If you’re an enterprise that’s been eyeing Microsoft Teams Phones as a viable communication solution for your enterprise – hold on a minute. Before you make the leap, you need to consider a few critical limitations. We’ll dissect them all in this blog post. So let’s get started.
Enterprise-Specific Features are Missing
Microsoft Teams Phone is designed for general use and has basic features and functions. This means it lacks a lot of the specialized features larger enterprises need, such as:
- Call Center Support: Call centers need advanced features like skills-based routing, ring groups, and real-time monitoring to handle all incoming calls. Agent performance metrics are also required to make sure each agent is operating at peak efficiency. Sadly, Microsoft Teams Phone has very limited call center functions, making it difficult for enterprises to tweak the system to fit their needs.
- Integrated Voice Response (IVR) Applications: IVR systems are the cornerstone of enterprise communications, directing callers to the appropriate department quickly and easily. If you choose to use Teams Phone, you’ll only have access to a basic auto-attendant and won’t be able to build or customize the advanced IVR your company needs.
- Hardware Integrations: Some companies need a phone system that integrates with specific hardware, like door entry systems controlled by phone calls. This requires specialized capabilities that aren’t supported by the Teams Phone solution right out of the box.
There are Capacity Constraints
Many might not know this, but Microsoft Teams phones have a limit of 300 users. Larger enterprises might outgrow that capacity and be forced to seek additional solutions to support their employees. This can lead to miscommunication between teams, data silos, and general confusion. Enterprises need a communications platform with unlimited scaling.
Paying Might Be More Complicated Than You Think
With Teams Phone, it isn’t a one-and-done setup. You’re required to purchase a Teams Phone bundle and an additional Calling Plan. When it comes to calling plans, you have two choices:
- Plans offered by Microsoft. There are three types, and each plan charges you for time spent talking on the phone and establishes minute limits on outbound and international calls.
- Bring-your-own calling plan. If your current phone system provider is part of Microsoft’s Operator Connect program, you can plug their calling plan into your Teams phone bundle. This may offer you cost savings, but it’ll increase your complexity.
This means you’ll have to closely monitor how many outgoing and international calls you make to prevent overages. Which can be time-consuming and ultimately more expensive than it’s worth. Especially if you’re doing this for hundreds of users.
Teams Lack Dedicated Telephony Assets and Expertise
To put it succinctly, Microsoft isn’t a phone company, and they don’t want to be a phone company. So, while Microsoft Teams does offer basic calling plans for customers using Teams Phone – letting you make and take calls from outside your organization – they lack the infrastructure and expertise of dedicated telecommunication companies.
These communication companies typically have:
- Extensive experience with IP communications
- Carrier-grade networks for reliable call quality
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that guarantee a certain level of uptime and performance
- Disaster recovery plans in case of network failures or outages
- Around-the-clock support
Everything an enterprise needs to have dependable communication. Teams Phone, on the other hand, struggles to provide these guarantees. As a result, enterprises usually need to supplement a Teams Phone with VoIP services from providers like PS Lightwave.
This adds a new level of complexity (and cost) to your communications. After all, you’ve got two providers to manage and integrate with and are paying for two different platforms. That’s not the unified communication experience most enterprises are looking for.
Expect Slower Responses to Critical Issues
With or without third-party calling plans and integrations, there are certain critical issues that only Microsoft can deal with when it comes to the Teams Phone platform, like:
- Outages
- New DID (Direct Inward Dialing) assignments to existing users
- Porting numbers out of Teams
Enterprises will need to contact Microsoft’s support team to resolve the matter. While Microsoft is dedicated to responding quickly to customer complaints, it has millions of customers to support. Many Teams Phone users wait hours (and, in some cases, a day or two) to get their issue resolved.
Choose a Provider That Can Handle All Your Needs – Pick PS Lightwave!
If you need an alternative to Microsoft Teams Phones, PS Lightwave’s your provider! Our hosted phone system has all the capabilities an enterprise needs to give 20 to 20,000 users top-tier communication. And our local support team’s available to answer your questions and concerns 24/7/365 with a great attitude and a boatload of specialized knowledge.
If you’re ready to get enterprise-grade communications and human-first support at half the cost, contact PS Lightwave. We’re ready to help!
