemail, call transfer and a queue for the main line. For many businesses it replaces the separate phone system entirely.
The catch is the plumbing behind it. Teams needs either a Microsoft calling plan or a direct routing setup to your own telephony, and that design choice decides call quality, cost and what happens when someone rings your main number. Get it right and nobody thinks about the phone again.
What you get
Queues and auto attendant
A main number with a greeting and a queue, routing to the right team as with any business system.
Number porting
Your existing numbers move onto Teams, so the switch is invisible to the people who call you.
Desk and room devices
Certified Teams handsets and room systems for people who still want a physical phone on the desk.
Cost visibility
Licensing per user, on the same Microsoft bill, so you can see what each seat costs.
Compliance
Recording and retention handled in line with your policies, since calls now sit in your Microsoft environment.
Decide these before you move
- Whether you use a Microsoft calling plan or direct routing through a provider
- How your main number and any department numbers will be handled
- Which staff need the full phone licence versus basic presence and chat
- Whether any line carries an alarm, lift phone or card terminal that Teams cannot cover
- Consent and recording rules for calls, checked against your existing policy
Questions we get asked about Microsoft Teams Phone System
Do we need a separate phone system as well?
Usually not, unless you have lines Teams cannot handle, such as certain alarm or lift circuits. For standard business calling, Teams Phone replaces the separate system.
What is direct routing?
It connects Microsoft Teams to a telephony provider who supplies the numbers and carries the calls, instead of buying Microsoft calling plans per user. It can work out cheaper at scale, and we will compare both for your headcount.
Will call quality be as good as a desk phone?
Yes, provided the network is up to it. Calls depend on the office internet and Wi-Fi, so a poor connection means poor calls whatever software you use. We check the network before promising anything.
Can we keep our current numbers?
Yes, they port across. There is a cutover window, and we plan it for a quiet period and test it properly.
What about staff who prefer a handset?
Certified Teams phones are available and behave like a normal desk phone but run on Teams. You are not forcing everyone onto a headset.
Not sure whether you need microsoft teams phone system?
Book a free 60-minute health check. We will tell you what you actually need, including when the answer is nothing.