Missing Component in your Teams Collaboration Toolkit
by Adam Arnold
At this point, we are starting to emerge from our extended hibernations.
- What are some things we have learned as organizations?
- What have we learned as teams?
I think one thing most have taken away is that working remotely is not only possible but if coupled with the proper tools and processes it can be just as if not more efficient than working in the office.
At Keystone, we use Microsoft 365 and especially Microsoft Teams for a lot of our collaboration and chat. The one cloud component we use more than any other is the Microsoft Teams Voice or Microsoft 365 Cloud Phone System as some call it. I cover a Q&A of the functionality via my post from a few months ago about Microsoft Teams Voice. As a consulting and Managed Services company, we take a lot of phone calls in a day. What completes our ability to function remotely is our cloud phone system.
Using the Teams app on my mobile, desktop computer, laptop computer or my special Poly desk phone, I can make and receive phone calls, add a dial-in conference number to my conference calls (for those clients who just want to call a number and not fool with video calls) and essentially work from wherever and whenever. The end-user can call our main number, navigate through the prompts, and reach one of our team with ease. We can call outbound through the Teams app from our direct dial number or our main phone number to reach our clients. It keeps that level of professionalism that we all need while working in our pajamas.
The beauty of it is there is no system to purchase or maintain. It just requires the addition of a few calling licenses to your 365 tenant and a little waiting for the system to provision and Voila! (The Voila! part happens when Keystone helps you implement the system, otherwise, it’s more like voila.) As an organization, we chat, share files, collaborate, and work remotely all using the Office 365 suites. It’s the voice components that complete our toolkit and allows us to fully collaborate when not in the physical office.