The convergence of traditional telephony systems and modern collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams presents the channel with considerable challenges. However, where challenges lie, so do opportunities. One of the key themes emerging is that of multi-platform deployments, where organisations deploy multiple voice solutions alongside each other.
This has been largely driven by the proliferation of Microsoft Teams. Whilst a full migration to Teams Phone is both valid and advantageous for many, there are still many end businesses that are unaware that Microsoft Teams can be utilised as a full telephony platform and use only the collaboration tools.
Even those who know of its capabilities may lack confidence in its ability to fully replace existing telephony systems because whilst Teams is a powerful platform, its current feature set and real-time data capabilities limit its use within many call-heavy environments. This means that we are seeing organisations switching to Teams for their telephony often leave “pockets” of the old system behind for specific use cases, like call centre, or less formal customer-facing teams.
Capitalising on deployment strategies
So how can resellers take advantage of end customers’ desire to incorporate Teams telephony? The key is to be flexible and support whichever strategy customers choose.
Full Teams Telephony Switch: Resellers should take care to take a consultative approach to selling, and ensure that their customer is confident that Teams will deliver the capabilities they require. Resellers can then highlight the benefits of integrated collaboration tools to reduce context switching and to decrease complexity and costs. Furthermore, it will be easier for them to future-proof against the rapid pace of technological advancement, supported by the availability of an exceptionally wide range of third-party applications. The added bonus for partners is having the flexibility to round out and differentiate their offering in an increasingly competitive space.
Partial Migration: Resellers can help organisations to mitigate risk by switching them to Teams whilst keeping critical or complex functions like the call centre on a traditional platform. This allows the client to explore the benefits of modern communication tools with the aim of switching later down the line. For resellers, this means being able to protect their customer-base without affording competitors the opportunity to get involved. However, to make it successful they need to be comfortable supporting and advising on both platforms. There is also a need to differentiate their proposition, so third-party applications are still important, and must be well-chosen to reduce the investment of time needed to sell, deploy and support them.
Maintaining Legacy Systems with Teams Collaboration: For businesses not ready to shift telephony to Teams, they can still benefit from Teams’ collaboration features while keeping their existing phone systems. This approach allows businesses to enhance productivity and develop their confidence with Teams without the need for a full telephony migration. Resellers can use this approach as an opportunity to understand their customers’ usage of unified communications and collaboration, to position themselves well for when a shift may occur later down the line. It is important, however, to ensure that opportunities to migrate have been fully explored, and that their customers understand the disadvantages of having a siloed communication approach.
Managing the hybrid platform environment
The opportunity for resellers is to become invaluable partners in the evaluation of needs and transition process, especially when it comes to helping clients manage and integrate multi-platform environments effectively. A key element of this is understanding the usage of the systems, for which analytics and reporting are essential – not just for assessing whether the transition has gone well, but for making informed decisions to drive performance in business as usual.
Resellers can provide significant value (and differentiate!) by offering tools that deliver seamless and familiar analytical dashboards and reports across both legacy and Teams platforms. Having a consolidated view of their telephony and collaboration data can provide the vital insights that drive efficiency and improve customer service – and all the better if that solution can be consistent across platforms, both for the customer’s daily use and the reseller’s sales, marketing and technical teams.
Although Microsoft Teams is advancing fast, some sophisticated call centre features like real-time call queue management, or the agent and supervisor analytics, are not yet present. A company might rely on a traditional call centre for critical functions but use Teams for internal communication and less critical customer interactions. By delivering analytics via third party solutions across both systems, resellers can ensure their customers can track performance metrics like call wait times and customer satisfaction across all communication channels.
Reseller advantages in the age of digital selling
By offering flexible deployment strategies, managing hybrid environments effectively, and providing robust analytics, resellers can position themselves as essential partners in their clients' digital transformation journeys. This becomes particularly important since customers now have the option to buy core telephony and associated applications direct from digital platforms such as online marketplaces.
An advantage that resellers have over marketplaces is their ability to enhance customer loyalty and ensure customers come to them first by offering personalised local support, dedicated account management, responsive support services, and on-site assistance. Resellers can also add further value-add services such as training and onboarding, ongoing maintenance and updates and custom reporting and analytics. By delivering these additional services, resellers can deliver a more complete and supportive customer experience, enhancing the overall value of their offerings.
Another way for resellers to stay ahead of the curve is to collaborate with key technology providers and integrate new solutions into their services. By forming strategic partnerships with vendors who offer complementary products, resellers can expand their service portfolio and offer innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of their customers. This approach allows resellers to provide a more comprehensive technology ecosystem that can further compete with the offerings on marketplaces.
To thrive in this new hybrid world, resellers need to develop a clear and differentiated proposition. This involves not only understanding the technical aspects of integrating multiple systems but also being able to articulate the benefits of a hybrid approach to potential clients. Resellers should position themselves as trusted advisors who can guide businesses through the complexities of transitioning to modern communication tools while ensuring continuity and reliability.
Tollring is a global provider of market-leading cloud communication software services, encompassing customer experience analytics, call recording and business intelligence solutions. Available on a multitude of calling platforms (Cisco BroadWorks, Webex Calling, Microsoft Teams and Mitel MiVoice Business), Tollring’s solutions can be used independently of each other or integrated into one powerful call management solution to deliver a holistic view across an entire organisation, including call centre operations.