The pandemic had a huge impact on the way we live and work. During global lockdowns, companies were forced to rethink the way they enabled communication and collaboration in the workplace. This led to a rapid expansion in companies implementing Microsoft Teams.
Capable of synchronising workforces through tools for messaging, video, file sharing, and productivity, Teams quickly became one of the most popular platforms around. Currently, more than 280 million users rely on Teams to keep employees aligned and connected.
Building on this momentum, Microsoft began to roll out new solutions for the new age of work, designed to streamline digital transformation and growth. The Power Platform was introduced as a no-code/low-code solution for application development, and workflow automation.
Today, innovators are using the combined benefits of Microsoft Teams and the Power Platform, to pave the way to a new “Future of Work” in the digital landscape.
Transitioning into Teams: The Evolution for Business Leaders
When the pandemic hit, most businesses were under significant pressure to make changes rapidly. To avoid complete shutdowns, brands needed a way to keep their teams productive and connected, outside of the office environment. This prompted many organisations to rapidly transition into new tools, with very little planning or strategy.
While many companies quickly saw the value offered by Teams, they began to encounter new challenges as their hybrid and remote workforce continued to scale.
Assuming the switch to remote work was temporary, countless companies failed to address the need for a full and comprehensive UCaaS strategy from day one. Now that hybrid work has become the new normal, brands have been left with a lot of loose ends to tie up.
For instance, while Microsoft Teams is excellent for enhancing the performance of hybrid teams, it lacks the comprehensive telephony solutions many businesses still need from a UCaaS system. The Microsoft Business Phone plans offer limited scope, flexibility, and geographical scale, making them incompatible with a range of business needs.
Though some organizations have attempted to bridge the gap with workarounds and distributed tools, most are being forced to simplify and refine their communication strategy, in order to keep costs and complexity low in a time of economic crisis.
Business leaders can’t afford to run an on-premises voice environment separately from a collaboration system and still maintain operational agility. To make matters worse, disconnected solutions can come with a host of additional challenges, from complex user interfaces for home workers to reduced visibility across the communication stack.
The changing landscape has forced brands of all sizes to start rethinking their Teams investment, looking for something more suited to their work-from-home employee base. Most brands are now starting on a new journey to unify Teams and phone solutions in one package, in order to improve operational efficiency, boost scalability, and preserve crucial digital agility.
The Launch of Low Code Technologies and the Power Platform
Thanks to options like Operator Connect, Direct Routing, and even Business Phone plans, there are various solutions out there for organisations looking to expand their Teams ecosystem. However, even with a range of versatile methodologies to explore, there are still gaps in the landscape around managing voice environments. That’s where no-code and low-code platforms like the Microsoft Power Platform have begun to demonstrate incredible value.
The Power Platform offers an innovative ecosystem of tools for low-code development, supercharging the ability of organisations to deliver applications and tools in the modern workforce. Produced to make app development more accessible, the Power Platform allows professional and citizen developers to work together on unlocking the full benefits of Microsoft Teams.
For digitally transforming teams in the Microsoft ecosystem, the Power Platform speeds up ideation and innovation, allowing companies to stay agile with customisations, as employee and customer needs continue to evolve. According to one study, the platform currently offers an average ROI of 502%. It’s driving the development of new tools custom-made for the hybrid working era.
How Resonate Leverages the Power Platform
Responding to the changing needs of businesses in the age of hybrid and remote work, Resonate has leveraged the potential of both Microsoft Teams, and the emerging Power Platform. With over 25 years of experience in the voice sector, the team developed a set of tools, intended to help its partners and customers manage their Microsoft Teams voice environment, end-to-end.
The Voice Tooling portfolio was constructed using a combination of Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI – core components of the Power Platform ecosystem. Resonate has also extended the functionality and performance of its solutions with Azure.
Resonate’s solutions have helped companies of all sizes to set up Teams Voice connections and manage them more effectively on a scalable basis. The portfolio includes Voice Quality Insights – powerful dashboards with end-to-end visibility and the ability to drill down to site and user levels to discover the root cause of any issues with Teams calling.
Resonate’s collection of Power Platform tools also empowers its customers to set up phone numbers, provision Teams users and endpoints, and access insights into voice quality, without having to invest in PowerShell development and coding.
Using the Power Platform services, Resonate has also extended the native features and functionality within Teams, allowing companies to delegate the management of call queues and auto attendants to non-admins and less technical users, with an Auto Attendant and Call Queue manager.
The comprehensive ecosystem eliminates the challenges of manually maintaining phone number assignment databases and PowerShell scripts. It also sidesteps common issues for Teams users, like complex internal request processes, and lack of visibility into licence usage.
Unlocking the True Value of Microsoft Teams
Resonate gives companies the freedom to unlock the true value of their Microsoft Teams ecosystem. Using the Voice Management Platform, organisations can quickly begin to discover productivity-boosting, cost-saving, and efficiency-increasing opportunities within Teams.
The Voice Management Platform allows organisations to quickly discover new value, by automating tasks usually reserved for IT admins, and managing voice environments more cost-effectively. With an all-in-one solution, Resonate’s clients can ensure they’re getting the best value from their Microsoft Teams investment, without compromising on security and scalability.
All data remains within the customer’s tenant, even when they’re leveraging the management tools from Resonate, so every business can preserve complete control.
Reach out to Resonate today to learn more about how the Voice Management platform can help you discover the true advantages of Microsoft Teams for the future of work.
