Blog Post

Microsoft Teams Blog
3 MIN READ

Microsoft Teams is now a complete meeting and calling solution

James Skay's avatar
James Skay
Former Employee
Aug 24, 2018
Last year we announced plans for Microsoft Teams to become the primary client for Intelligent Communications in Office 365, replacing Skype for Business Online over time. Today, we are pleased to ann...
Updated Jan 26, 2021
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Fred Franks's avatar
Fred Franks
Iron Contributor
Nov 27, 2018

Donovan Lewis

 

Thanks for sharing. Some thoughts:

 

  • There's no integration with the VOIP Polycom phones my customers use.

What type of phone is in place? We use Polycom VVX phones without issue, similarly the Trio phones work for audio (video needs to be added). There are some legacy S4B phones that will never support Teams.

 

  • The "Find a contact" feature in the Calls section doesn't work.

Yes, good call - Works on mobile, I see that issue on the desktop version. I never search contacts in the desktop calling app, always use my address book, but that seems like a simple bug to resolve.

 

  • There's no way to start a Chat with someone who's not added already in a Contacts Group. In SFB, I just type in a name & r-m-c.

Not a problem on my end. I am able to start a chat with anyone by clicking the new chat icon at the top. If they are in the tenant or a guest of my tenant the search shows the name. If they are not a member or guest, I simply need to type the full email address to send the message.

 

  • The "A-Z Contacts" list in Calls doesn't include a Business Name column.

I see that as the case. Not sure if that is a huge deal if you can find that information inside of your address book elsewhere.

 

Overall, in the last month, I think S4B is severely lacking compared to Teams. For example:

  1. Chat functionality: S4B would leave you wondering if the message went to your desktop or mobile device.
  2. Number of rings: An outside party calling a S4B person will hear far more rings until the receiving S4B user when contrasted against Teams.
  3. Call latency: Similarly, test the voice travel time against a Teams call. Sound quality and latency is noticeably better.

 

My top items to address right now:

  1. (Both Systems) Transfer directly to voicemail - a must have for receptionists. Supposedly coming Q1.
  2. (Both Systems) Need a better call center option or even better just partner with Twilio.
  3. (Both Systems) Should implement a free/cheap common area option (free or $1-2/month for internal calling only instead of $8)
  4. (Teams) Desktop needs click to dial - is on the roadmap, recently the iOS app added this option.
  5. (Teams) Polycom Trio needs to add video