INTERVIEW Mark Whitehead - VoIPcloud
“Many providers are late to the party in respect of Teams and struggling to provide the Voice features that
should be available to the end user”. Mark Whitehead, Managing Director, VoIPcloud
Demystifying Teams
Teams is progressively replacing Skype for Business in Microsoft’s quest to rule the business collaborative
workspace market by, like all of its predecessors, when it comes to business grade telephony the options and
features seem pretty thin. Mark Whitehead, Managing Director of VoIPcloud explains how this can be rectifi ed
Teams was launched in
2017 along side its older,
more established sibling,
Skype for Business and
is now set to replace it in July
31, 2021. Since Sept last year
however Microsoft has been
pushing customers toward
Teams.
With 13m and rising global
active Teams users, the question
many are asking however is
whether Teams is ready for
this ‘promotion’ and more
importantly, are resellers getting
the right information on how to
sell it as a communications and
not just a collaboration solution.
Comms Business Magazine:
What is missing from Teams to
make it an effective business
communications tool rather
than just a collaboration tool?
Mark Whitehead: As long as
you have a solid network and
are partnering with a vendor
that has expertise in direct
routing through SBCs rather
than using applications like
API Sync you will reduce the
chance jitter and latency and
achieve voice clarity. A Teams
integration to a VoIP PBX will
sit in the call ow as any SIP
device would and give you a full
PBX experience with features
such as Call Recording, Ring
Groups and time based routing.
CBM: So what voice features
are typically offered in the
market today?
MW: is depends on the
supplier; some providers will tell
you it’s limited and most will
o er only basic call termination
with very few features.
As long as the user has
Microsoft licences that support
Microsoft Phone System, which
© zkes-stock.adobe.com
is going to be expanded outside
the traditional Enterprise
licences following a recent
announcement at Ignite, this
represents a huge prospect for
an MSP currently supporting
an 0365 customer base. As well
as being able to increase ARPU
by adding voice to new rollouts
there is a whole installed
base to target with new sales
campaigns.
In a world where recurring
revenues are king, voice
through Teams a ords a great
opportunity for growth.
CBM: Isn’t that a rather
limited features set? What
would make it better?
MW: It would seem to be if
it was to be believed, I was
told recently you couldn’t
call record through Teams
Mark Whitehead, Managing
Director of VoIPcloud
which you absolutely can
on the VoIPcloud system.
Many providers are late to
the party in respect of Teams
and struggling to provide the
Voice features that should
be available to the end user.
VoIPcloud integrated Teams
into is platform 12 months ago
and are now enhancing the
service. Products that supply
Teams and Skype for Business
such as our own are perfect for
migration strategies.
CBM: What can VoIPcloud
offer in this respect?
MW: We have developed a
solution that incorporates
the Microsoft Teams uni ed
communications application,
and integrates with our bespoke
Hosted PBX call ow manager.
is allows business grade call
ow control and advanced
features like call queues, voice
menus, call recording and more,
whilst adding all the uni ed
communications features of
Microsoft Teams.
CBM: How easy is it for
resellers to offer these
services?
MW: Over a period of ten years
VoIPcloud has developed an
MSP friendly portal that allows
wholesalers to set up their own
white label partners whilst
white label partners have the
ability to set up end customers
and referrers. Furthermore, the
end users can build their own
call ows reducing cost to serve
to partners.
rough the portal Teams
can be added like any other SIP
device. Our knowledge-based
articles and videos make the
set up a simple cut and paste
exercise with the Powershell
navigated with ease. Add this
to our 24-hr support desk and
unlimited call packages and
you have compelling Teams
integration proposition.
VoIPcloud aren’t here to
resell 0365 Teams but to help
our partners add voice to
licenses that their customers
have already been purchased.
We’re here to create new partner
revenue streams and to stop
competitors coming in through
their back door – we even o er
free trials.
18 | Comms Business Magazine | January 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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