

Microsoft Teams Phone System

The Microsoft Teams Phone System, a Microsoft 365 add-on, delivers an improved experience for all Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise users, wherever they may be using Teams. Microsoft Teams Phone System enables phone calls to be made to any external phone number from within Teams (and for calls to be received from any external number).
Teams Phone System:
A Step Up from the Core Microsoft 365 Phone Product
The core Microsoft 365 phone product, provided within most Microsoft 365 Business licences, includes support for audio, video calls and conferencing within your own organisation. It does not, however allow users to make calls to (or receive calls from) external phone numbers. In addition, the core Teams product lacks many of the phone system features which modern businesses require: auto-attendants, queues, call distribution to mention a few basic features business need.
This adds a level of inconvenience and forces employees to go outside the Teams environment to make external calls and means that end users are having to switch between different communication applications or even falling back to a legacy physical handset on the desk. It complicates and makes employees less efficient than they could be if they had a single integrated system through which everybody can be easily contacted.
Microsoft Teams, Enhanced for Outbound Voice Calling and More
The Microsoft Teams Phone System, hosted in the Microsoft 365 environment, delivers an improved experience for all Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise users. Microsoft Teams Phone System enables phone calls to be made to (or received from) any external phone number from within Teams. It will be of particular advantage to home workers who will benefit from excellent Quality of Assurance for audio calls – without the need for VPN connections or the complexity of working with multiple phone systems. Caller ID functionality such as showing contact information if held within Microsoft 365, voicemail with transcripts, and voice activated dialling are among the many features of benefit.
Microsoft Teams Phone System is highly scalable (from 10 to 10,000+ DDIs) and provides Cloud PBX functionality, acting as a fully-fledged phone system based in the Microsoft 365 cloud we all rely on. This enables features such as advanced call routing, auto attendants, music on hold, recorded messages, device switching (changing active devices so that a call started, for example on a laptop, can be continued on a mobile handset), external number blocking to reduce spam calls, call history reporting, PCI and MiFID II compliant call recording, and more. Connectivity to outside numbers is provided through a Blaze SIP Trunk licence which is included in the service, and you can retain your existing business phone numbers when moving to Microsoft Teams Phone System. (Blaze will port all your existing landline and DDI ranges. We can also supply new UK, international and NGN number ranges).


Key Features
of Microsoft Teams Phone System
from Blaze Networks
- Place, receive & hold phone calls (initiated by name in Contacts list or Directory, or number)
- Make and receive video calls (when enabled, per user)
- Direct Inward Dial (DDI) number (option to display switch number when making outbound calls)
- User-by-user control over access to International dialling
- Distinctive Ring Tones (based on call type)
- Device Switching (change active device, eg. PC speakers to a headset)
- Transfer call taken on a PC to user’s mobile
- Federated Calling (call Teams users in other organisations/tenants, when Tenancies are Federated)
- Call History (separate User and Admin views)
- Call Recording (optional. PCI and MiFID II compliant)
- Escalate call (add people to a one-one call)
- Advanced Call Routing
- Do not disturb (all calls to VM except callers with ‘priority access’)
- Delegation (Boss/admin assistant, or call-on-behalf)
- Call Forwarding
- Group call pickup (incoming call notification method is configurable by users)
- Transfer Call (Blind, Consultation & mobile)
- Caller ID (full contact information if in Directory, otherwise phone number shown)
- Voicemail (delivered to user’s email box, with optional transcript creation. User-recordable greeting and call answering rules)
- Auto-attendants (location-based routing) directory and menu system for inbound callers & when transferring calls
- Call Queues
- Auto-route calls by department, team, or person
- Attendant and Serial Distribution (programmable by time of day)
- Music on hold and custom messaging
- Number Blocking (block specific numbers to avoid spam and other unwanted calls)
- Single pane of glass (management portal)
- Retain and transfer all your existing DDI numbers into Blaze Teams Phone System.
- Co-existence / integrate with existing phone systems (sharing directory and call routing)
- Dashboards and Reporting (optional. Creation of management dashboards and scheduled call reports, including ‘wallboards’ for your specific operational needs).
- DDI on-demand (rapid creation & retirement of DDIs, to match changing operational requirements, including short-term campaigns and projects).
Advantages of using Blaze for Microsoft Teams Phone System
Fully Managed, with No Capital Outlay: Blaze offer Microsoft Teams Phone System as a fully managed service. (Customers have the option to co-manage administrative functions relating to end-users through the 365 portal). We are able to offer the service with no capital outlay required by customers and without the need for network related setup like VPNs to connect home workers or VLAN’s to segment the local business network.
Cost-effective: Blaze offers significant cost advantages for adding Teams Phone System to your existing Microsoft 365 licence: we are highly competitive in terms of monthly per-user subscriptions (which include substantial free minutes of calls) and offer excellent call rates outside the monthly inclusions. Customers will find these charges attractive both in comparison to alternative solutions and when compared to Microsoft’s own Call Plans. Do you licence Microsoft (Office) 365 from a third party? Not a problem: we can bring your existing licences over to Blaze and integrate seamlessly with your existing deployment without any disruption to end users. Your complete O365 environment can then be managed by Blaze Networks.
Ease of Use: Employees can continue to access Teams on their regular devices (whether Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone, or iOS). Intuitive additional options will appear, including display of the user’s DDI number and a softphone dial pad.
Rapid Deployment: Microsoft 365 allows the fastest setup possible, both because the solution removes the complexity of adding another phone system for external calls, and because there is no long lead-time for setup items and line provision.
Agile DDI Provision: Rapid creation & retirement of DDIs, to match changing operational requirements, including short-term campaigns and projects. Regional dialling codes can be specified so outbound calls appear to come from a specific city in the UK or in overseas (for example, when a UK-based agency is making calls into an overseas market).
Highly Available: Blaze has architected Microsoft Teams Phone System as a high availability service, with multiple paths, software instances duplicated across different clusters in Blaze Cloud, and redundancy of other components built on our cloud platform. Any issues can be swiftly resolved with a minimum of hassle or interruption: The service is pro-actively managed by the Blaze Service Desk and our own highly skilled, UK-based engineers. In the event of any particularly complex technical problems arising we have direct, priority access to advanced (Level 4) technicians within Microsoft due to Blaze being a Microsoft Tier 1 CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) as well as a Microsoft Gold Partner.
Co-managed where you need it: While we offer Microsoft Teams Phone System as a fully managed service, there may be occasions where you wish to have day-to-day flexibility, for example where call routing decisions may need to be frequently updated.
Informative: Blaze can help you create management dashboards and reports for specific operational and management control needs (leveraging PowerBI). Drawing on our experience with call centre, projects, and customer support environments this can include pulling data off multiple dashboards and (as an additional service) establishing reporting of phone-intensive operations via ‘wallboards’.
Range of handsets: While Teams works well on mobile phones, tablets and laptops, many companies may wish to equip key staff with Teams-specific handsets which Blaze can supply. We have a range of fully tested handsets for different types of operational needs.
Managed Solution: Blaze has extensive experience of working with carriers and managing phone systems and unified communications solutions. As a Gold Microsoft Partner and a Microsoft Tier 1 CSP (Cloud Solution Provider), you can be confident that Blaze have the depth of skills required to ensure your move to Microsoft Teams Phone System is successful and that clear efficiency gains will be seen in the business.
A Key Element in Digital Transformation
Adding the functionality of Microsoft Teams Phone System to your existing Microsoft 365 service is the next logical step in evolving the use of Microsoft Teams in your organisation. Teams is growing in importance as a key enabler of teamwork and collaboration, particularly in businesses where workforces are becoming more mobile and home working is more prevalent. By adding full PBX functionality, companies can not only improve the effectiveness of communication within the business, but can also simplify communication with customers, suppliers, contractors and service providers outside the organisation.
We should be talking: contact Blaze today to discuss how Microsoft Teams Phone System can simplify communications and reduce cost for your business.
Partners
We partner with leading manufacturers like Microsoft, Fortinet, Veeam, Bitdefender, Cisco, Lenovo and other industry-leaders.
In doing so, Blaze have access to a vast array of products that allow us to overcome our customers’ business challenges and requirements.
Microsoft

Blaze is a Microsoft Solutions Partner and Tier 1 Microsoft CSP Partner. We specialise in Microsoft 365 (including Teams and Teams Phone System), in Microsoft On-Premise and Hosted / Cloud Infrastructure (including Azure), and enable businesses to continue their digital evolution by fully exploiting the latest capabilities of Microsoft products as they evolve.
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Modern Work, Blaze has demonstrated a broad capability to help customers boost productivity and make the shift to hybrid work using Microsoft 365.
Fortinet

Blaze is an Expert Partner of Fortinet, a global industry leader in the supply of secure networking infrastructure systems. Fortinet are our technology partner of choice when building customer-specific Private SD-WANs, and Blaze is one of only a handful of Fortinet SD-WAN Specialization Partners in the UK and a Fortinet top-level Expert Partner. Blaze is also a Fortinet-accredited Managed Secure Solutions Provider (MSSP) and Integrator Fortinet partner. A Leader in several of Gartner’s Magic Quadrants, the Fortinet platform combines excellent performance with advanced security features, superb manageability, and excellent Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) per Mbps.
Veeam

Veeam is a highly respected leader in cloud-based backup and recovery software, data protection and advanced monitoring in the data centre.
Blaze is a Veeam Cloud and Service Provider Silver Partner and we have combined Veeam technology with our highly secure Blaze Cloud™ infrastructure to produce BlazeVault™, a highly dependable, secure, and resource-efficient solution which will keep downtime to an absolute minimum in the event of data loss in operational systems or ransomware attack.
Bitdefender

Blaze is a Bitdefender Gold MSP Partner. Bitdefender is a global cybersecurity leader protecting over 500 million systems through OEM technology partnerships, including with many global IT companies. Tests show it is unmatched in Attack Prevention. Based on Bitdefender technology, Blaze Endpoint Protection hardens endpoints to prevent malware and malicious attacks, and it provides the investigation and remediation capabilities needed to dynamically respond to security incidents when they evade protection controls. Blaze Managed EDR keeps your organisation safe with 24×7 security monitoring, advanced attack prevention, detection and remediation.
Cisco

Cisco has long been the world’s pre-eminent network systems vendor, particularly for technology used at the core of major corporate networks and the internet. In addition to using Cisco equipment within our customers’ private networks, Blaze incorporates Cisco technology into the heart of our own network operations; the Blaze Private Core Network is built utilising Enterprise-class CISCO core routing equipment.