Considering Microsoft Teams telephony options?

According to a Morgan Stanley CIO Survey, more than half (54%) of organizations have now standardized on Microsoft Teams and that number is expected to increase to 75% by 2025. Organizations adopting Microsoft Teams for telephony have a select number of public switched telephone network (PSTN) connectivity options.

Here are eight related Microsoft Teams telephony trends we are seeing:

1. According to the Gartner research note, Select the Best External Calling Options for Microsoft Teams, 20% of total Microsoft Teams active users will adopt telephony services for external calling on Teams by 2024.

2. Metrigy, in its Workplace Collaboration: 2021-22 global research study, found that more than 70% of those adopting Microsoft Teams Phone System are using direct routing to connect Teams to the PSTN.

3. Frost & Sullivan’s Evolution of the Cloud Communications and Collaboration Market survey found that 28% of organizations are using direct routing as a service from a cloud PBX/Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) provider other than Microsoft.

4. According to the same survey, those using a third-party cloud PBX/UCaaS service provider along with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft’s cloud phone system note that it allows them to supplement the existing cloud PBX with additional collaboration functionality.

5. Other reasons for not using Microsoft’s cloud phone system, according to Frost & Sullivan research:

  • Organizations already have an existing solution that serves their needs
  • Microsoft’s cloud phone system does not support advanced telephony features
  • Organizations prefer to source enterprise telephony and contact center from the same provider

6. In the most recent State of Business Communications Report, 91% of IT decision makers said they somewhat or strongly agree that their unified communications strategy should also include the contact center.

7. According to the same report, 79% of IT decision makers are somewhat or extremely likely to integrate Microsoft Teams with their contact center in the future.

8. More than 200,000 Teams users rely on 8x8 to deliver voice services consistently to Microsoft Teams, according to 8x8’s most recent data. With 8x8 Voice for Microsoft Teams, capabilities include:

  • Unlimited global Microsoft Teams calling
  • Microsoft Teams certified cloud contact center
  • Advanced telephony and contact center analytics for Microsoft Teams
  • Pre-built integrations for major CRM and business productivity apps to support Microsoft Teams
  • Flexibility to assign voice services and feature sets by users or workgroups
  • Centralized business messaging like fax, SMS, or MMS in Teams

To learn more about these trends, click here, or watch the webinar, 4 Trends Transforming Cloud Communications, to see how enterprises are using Microsoft Teams and 8x8 to thrive in the new era of hybrid and remote work.