What is Native Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams?

Has your workforce made their transition to working from home? If the majority of your workforce is still working from home, the use of Microsoft Teams has probably increased. If the use of Microsoft Teams has increased in the last year, more of your users are probably using Microsoft Teams to make and receive calls. 

While many businesses rely on Microsoft Teams to communicate and collaborate remotely, many are still facing a major shortcoming: Microsoft Teams' telephony capabilities. Over the last year, the number of Microsoft Teams users increased significantly. The software will continue to be a key enabler of remote work. However, telephony will require additional tools, resources, and licenses, utilizing either a Calling Plan from Microsoft or Direct Routing Integration. 

What Is Direct Routing?

Direct Routing offers businesses and organizations that are adopting Microsoft Teams Phone System the ability to achieve all the benefits of cloud deployment without the significant costs and complexities that usually align with the adoption and deployment of a new solution. Direct Routing uses a secure SIP trunk connection between a Session Border Control and Microsoft Teams, utilizing either an on-premise network connection or a cloud-hosted service. Inbound calls and outbound calls will easily flow between your on-premise SBC and Microsoft Teams utilizing the Direct Routing SIP trunk. 

Microsoft Teams and Direct Routing

Microsoft Teams Phone System provides traditional PBX functionality to Microsoft Teams, and this allows users to make phone calls and receive phone calls over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Direct routing for Microsoft Teams enables businesses and organizations to use their own SBC (Session Border Control) to connect to Microsoft Teams Phone System.

Direct Routing has been made available across the world and supports any telephony carrier. For the majority of worldwide Microsoft Teams users, Direct Routing has been the number one option, mainly due to the ability to use a Session Border Control and tap into a well-managed third-party carrier relationship. 

For any business or organization that wants to experience the benefits of Direct Routing, it is important to know there are several options. The actual benefits your business or organization will experience from combining Microsoft Teams and Direct Routing will depend on how your business or organization deploys Direct Routing. 

Enhancing Native Voice For Teams

Microsoft Teams Phone System has been developed with native calling capabilities to allow your business or organization to replace your existing PBX. The features of Microsoft Teams Phone System include:

• Inbound PSTN calling and Outbound PSTN calling
• Call hold, transfer, forward, and more
• Voice routing capabilities
• Custom dial plan

The Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams Phone System approach has several advantages, including the following:

• Cost savings
• Easier migration 
• The ability to support call routing to other contact centers (on-premise or cloud-based)
• The ability to keep existing phone numbers

Adopting Direct Routing as part of your business or organization's migration to Microsoft Teams Phone System will mean choosing the right Session Border Control and SIP partner. 

CallTower's Native Microsoft Teams Direct Routing

CallTower was the first solution provider to successfully deliver an integrated Office 365 Native Microsoft Teams experience. This integration ensures every business or organization will have a customized adoption and support strategy. At CallTower, our solution will enable your business or organization to bring your existing voice services into the cloud through the use of Microsoft Teams Direct Routing. 

Streamlining communications for end-users is a critical way to maintain workflow and cost efficiencies. When you enable all communication and collaboration functions natively within Microsoft Teams, your business or organization will be able to integrate some key telephony advantages. The right Direct Routing approach for your business or organization will depend on your needs and your goals. 

For more information on Direct Routing, please click below for a free Microsoft Teams consultation from CallTower: