Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams
Unlock the benefits of seamless external communication to and from Teams. Enquire today!
Benefits:
- Voice enablement for Microsoft Teams
- Cloud-based solution with no CAPEX
- Agile workings
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Microsoft Teams Direct Routing
Saicom’s Teams Connect solution integrates your existing Microsoft 365 environment with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), letting you make and receive external telephone calls from the Teams application on any connected device.
With each user assigned a unique telephone number, you’ll benefit from an integrated workplace on Teams with a rich set of telephone system and call handling features – similar to traditional on-premise PBXs and cloud-based UC platforms.
With Teams Connect, we integrate your Microsoft Office 365 Phone system with our Industry leading Enterprise VoIP platform. This is achieved by utilising our Microsoft certified Session Border Controllers (SBC) and SIP trunks, allowing seamless integration to provide a truly collaborative workspace combining written and enhanced collaboration and communication.
Combined with Saicom’s Enterprise VoIP platform, customers can port existing geographic numbers to our VoIP network and are suited to businesses of all sizes.
All provided at a competitive price, as a complete cloud solution.
Unlock the benefits of seamless external communication to and from Teams
Enable full voice capability natively into Microsoft Teams, without the need for on-premise hardware. Teams – Direct Routing from Saicom utilises Microsoft certified Session Border Controllers (SBCs) to deliver better value, greater flexibility, increased functionality and support for migration, all as a cloud-based service.
Microsoft Teams – Direct Routing provides connectivity to your Microsoft Teams’ tenant enabling full PSTN breakout on the public telephone network. Connection from Microsoft Teams to our network is via an IP connection (for example Saicom Business Fibre or Wireless) and is delivered as an end-to-end service with high availability.
What is required to enable Teams – Direct Routing?
- Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license including Teams
- Microsoft Phone System add-on (included in E5 License)
- An internet connection
Seamless Integration with Saicom’s Expertise
Microsoft Teams – Direct Routing combines the pedigree of Saicom with the ubiquity of the world’s largest business communications platform.
As one of the largest network operators in the South Africa, with a reputation built on technical expertise and voice service delivery, we have an in-depth experience of SIP implementations, working with organisations of all sizes.
Saicom’s voice services can be fully integrated into Microsoft Teams with full PSTN breakout. Saicom has multiple entry points into Microsoft Azure providing high levels of resilience and availability. We have the interconnects so customers don’t have to.
Carrier-level scale and delivery are assured, as is improved voice resilience. It’s easy to transition from your existing PBX – there’s no hardware to purchase or support and future enhancements are assured.
We take care of the installation and integration and will get you up and running with Direct Route in no time, no more messing around with PowerShell.
We’re known throughout the industry as being ‘easy to do business with’. We have full management support, from simple provisioning to our South Africa based support teams available 24 x 7 x 365. We provide industry-leading SLAs and are just as committed to helping you grow your business as we are our own.
Overview
Benefits
Saicom in partnership with Call Cabinet’s Atmos
Call recording platform is a game-changing compliant interaction recorder that offers a unique “pay as you grow” (SaaS) business model. With automatic upgrades and 24×7 support, Atmos offers a distinctly disruptive technology that guarantees your calls (and soon all other interactions) will be recorded every time and stored in a secure and compliant environment. Access to recordings is simple via the Atmos HTMLS portal that offers all the flexibility of this web-based application that can be accessed from any device and from anywhere that there is an internet connection. The scalability of Atmos means that it is cost-effective for organizations with as few as 2-3 users but also meets the needs of a large enterprise.
This solution is easily enabled on any Saicom Cloud PBX extension or SIP Trunk.
Frequently Asked Questions
List of voice providers that we currently interconnect with
At Saicom, quality is stitched into our core, by interconnecting directly with the majority of voice providers in South Africa we can ensure true end-to-end quality and service for our client’s voice communications.
Here is a list of voice providers that we currently interconnect with:
- Vodacom
- MTN
- CellC
- Telkom
- Telkom Mobile
- Liquid Intelligent Technologies
- First National Bank
- BitCo
- ECN
- Vox Telecoms
- Dimension Data
- Switch Telecoms
- Voys Telecom South Africa
- Converged Telecoms
- Telviva
What is Direct Routing?
Microsoft Teams Direct Routing is the flexible, accessible and cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Calling Plans allowing your organisation to make calls within Microsoft Teams using SIP trunks to route the calls.
What is required to enable Direct Routing?
For an organisation to enable Direct Routing, the following components are required:
- Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license including Teams
- Microsoft Phone System add-on
- An Internet connection
What about Skype for Business?
Many businesses already use Skype for Business as their Microsoft based telephony platform. However, Skype for Business is being retired in 2021 with Microsoft encouraging all users to transition to Teams.
In addition to Skype functions like; instant messaging, screen sharing and web conferencing, Teams adds; centralised chat / collaboration, persistent chat and much more.
Is this a cheaper alternative to Microsoft calling plans?
In geographies where Microsoft calling plans are available, providers with a Direct Route option are always cheaper.
Do I need an internet service from Saicom to qualify for Direct Routing?
No, it’s not necessary to have both services from Saicom to enable Direct Routing for Teams. However, Saicom’s connectivity options are specifically designed to connect business customers to our network in order to carry voice and video calls at a high quality. We also provide Quality of Service, our ‘end-to-end’ approach to designing, testing and providing services across both UCaaS and Access gives us the necessary visibility and control needed to deliver a consistent and robust voice and video quality to our business customers.
Do I need PowerShell experience to provision Users?
We take this headache away from you, with our team of dedicated engineers we will ensure that your configuration of Microsoft phone system is taken care of 24x7x365.
Can I integrate Microsoft phone system into my existing PBX?
Yes, whether you are running an on-premise PBX or Cloud PBX we can assist you in integrating them into your Microsoft phone system environment to ensure seamless calling between ecosystems. We also over a hybrid solution where we can overlay certain Cloud PBX Add Ons like Call Queues, Call Centre Reporting (Akiki), Intelligent IVR (Inference) and One Number Everywhere to name a few.
What Microsoft licenses do I need?
Users of Direct Routing must have the following licenses assigned in Microsoft 365 or Office 365:
- Microsoft Phone System
- Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Audio Conferencing
These licenses are included in your Microsoft E5 licenses, however, the Phone system license can be purchased as an add-on. Our team of consultants will be glad to advise you on the best Microsoft license for your organisation.
