I probably don't need to remind you, but last year many of us were forced to work from home, either part-time or even full-time. And precisely because our work was no longer tied to one permanent location, good remote communication – with colleagues, customers and suppliers – proved to be very important.

For many, Microsoft Teams has been the instrument of choice since then to support their organization in this new communication process. One aspect that has remained somewhat overlooked up to now, certainly compared to the chat and meeting possibilities in Teams, is the rich telephony functionality (or 'calling') that the same Microsoft platform offers. Teams Calling is often just an extra tool in addition to the existing phone people still have at their desk. That’s why I'd like to take a closer look at this.

To take advantage of this alternative, all you need to do is transfer the existing contracts with your telephony provider in Teams, or you can use Microsoft as a provider. The wide range of end-user devices ensures that everyone will eventually find something to their liking in the offering.

You can also choose from a wide range of solutions: from a simple webcam on your laptop or smartphone to a complete Teams Room System. With the latter solution, you can switch quickly and effortlessly from a simple call to a meeting. Once again, this demonstrates the power of Teams: communication that you launch in your chat environment seamlessly converts into an audio call and then continues to evolve towards a meeting with video. Combine all this with a simple, easy-to-use interface for all your devices, and it goes without saying that Microsoft Teams is an extremely powerful tool.

Thanks to such an advanced solution, and in particular CRM integration, your reception and helpdesk staff can instantly see all the necessary information about the customers who call them, allowing them to help customers quickly and in the best possible way. If you prefer to keep in touch with your customers via a chatbot on your website, you'll know straight away which page the customer is on so you can ask more specific questions. Of course, we can also use these tools to set up complete state-of-the-art contact centers for you.

This allows us to consult and adjust on-call services, make phone books available online and offline, and so on. As the icing on the cake, we can also use Power BI to give you a better understanding of your calling behavior or to check that you're meeting the service level you're aiming for.

Want to find out more?

If you would like more information about how Inetum-Realdolmen can support you, I've got good news for you: we just made calling simple! We use an assessment to provide new inspiration, help you get started with the smooth implementation of Microsoft Teams as a telephone switchboard, and much more! Contact our experts at info@inetum-realdolmen.world or feel free to talk through your requirements with your designated contact person.

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