What is a Microsoft Teams Call Center Partner? Everything You Need to Know

Microsoft Teams call center partners are helping businesses of all sizes increase the value of their technology investments. Today, Microsoft (MS) Teams is one of the most popular communication and collaboration platforms worldwide, empowering more than 320 million monthly active users.

On its own, this platform offers companies an incredible way to align employees, enhance knowledge sharing, and improve collaboration. However, while Microsoft Teams can offer access to a handful of cloud calling capabilities, like call queues and auto attendant solutions, it’s not a contact center platform.

For companies that want to simplify their technology stack, consolidate their communication strategies, and bring customer experience efforts into Teams, a call center partner offers an incredible solution. In this article, we’ll explore the impact of Microsoft Teams call center partners, the benefits they can bring to businesses, and how you can choose the right partner for your needs.

Understanding Microsoft Teams Call Center Partners

Microsoft Teams call center partners are companies that work alongside Microsoft to enable access to contact center capabilities within Microsoft Teams. These companies complete the “Connected contact center certification program” for Microsoft Teams, demonstrating their ability to deliver a quality, scalable solution, aligned with the world-leading UC platform.

Certified partners leverage a range of strategies to combine the collaborative capabilities of MS Teams with advanced contact center functions, such as intelligent routing, IVR, analytics, and outbound call management. The core models used by partners include:

The Connect model

This model is used by companies that leverage certified SBCs (Session Border Controllers), and direct routing to link a contact center to Microsoft Teams.

The Extend model

This model involves using Azure bots and the Microsoft Graphic Communication APIs to create contact center applications that run within Microsoft Teams.

The Power model

This strategy involves using an SDK (Software Development Kit) that allows them to embed Microsoft Teams native experiences within a contact center application.

Key Features and Capabilities Offered by Partners

The flexibility of Microsoft Teams, and its ability to integrate with a wide range of external tools and services make it an incredible solution for call center management. With a Microsoft Teams call center partner, companies can provide organizations with an all-in-one solution for both internal communication and customer service.

These partners combine the real-time collaboration features of Microsoft Teams, from chat channels to file sharing and video conferencing, with a range of powerful features, such as:

• Intelligent Interactive Voice Response (IVR): IVR systems enable intuitive self-service in the contact center, offering callers a way to complete tasks and connect with specific team members through interactive menus. Microsoft Teams call center partners can infuse Teams with intelligent IVR systems that enable automated voice recognition for enhanced user experiences.
• Advanced call routing: Microsoft call center partners allow companies to go beyond the basic call routing solutions within Teams to enhance contact management. They can offer access to advanced call routing features that direct customers to agents based on the customer’s intent, the agent’s skill level, and even the number of callers in a queue.
• Enhanced analytics: With in-depth reporting and analytics features, companies can keep track of essential metrics that influence customer satisfaction rates and business performance. Call center partners for Teams can offer access to historical and real-time reporting features and dashboards, as well as monitoring tools that help preserve quality of service.
• Call recording and compliance: Alongside monitoring tools, Microsoft Teams call center partners can offer access to compliant call recording features, which help businesses adhere to industry standards. These tools can even help companies capture data that can be used to train and onboard new team members.
• Integration options: Call center partners for Microsoft Teams can also allow companies to align other tools in their ecosystem with the Teams platform. They can provide direct integrations to Customer Relationship Management tools, to help with personalizing customer service, or workforce management tools, for forecasting, scheduling, and team management.

Benefits of Using a Microsoft Teams Call Center Partner

Working with a Microsoft Teams call center partner means companies can combine their existing platform for productivity and collaboration with tools for delivering exceptional customer service. Bringing Microsoft Teams and contact center software together leads to:

Enhanced Efficiency

With a Microsoft Teams call center partner, companies can build on the efficiency-boosting features already offered by the Teams platform. Microsoft Teams already offers access to a comprehensive productivity suite where teams can chat, share knowledge, and collaborate.

Combining this platform with contact center technology ensures you can align all your employees, from subject matter experts to customer-facing teams, in a unified environment. You can provide everyone with access to the same tools for communication, data, and insights, and eliminate the need for agents to switch between applications when they need to collaborate with colleagues on complex customer requests.

With a contact center connected to Microsoft Teams, companies can make and receive customer calls, connect with colleagues in a unified environment, and share data seamlessly. Teams will be able to work more efficiently in an all-in-one environment, and employee engagement levels will increase.

Improved Omnichannel Communication and Collaboration

One of the primary advantages of integrating a Microsoft Teams Call Center Partner is the seamless omnichannel communication it facilitates. Microsoft Teams supports a variety of communication channels, including voice, video, and chat. A specialized Microsoft Teams Call Center Partner can extend those channels to customer service operations.

This ensures companies can connect with customers on the channel best suited to their needs, increasing engagement and customer satisfaction rates. It also ensures companies can preserve context in conversations as customers move from one communication channel to the next.

At the same time, customer-facing team members and back-office employees can more effectively collaborate, sharing documents, data, and insights in real-time through a range of channels. This leads to a more synchronized workforce, where information flows seamlessly, and decision-making is accelerated.

Greater Insights and Decision-Making

Unifying a productivity and collaboration platform like Microsoft Teams with a call center solution makes it easier to maintain holistic visibility into your company’s data. While Microsoft Teams already offers some valuable tools that help companies to track employee engagement and channel adoption, a call center partner will be able to build on the insights available to your company.

The right solution will ensure you can track each stage of the customer journey, monitor contact quality across multiple channels, and understand how different metrics align. You’ll be able to see how employee engagement and performance influences customer satisfaction rates and learn more about how you can make improvements to your customer service strategy.

End-to-end insights, reporting, and monitoring also ensure you can make decisions that improve your company’s compliance and security standards. You’ll be to maintain a holistic view of your data across all channels and determine how to store information securely. You can even use real-time monitoring tools and alerts to track instances when employees fail to adhere to call scripts and compliance standards, like informing customers before a call is recorded.

Improved Customer Service

Working with a Microsoft Teams call center partner offers companies numerous ways to improve customer service. First, it ensures companies can connect with customers on their preferred channels and collaborate with colleagues to resolve issues faster and more effectively.

Secondly, because a call center partner can enable integrations between Microsoft Teams, the call center platform, and a company’s CRM software, they empower organizations to deliver more personalized experiences. Integrations with CRM systems provide agents with rapid access to customer interaction histories, preferences, and other essential data, allowing them to adapt their approach to the needs of each caller.

What’s more, a Microsoft Teams call center partner can enhance customer service in various other ways, by providing access to AI tools and advanced IVR systems for enhanced 24/7 service, or enabling intelligent routing to ensure customers always reach the right agent.

Greater Cost Savings

Microsoft Teams call center partners can also help businesses to achieve significant cost savings. They allow organizations to consolidate various communication tools into a single platform. This reduces the expenses associated with maintaining and managing multiple systems.

Additionally, the scalability of Microsoft Teams allows businesses to adjust their call center operations according to demand without incurring significant additional costs. The flexibility to scale up or down ensures that resources are used efficiently, preventing overspending on unused capacity.

On top of that, the efficiency gained through improved communication and collaboration can reduce costs for companies too. Microsoft Teams call center providers can help businesses to resolve issues faster, reduce call handling times, and increase first-call resolution rates, which all lead to lower operational costs, and a stronger return on investment for organizations.

How to Choose the Right Microsoft Teams Call Center Partner

Today, numerous companies are certified providers of Microsoft Teams call center solutions, but not all organizations offer the same experience. There are various steps companies need to consider when selecting the partner that’s right for them, such as:

Step 1: Assess Expertise and Experience

The best Microsoft Teams call center partner should have extensive experience not just with the Microsoft Teams platform, but also the call center industry and the sectors it serves. Look for an experienced partner with a proven track record of successful Teams call center implementations.

Review case studies and customer success stories for insights into how your provider can customize their solution to meet your specific needs, simplify migration, and enhance user experiences. Customer reviews and testimonials can offer valuable insights into the partner's reliability and performance. Look specifically for feedback from companies that face similar challenges to your organization or have attempted to achieve comparable goals with Microsoft Teams.

Step 2: Consider Integrations and Flexibility

The right Microsoft Teams call center partner should be able to integrate Microsoft Teams with your current infrastructure seamlessly. This means leveraging the right integration strategy to align Teams with the contact center tools and features you need and enabling access to other valuable interactions.

Your partner should be able to offer access to integrations with CRM software, to help your company optimize customer experience, by giving agents instant access to valuable customer data and interaction histories throughout conversations.

The right partner should also offer access to workforce management (WFM) integrations to help you optimize resource allocation and staff management. Integrations with other tools can also be helpful, such as helpdesk and service desk technology, and third-party solutions for business intelligence.

Step 3: Prioritize User Experience

One of the biggest benefits of working with a Microsoft Teams call center partner is that it can help you enhance agent experiences and customer experiences simultaneously. Bringing contact center functionality into a platform your employees already use for productivity and collaboration can significantly improve their performance metrics. It can also reduce technology frustrations – like the need to constantly switch between applications.

However, to ensure you’re delivering the best possible experience to your employees, you need to ensure your partner prioritizes user experience. A solution provider that makes it easy to connect your tools, train teams on how to use new resources, and access valuable data in real-time is crucial for employees.

Ensure it’s easy for your employees to leverage omnichannel capabilities for customer service, manage all communication channels in the Microsoft Teams interface, and monitor performance with intuitive dashboards and reporting tools.

Step 4: Explore Advanced Feature Options

While many Microsoft Teams call center partners offer companies access to a range of crucial features, like routing solutions and a unified agent directory, some will also enable access to more advanced capabilities. For instance, your partner might offer support for:

• Real-time quality assurance and compliance monitoring.
• AI-powered tools, such as conversational analytics platforms and chatbots. Workflow design solutions to assist with omnichannel routing.
• Outbound communication systems for sales and marketing campaigns.
• Survey tools to collect feedback from your audience.

There are even solution providers like ComputerTalk which enable access to comprehensive voice disaster recovery solutions. This ensures that you can continue receiving and answering calls when Microsoft Teams isn’t available, reducing the risk of lost opportunities.

Step 5: Analyze Vendor Support Options

Finally, ensure your Microsoft Teams call center partner can offer the right level of support and guidance as you align your UCaaS and CCaaS platforms. Find out what kind of assistance your vendor can offer with things like migrating your old infrastructure into the cloud and training employees.

Look for companies that can help you configure integrations and API connections to align your tools, provide access to real-time technical support when issues happen, and simplify remote administration. A holistic approach to customer service will ensure you can minimize the total cost of ownership of your new contact center solution and optimize your return on investment.

Why ComputerTalk is the Right Partner for You

While there are many Microsoft Teams call center partners for businesses to choose from today, ComputerTalk stands out with its intuitive, scalable, and flexible solution for business leaders.

Chosen as the number one call center solution for Microsoft Teams by UC Today in the 2024 UC Awards, ComputerTalk’s ice Contact Center for Microsoft Teams offers the perfect combination of functionality, streamlined user experiences, and reliability. ComputerTalk’s ice Contact Center not only integrates natively with Microsoft Teams, but also connects with countless other valuable applications, from Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics to WFM tools.

With features ranging from intelligent call routing and IVR systems to a simple interaction workflow designer, inbound and outbound calling options, and AI-powered capabilities, ComputerTalk’s ice Contact Center enhances the value of Microsoft Teams.

Contact ComputerTalk to learn more about the benefits of working with a world-leading Microsoft Teams call center partner.