Ring Ring! Is Microsoft Teams Phone the right choice for your business?

In the constantly connected world of modern business, how your team communicates can make or break your daily operations.

Gone are the days when a desk phone was simply for making and receiving calls‚ today’s business communication needs to be flexible, feature-rich, and frankly, a bit more sophisticated than Alexander Graham Bell might have imagined. Microsoft Teams has established itself as the Swiss Army knife of business communication tools, but many smaller businesses haven’t yet cottoned on to its full potential as a complete phone system replacement.

At PurpleJelly, we’ve helped lots of small and medium-sized businesses transition to Microsoft Teams Phone, and we’ve seen first-hand how it can transform communication whilst keeping costs predictable. So, pop the kettle on, and enjoy a cuppa (with a biccie please), while we tell you all about it, why it might be the right choice for your business, and what you should consider before making the switch.

Isn’t Microsoft Teams just a load of chat?

Microsoft Teams started life as a messaging and video conferencing platform, but it’s grown into something far more comprehensive. Teams Phone essentially turns the Teams application into a full-featured business phone system that works wherever you have an internet connection.

So, if you know and use Skype, you’ll know that you can make voice and video calls using the internet. And if you put some credit into your account you can also use your Skype app, to make normal mobile or landline calls – it’s just like using the keypad on your smartphone except you are using the internet instead of 4G or 5G to make the call.

This is the same difference between making a video call on Microsoft Teams or using the Teams app to make a normal phone call using Microsoft Teams Phone – you just need to add some credit. This means you can make and receive normal phone calls from any device where you have the Teams the app installed: your computer, mobile phone, or even a dedicated Teams desk phone. It’s like having your office phone system follow you around in your pocket, without the obvious inconvenice that would cause.

Teams Phone includes all the features you’d expect from a traditional business phone system:

• Voice calls to internal colleagues and external numbers
• Call transferring, forwarding, and holding
• Voicemail with transcription (tremendously useful for those lengthy messages from the particularly chatty client)
• Call queues and auto-attendants (“Press 1 to speak to Sales, Press 2 to hear us humming the theme from ‘The Office’…”)
• Direct dial numbers for team members

But because it’s integrated with Microsoft Teams, you also get:

• Seamless switching between chat, call, and video
• Screen sharing during calls
• Call recording and transcription
• Integration with Outlook calendar
• Presence indication (so you can avoid calling someone whilst they’re in another meeting, desperately trying to unmute)

Why should smaller businesses give Teams Phone a ring?

For smaller organisations, especially those in professional services, financial sectors, accountancy, and legal practices, communication needs to be both reliable and efficient‚ but without breaking the bank or requiring an IT department the size of NASA’s Mission Control.

Cost Savings Without Cutting Corners

Traditional phone systems typically involve significant upfront costs for hardware, installation, and ongoing maintenance. A proper PBX system might cost you thousands in setup alone, and that’s before the monthly line rentals and call charges start adding up. And don’t forget about the PSTN switch off that’s coming up fast. (January 2027 isn’t that far away you know.)

Teams Phone, on the other hand, operates on a predictable per-user subscription model. For most small businesses we work with, this results in a 30-50% reduction in telephony costs. That’s money better spent on those Friday afternoon office biscuits, we’d say.

The beauty of this approach is that you’re not sacrificing quality or features to save a few quid. In fact, most of our clients end up with more functionality than they had with their traditional systems. It’s rather like trading in your trusty Nokia 3310 for a smartphone and discovering you’re now carrying a miniature computer, not just a device for playing your favourite game.

Flexibility for the “Modern Workplace”

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that the ability to work from anywhere isn’t just a nice perk‚ it’s now a business necessity. Teams Phone really comes into its own, if you have a distributed team across multiple locations.

Here’s a great example of how Teams brings your people together. Imagine a mid-sized marketing agency with three offices across Surrey and Hampshire. Before Teams Phone, they maintained separate phone systems at each location, leading to confusion, missed calls, and the occasional game of “telephone tennis” where clients were bounced between offices.

After implementing Teams Phone, their receptionists can now handle calls for all three offices, regardless of where they’re sitting. The whole team can make and receive calls from their office desk, home office, or even whilst waiting for their lunchtime soup to heat up in the microwave. The system follows them, not the other way around.

This flexibility extends to scalability as well. Adding a new user takes minutes rather than days, and there’s no need to order additional physical lines or equipment when you grow. Similarly, if you need to scale back (heaven forbid), you’re not left with expensive hardware gathering dust.

Potential drawbacks: not every call is a conference call

We’d be doing you a disservice if we painted Teams Phone as the perfect solution without mentioning a few considerations. After all, no technology is without its quirks‚ rather like that office printer that seems to know exactly when your warranty deadline is approaching.

Reliance on an internet connection

The most obvious consideration is that Teams Phone relies entirely on your internet connection. If your broadband goes down, so does your phone system. For businesses where phone communication is absolutely critical, this might give you pause for thought.

However, this risk can be mitigated with redundant internet connections and by configuring mobile phones as fall backs. Plus, the Teams mobile app will continue working on mobile data even if your office Wi-Fi decides to take an unscheduled break.

It can be a learning curve

While more tech savvy staff typically adapt to Teams Phone like ducks to water, some team members might need a bit more hand-holding during the transition. The interface is intuitive, but it’s quite different from the traditional phones that have graced our desks for decades. We usually recommend a phased approach, perhaps keeping a few traditional phones around during the transition period.

Initial setup complexity

Setting up Teams Phone properly involves configuration of calling policies, auto-attendants, call queues, and potentially integration with existing systems. It’s not quantum physics, but it does benefit from experienced hands to ensure everything works smoothly from day one.

This is where partnering with an IT provider (ahem, like us) can save you significant headaches. We’ve set up Teams Phone systems for businesses ranging from five to five hundred users, and we’ve encountered (and solved) most of the quirks that can arise during implementation.

Making the right call: is Teams Phone suitable for your business?

The suitability of Teams Phone really depends on your specific business needs, but there are a few indicators that might suggest it’s a good fit:

• You’re already using Microsoft 365 and Teams for collaboration
• Your team works across multiple locations or remotely
• You’re looking to reduce or stabilise your communication costs
• You want advanced features without complex hardware
• You’re planning to grow and need a scalable solution

Conversely, Teams Phone might not be the best choice if:

• Your internet connection is unreliable and can’t be improved
• You have very specific telephony requirements that Teams doesn’t support
• Your team is resistant to technological change (though this can usually be overcome with proper training and support)

How to get started without getting your wires crossed

If you’re considering Teams Phone for your business, we’d recommend a methodical approach:

1. First, assess your current phone system usage. Understanding your calling patterns, peak times, and special requirements will help determine if Teams Phone is suitable and how it should be configured.
2. Next, review your internet connection. Teams Phone doesn’t require enormous bandwidth‚ about 0.1Mbps per simultaneous call‚ but it does need reliable and stable connectivity. We can help you determine if your current setup is sufficient.
3. Plan your number porting strategy. In most cases, you can keep your existing phone numbers when moving to Teams Phone, but this requires careful planning to avoid disruption.
4. Consider a pilot project with a small group of users before rolling out company-wide. This allows you to iron out any issues and build internal champions who can help others adapt.
5. Finally, ensure proper training is provided. The success of any new technology depends largely on how comfortable your team feels using it.

The bottom line: is Teams Phone worth picking up?

Microsoft Teams Phone represents a significant shift in how businesses approach telephony, moving from hardware-centric systems to software-based, flexible solutions. For the majority of small and medium-sized businesses we work with, it’s proven to be a positive change that delivers both cost savings and enhanced functionality.

The integration with other Microsoft tools, the flexibility it offers for remote and hybrid working, and the reduced maintenance overhead make it particularly attractive for growing businesses that want enterprise-level communication capabilities without the enterprise-level complexity or cost.

Like any technology transition, moving to Teams Phone requires careful planning and execution, but with the right support, it can be a remarkably smooth process that positions your business communication for the future.

Ready to explore whether Teams Phone could work for your business? Give us a bell on 01252 856 230 or ping us an email and we’ll hop on a call and chat through your options over a cuppa. Just don’t be surprised if we call you back using Teams!