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Coronavirus Spurs Virtual Phone System with Microsoft Teams

Dustin Miller

Oct 5 2020

3 min read

Nearly everything has changed this year with attempts to navigate life and business with the coronavirus. Going virtual has become a necessary conversation for nearly all businesses since the pandemic started in March. Many things have been transitioned to virtual. One area that businesses should consider transitioning to virtual is their phone system. Has it crossed your mind?

Microsoft Phone System Provides Critical Virtual Business Solutions

Microsoft Phone System on Teams is virtual in all the best ways. The Primary Branch Exchange (PBX), or hardware and software that centrally hosts the system, is virtual on the Microsoft Office 365 cloud. What does this mean for your business?

The ability to create Auto Attendants that will serve as a virtual receptionist is included with all Microsoft Phone System plans. This offers an option to replace or augment a live answer receptionist, with the ability to configure different rules during and after business hours, and on holidays. This even includes speech recognition in 14 different languages!

Since the system is hosted on the Microsoft cloud, it works just as well from home as it does the office (yes, really!). New phone numbers can be easily provisioned, along with the ability to port existing numbers. Users can connect from a PC, Mac or mobile device, and make and receive calls with their company phone number from anywhere.

The Microsoft Phone System is designed to run as a soft client on Microsoft Teams and use computer or dedicated mic and speaker hardware. Traditional form factor handsets also exist, and Microsoft recently announced open SIP support coming in 2021. This creates a very broad ecosystem of device types.

If you’re already using Teams for virtual presence, chat, group collaboration and meetings, you have every reason to consider leveraging it further as a phone system. Of course, we can talk about Microsoft Phone System until we are blue in the face, but the BEST way for you to get the full picture is for you to SEE this virtual business solution yourself!

Sikich has spotlighted the best parts of the Microsoft Phone System that all Office 365 users should know about. Watch the Microsoft Phone System Demo Series right now to see how to maximize your Office 365 investment!

In this four-part virtual series, you will learn about:

Session 1 – Prerequisites and MS Biz Voice Sub
Session 2 – AA & Call Queue
Session 3 – Information Workers/Forwarding to Mobile
Session 4 – Call Quality Planning and Troubleshooting

Have other questions? Contact Sikich. Our IT experts are here and ready to help!

This publication contains general information only and Sikich is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should you use it as a basis for any decision, action or omission that may affect you or your business. Before making any decision, taking any action or omitting an action that may affect you or your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. In addition, this publication may contain certain content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) language model. You acknowledge that Sikich shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by you or any person who relies on this publication.

About the Author

Dustin Miller

Dustin serves our managed services clients as a virtual chief information officer (vCIO). Dustin helps business owners and executives understand their current IT assets, create a vision and multi-year roadmap for IT that integrates with business objectives, and align specific technology initiatives within the annual budgeting process. Dustin helps clients by providing ongoing collaboration with an executive level technology team member that understands and can speak to both technology and business topics.