MARKET REPORT Microsoft
“Like any technology shift that requires end users to change behaviour, Teams
Phone System is likely to be a slow burner.” Andrew Dickinson, MD, Jola
Antony Black, Director of
Wholesale, Wavenet
Channel around Microsoft’s
strategy however, with the
O365 ecosystem and the
One Commercial plan in
place, Channel partners are
already delivering results and
Microsoft’s delivery model is
looking strong.
Concern in the Channel
centres around Microsoft’s
change of strategy with calling
and vendors. Microsoft’s recent
changes to price plans, with the
addition of Business Voice, is
certainly pushing enterprises
that have the internal IT skills
to source directly as pricing is
more compelling.”
2020 and beyond
Is 2020 going to be a breakout
year for Teams? ere is a lot
of momentum going into the
OPPORTUNITIES IN 2020
ANTHONY BLACK, DIRECTOR OF WHOLESALE AT WAVENET
• Channel partners who want to drive additional value through voice
and collaboration to their Offi ce 365 customers but do not have
the necessary experience or infrastructure and want to work with
partners who can help deliver these attributes.
• Customers wanting to integrate teams into their existing voice
platforms or wishing to migrate to Teams are a huge opportunity
to start customers on the migration journey and to integrate with
existing services to deliver an enhanced voice experience.
• Customers that are missing vital features or functions within existing
phone systems, like call recording, or reluctant to move completely to
IP telephony; delivering hybrid and integrated solutions can add real
value. Linking Teams to a traditional phone system temporarily means
that customers can experience the best of both worlds and stagger
the adoption, so that ‘old-dogs’ can take their time to learn to learn
‘new tricks’ as the business transitions over time.
• Contact centres, where customer experience is key, can leverage
the combination of Teams with Cloud-based contact centre software
and other 3rd Party integrations with Microsoft’s new API, to open
up a range of opportunities for effi ciency savings and evolving the
customer experience.
• Customers at the end of existing contracts, looking to futureproof
their telephony, considering the PSTN ‘Switch Off’ coming in 2025.
Whilst BT are still offering traditional telephony lines until 2023,
forward-thinking businesses will leapfrog competitors that are still
using legacy hardware.
new year and clearly a lot of
suppliers have invested their
time and e orts in delivering
a proposition to their Channel
Partners. What can Channel
Partners expect over the next 12
months?
Whitehead commented,
“ ere are thousands of MS
Licences that can enable Teams
that haven’t been used or voice
added. It must be the single
biggest opportunity for MSPs
and adoption of MS Teams
is only going one way. ink
of this, if you don’t do it your
competitor might!”
Andrew Graves added,
“Teams is the fastest-growing
application Microsoft have
released in their history and a
huge number of organisations
are making the decision to
utilise their existing O ce
365 subscription for Uni ed
Communications, so Nuvias
UC are con dent that Teams is
not only going to continue to
grow, but that this growth will
increase massively in 2020.”
ED SAYS…
Your customers are going to come across Microsoft Teams at some point, if the
haven’t already. There is no getting away from the compelling proposition from a huge,
and familiar, brand. Whatever you sell partners must control the narrative when it
comes to Teams.
is a great application for
teamwork and collaboration,
but we know our customers’
telecommunication needs
better than any IT giant. It’s
not surprising that enterprise
customers currently consuming
Teams keep 10-20% of users
on their PBX for its superior
features and functionality.
But only a fool would
underestimate Microsoft’s
potential, with the rise of Direct
Routing, I would be really
interested to see how many
users stick with the Microsoft
Calling Plans as opposed to a
telecommunications provider
alternative with Direct Routing.
Calling Plans change the
behaviour and expectation of
how we make calls. Pre-paying
for calling credits could be
seen as restrictive and even
counter-productive, whereas
using Direct Routing allows us
to continue making calls in the
same manner and I think it will
allow communication providers
to hold a strong position in the
telecommunication marketplace
whilst working alongside
Microsoft.”
Black says “ ere is
increasing concern in the
34 | Comms Business Magazine | February 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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