In today’s business environment, remote work has become the new normal. In 2020, we’ve seen staggering remote work statistics. According to Gartner, 88% of organizations worldwide either mandated or encouraged work from home during the pandemic. A CoSo Cloud survey reports that 77% of employees say they’re more productive at home. Global Workplace Analytics reports that businesses could save an average of $11,000 annually per half-time telecommuter. Remote work has proven its value to organizations that can harness it and make it work for them using the right tools and technology.
Answering the Tough Questions About Working Remotely
Microsoft Teams has been invaluable for many companies during the pandemic. It allows people and teams to continue working together as if they’re still in the office. Teams offers incredible value for any organization that needs internal collaboration. However, one of the biggest pain points in telework environments is their connection to the outside world. Business leaders are asking and being asked important questions, including:
- How will my corporate phones work when my employees are at home?
- What about when employees are at a job site?
- What about my call queues and auto attendants?
- Should I call my employees’ home, desk or mobile numbers?
- How can I ensure that all employees are reachable by phone, wherever they are?
A Microsoft Teams Calling Plan is the solution to all of these questions and pain points. We’ve touched on the flexibility of Microsoft Teams Calling Plans, but how do you know if it’s right for your needs?
Making the Switch
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Anders Technology offers assessments to help businesses understand the full capabilities of Teams Calling and experience the vision of how it can meet their specific needs. By assessing your environment and business needs we build a custom plan for transitioning from a traditional telephony system to a flexible remote phone system.
Identifying Phone System Needs
Identifying phone needs at different levels of your organization is a critical first step. Anders Technology engineers will identify and interview your key stakeholders and gather information about your environment. We research potential pitfalls in your environment and may identify small groups of pilot users and enable services for them. If necessary, we visit your locations and perform network assessments to determine areas that may need to be addressed. During this step, we investigate and understand your current calling environment, including call queue and auto attendant needs, and begin to envision how it could look in Teams.
Exploring Features
How can your stakeholders know where Teams Calling can help them if they don’t understand the product’s capabilities? Anders Technology advisors meet with your stakeholders and decision makers in a candid discussion of features and possibilities. In these sessions, we discuss your workflows, calling trees and devices. We learn about different types of departments, their calling groups and their different phone needs. In these sessions, we work side-by-side with you to understand how we can make Teams fit into your company, rather than trying to force your company to fit into Teams. Along the way, we’re continually refining our original assessments.
Building a Plan
The final step is where it all comes together into three parts. First, we build out recommendations for change management, answering questions such as: how can we ensure adoption of the product? What’s the best way to communicate the changes? What’s the plan for training employees?
Next, we map out specific scenarios and features within your business. We finalize recommendations on different user types, accounting for which types of users get which features and devices and analyze steps for transitioning your environment from telephony to Teams. We determine which phone numbers may need to be ported and from which providers while mapping your existing features into comparable Teams features.
Finally, we analyze the workload and licensing. Which licenses need to be purchased, and at what cost? Which user groups get which licensing? What are the steps to proceed with the project, and what are our time estimates? We deliver a detailed project plan for moving forward with a Teams Calling migration.
Learn More About Microsoft Teams Calling
Our Anders Technology advisors know that it can be scary moving from your old phone system to something new. Through an in-depth assessment, Anders can provide a way forward into the flexibility and value offered by Teams Calling without sacrificing the stability that you need. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Anders Technology has the tools, training and expertise to design a solution that will work for your business. Contact an Anders advisor below to discuss your situation.
