Last month, Microsoft announced Teams Phone extensibility with its Dynamics 365 Contact Center.
Essentially, this allows businesses to extend the voice capability they have on Teams into the contact center.
As such, Microsoft eliminates the need for a separate phone system as existing Teams customers implement the Dynamics 365 CCaaS platform.
Yet, it's not just Microsoft's CCaaS platform. The tech giant is also allowing other contact center providers - which integrate with Teams - to share a single voice platform.
These providers are part of a preview program and include AudioCodes, Anywhere365, ComputerTalk, Enghouse Systems, Landis, and Luware.
By offering Teams Phone extensibility, Microsoft - via its Dynamics 365 Contact Center offering - and its partners promise several benefits.
For instance, a single telephony solution could simplify contact center deployments, cut complexity, and streamline billing.
Moreover, Teams Phone is available in multiple regions, enabling global coverage and standardizing communications across locations.
The integration also lets enterprises manage CCaaS and UCaaS from one platform, boosting efficiency, reducing management burden, and potentially creating a smoother agent experience.
Finally, Microsoft says the integration will help businesses simplify the transition from on-premise systems to cloud-based infrastructure, unlocking access to AI-powered tools.
That's a lot of prospective plus points that contact centers can reap from the feature that's set to enter public preview by the end of the month.
Yet, what's the take of industry analysts? Let's take a look.
The Move Enables CPaaS on the Back-End of CCaaS & UCaaS
In a recent edition of UC Today’s Microsoft Monthly Update, Tom Arbuthnot, Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, shared his take on the announcement.
Firstly, he highlighted how Teams extensibility will work on a technical level, explaining that it is supported by leveraging Azure Communication Services (ACS).
Essentially, this is Microsoft's CPaaS offering that - under the hood - powers Microsoft Teams.
As businesses deploy Teams extensibility, this will form the back-end of both their CCaaS and UCaaS platform.
"The advantage of this setup is that it provides various shared capabilities – things like phone numbers, PSTN connectivity, Operator Connect, Direct Routing, and Calling Plans," noted Arbuthnot.
You can configure all your PSTN services there and then seamlessly route them through to the contact center.
Another advantage outlined by Arbuthnot is the capacity for agents to interact with customers via Teams for instances such as transferring calls or switching between conversations.
As such, this tighter integration should provide a "robust set of capabilities" for contact center vendors to handle call routing, recording, and platform management.
The Move May Inspire Broader Dynamics 365 Adoption
The Dynamics 365 portfolio has traditionally been an offering for businesses heavily involved in the Microsoft stack.
Its lack of interoperability with the broader Microsoft portfolio has somewhat discouraged others from expanding from Teams into Dynamics 365.
