The ultimate guide to Microsoft Teams direct routing

Microsoft might have originally launched the workplace collaboration platform Microsoft Teams in 2017, but it is really the COVID era that has spearheaded growth in usage of the software.

UC Today reports that Microsoft Teams saw 894% growth from March to June 2020, as many organizations operating under social distancing rules doubtless used the software for videoconferencing, sending instant messages, and sharing documents.

However, even if you run a business that has been using Microsoft Teams for some time now, you might not have realized that it is possible for a corporate phone system to be integrated with the software. This can happen with a process known as direct routing.

In a nutshell, how does Microsoft Teams work?

Microsoft Teams belongs to the Office 365 productivity suite, and so works seamlessly with other applications included in the same package — like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Many companies that already have a traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phone system can use direct routing to integrate this system with Teams — and, as a result, take and receive voice calls via the latter.

Whether your own company can take advantage of direct routing in this way will depend on whether your corporate PSTN phone system is provided by one of the pre-approved Session Border Controller (SBC) vendors certified by Microsoft.

For example, the telecoms firm Gamma offers voice services for which the company can also provide Microsoft Teams direct routing. You can therefore leave telephony specialists to handle the task of weaving voice-calling functionality into Microsoft Teams on your company’s behalf.

Practical benefits you can gain with Microsoft Teams direct routing   

Direct routing is certainly not the only way you can enable voice calling within Microsoft Teams. For example, you could consider Operator Connect, which isn’t quite as flexible as direct routing.

You might also come across a telecoms company offering a Unified Communications (UC) solution with Microsoft Teams features baked in.

However, recent research highlighted by UC Today revealed that about 70% of organizations either using Teams as a UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) solution or intending to do so in the near future reported planning to use direct routing.

There would be many compelling reasons for you to follow suit. For a start, you would be free to partner with a telecoms provider of your choice, and so opt for one capable of serving your company’s particular needs especially well.

For example, you could choose a telecoms firm with the credentials to facilitate your workforce’s transition to ‘hybrid work’ practices.

In fact, no matter what you aim to achieve with Microsoft Teams direct routing, you can rest assured that it presents you with a delightfully pain-free manner of modernising a phone system. It certainly helps that you will even be able to port your firm’s existing phone numbers into Teams with ease

All in all, Microsoft Teams direct routing can leave you with a flexible and agile telephony platform to which you will be able to add new features later down the line.