Five years ago, Microsoft Teams was launched in general availability. Today with over 270 million monthly users, Teams is where hybrid work happens, allowing businesses to communicate more efficiently and stay in the flow of their work.
A recent Morgan Stanley survey, reports that over half of organizations have unified their communications on Teams. Teams Phone alone counts nearly 80 million active users, placing over a billion calls monthly. Additionally, the number of active Teams Rooms devices more than doubled year-over-year.
In today’s article we’ll present to you the latest Microsoft Teams features introduced at Enterprise Connect 2022, making it clear that their work is far from over.
New Teams Phone features
Common Area Phone enhancements
By early May, Common Area Phone will be available. This new feature will serve a wider variety of scenarios for customers without increasing the price. Security, endpoint management, and cloud-based voicemail features will be available through the following service plans added to the Common Area Phone license:
To enroll devices into Intune service, check with your Microsoft provider the requirements needed.
In addition, in May 2022 the following calling features will be available for Teams Phone devices enabled with a Common Area Phone license:
- Cloud-based voicemail through Exchange Online Plan 2
- Call queues
- Auto attendants
- Group call pick-up
- Forwarding rules
Within the Admin Center, a Common Area Phone license can be activated for Azure Active Directory Premium Plan 1, Microsoft Intune, and Exchange Online Plan 2.
DECT device integration with SIP Gateway
Teams will be integrating digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) devices with SIP Gateway, allowing frontline workers to use Teams calling functionality on DECT devices to communicate with colleagues while on the go. DECT device integration with SIP Gateway will be available by the end of June on the following compatible handset models from Spectralink, Ascom and Poly:
- Spectralink (IP-DECT 200/400/6500/Virtual IP-DECT, handsets 72xx/75xx/76xx/77xx)
- Ascom (IP-DECT Access Points IPBSx, Gateway IPBL, Virtual Appliance IPVM, handsets d43/d63/d81/d83/Myco3)
- Poly (base stations Rove B2/B4, handsets Rove 30/40, repeater Rove R8)
New touch enabled display solutions for Teams Rooms from Neat and Yealink
Being seen is essential to an inclusive meeting environment. To enhance collaboration and to allow easy deployment, new touch enabled display solutions from Neat and Yealink are in the process of being certified for Microsoft Teams Rooms. These devices combine audio, video, touch display, and compute in a single unit.
Microsoft Teams will continue to evolve to support our reality of work. If your company is transitioning from an old legacy phone system to the cloud, you need an ally and a system that supports your ever-changing business’ needs. BlueSky UC experts can help you on this journey, ensuring responsiveness and uptime.
Please, don’t hesitate to reach out today to request a custom quote or to discuss a POC plan for Teams voice. We are happy to help!
