The Benefits of Microsoft Teams as a PBX System

The advancement of the internet has changed how small businesses communicate with employees and customers. In the past, phone systems were the primary form of communication, but now, instant messaging applications have taken over. These apps are convenient and time-saving, but they don't offer the same level of immediacy as a phone system.

Despite that, phone systems remain the lifeblood of business communication. They ensure direct and immediate contact among remote workers and potential customers. If you want to streamline or take your business telephone system to the next level, Office 365 and Microsoft Teams Phone can make a big difference.

How Office 365 and Microsoft Teams Phone Can Benefit Your Business

Microsoft Teams is a unified communications platform offered by Microsoft to help enable businesses and organisations to quickly and effectively collaborate and communicate. Teams allow intelligent communication via chat, email, video meetings, file storage, and app integration from anywhere, so team members can keep in touch wherever they may be.

Having said that, the telephone remains one of the most effective forms of communication between co-workers. Phone calls are still needed when a more detailed discussion is required or when a more personal level of communication must take place. For many years, businesses have relied on PBX systems to manage inbound and outbound lines, call routing, voicemail, and call management features. Modern PBX systems provide sophisticated calling features such as call waiting, auto-attendants, music/message on-hold functions, and voice mail.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has significantly upgraded Teams to make it a fully functional communication and collaboration solution, including telephony.

Microsoft Teams gives you all the PBX capabilities you need without the complicated and expensive legacy on-premises equipment. Microsoft phone system is a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) hosted in the cloud. This means that it allows employees to communicate internally via the organisation's own network. People using the Teams phone system can also make external calls. It’s also significantly easier to manage in a hybrid working world, thanks to integrated analytics and cloud-based tools.

How does Microsoft Teams fare as a PBX replacement?

There are several advantages you can unlock by using Microsoft Teams as your PBX system:

1. Reduce dependency on hardware: One of the advantages of using Microsoft Teams is that it can help reduce your business's dependence on hardware. Moving your communications to the cloud can eliminate the need for expensive on-premises PBX systems and phones. No rip-and-replace is needed if you migrate to a new office/region. Not only will this save you money, but it will also make it easier to scale your operations as your business grows.
2. Gain resilience with the public cloud: Another advantage of using Teams is that it can help your business gain the resilience of the public cloud. With Teams, your data is stored in Microsoft's secure data centres, so you no longer have to worry about losing critical data if you’re on-premises servers fail. And because Teams is available anywhere you have an internet connection, you can rest assured that you'll always be able to stay connected with your team, even if there's a power outage or other emergency.
3. Don't sacrifice convenience: Many businesses shy away from moving to the cloud because they worry about sacrificing the convenience of traditional telephony features like voicemail and call forwarding. However, with Microsoft Teams, you don't have to sacrifice any of these features. In fact, with Teams, you'll actually gain new convenient features like VoIP calling and video conferencing. So, if you're looking for a way to improve your business communications without sacrificing convenience, then Microsoft Teams is a great option.
4. Extensible features and functions: Microsoft Teams also provides several extensible features and functions that ISVs can use. For example, teams can be customised with different tabs and apps to suit the needs of the ISV. In addition, teams can be connected to other systems, such as CRM or ERP, through Microsoft's Azure Active Directory. This allows for seamless integration between systems and provides a single sign-on experience for users.

Microsoft Teams: The Right Choice for Your Organisation's Communications

With more and more organisations beginning to harness the benefits of Microsoft Teams to improve their collaboration and communication, now may be the perfect time to seize the potential of Microsoft Teams as an enterprise voice platform that can completely replace your phone system.

If you are asking yourselves: can you use a digital platform with telephony capabilities as a stand-in for a traditional PBX system? The answer is yes. While it may be daunting to make the shift, Spanish Point can help you get started with the Teams Phone implementation process, from setup and installation to training and support.

Microsoft Teams is a great option if you're looking for a modern communications platform that offers PBX capabilities without the expensive legacy equipment. If you're looking for a modern, secure, cloud-based communications platform for your organisation, then Microsoft Teams is the right choice.

Set up a free consultation with our team today.