From Handshakes to AI: Toastmasters Evolves for a Global Future
For over 100 years, Toastmasters International has helped millions conquer glossophobia—the fear of public speaking—through live practice, structured feedback, and a strong sense of community. From local club meetings to international conferences, the nonprofit has built a legacy of empowering voices. Now, it’s embracing a new chapter: AI-powered transformation. Tradition Meets Technology Toastmasters is proving that tech and tradition can thrive together. With clubs in 150 countries and a growing global membership, the organization is modernizing how it connects, supports, and grows. From streamlining call center operations with Microsoft Omnichannel to editing educational materials with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Toastmasters is leveraging digital tools to enhance—not replace—the human touch. “Toastmasters is about human beings connecting with human beings and technology is helping us do that.” — Jason Caldwell Club Quality and Member Support Manager Smarter Support, Seamless Experience With just 30 call center staff serving 270,000 members worldwide, Toastmasters needed a smarter way to manage interactions. Enter Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Copilot-enabled Contact Center—a unified platform that centralizes calls, chats, and emails, giving staff a complete view of each member’s journey. Generative AI now summarizes conversations, manages cases, and even frees staff from typing during calls, allowing them to focus fully on the person behind the question. “It connects all the dots, giving everybody the information they need when they need it.” — Jason Caldwell Self-Service That Scales Toastmasters also adopted Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, enabling members to join and pay dues online for the first time. This shift improves security, accuracy, and accessibility, especially for younger members who expect digital-first experiences. “It the twenty-first century, so we need to digitize the experience for our members.” — Heidi Hollenbeck, COO and CIO Meet Ora Tor: AI That Listens and Learns To further enhance member support, Toastmasters built Ora Tor, a generative AI chatbot using Microsoft Copilot Studio. Ora Tor draws from a rich knowledge base curated by staff, offering 24/7 answers to common questions and reducing barriers to engagement. Opening Doors to the Future Digitization isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about inclusion and growth. By offering a modern, tech-enabled experience, Toastmasters is attracting a younger, more diverse demographic, while making it easier for current members to stay involved. “Digitizing helps us open our doors to more people.” — Diana Passow, Marketing and Communications Director A Century of Impact, Powered by Innovation From handshakes to AI, Toastmasters is evolving to meet the needs of a global future. With Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Copilot technologies, the organization is scaling its mission, strengthening its brand, and continuing to empower speakers worldwide. To learn more about how they’re using AI to empower speakers worldwide, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en/customers/story/23396-toastmasters-international-dynamics-365-customer-serviceWant to Assist with Exam, Assessment, or Learning Development?
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Microsoft Teams Phone brings intelligent, cloud-based calling to Teams, streamlining operations and delivering secure, reliable voice experiences. Until recently, however, enabling enterprise calling in the contact center meant deploying separate solutions, adding administrative complexity and redundant costs. Today, we’re excited to announce the general availability of Teams Phone extensibility for a growing ecosystem of contact center solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center. This new capability allows customers to extend Teams Phone investments into the contact center, enabling customers to use a single, integrated calling solution across both unified communications (UCaaS) and contact center (CCaaS) environments. Organizations can leverage Teams Phone extensibility to: Apply existing Teams Phone licenses to enable telephony for users of Dynamics 365 Contact Center or other certified ISV contact center solutions 1 . Avoid procuring, configuring, managing, and training users on a separate phone system for contact center deployments. Leverage the broad geographic availability of Teams Phone through calling plans available in 36 countries, Operator Connect in 96 countries, and Direct Routing globally. Benefit from the extensive features of Teams Phone, including the familiar Teams management interface. With these benefits, you can now streamline your telephony and reduce the number of solutions to license and manage across your organization. Learn more about the features of Teams Phone extensibility including conversational AI integration. Unify your calling capabilities for time and cost savings Teams Phone extensibility is a significant development for customers. It reflects how Dynamics 365 Contact Center helps organizations innovate faster and reduce costs with Microsoft’s unified cloud platform, low-code tools, and built-in AI – making it easier to build, manage, and scale contact center solutions without complex infrastructure or costly custom development. Teams Phone extensibility enables organizations to unify calling and contact center experiences for both agents and customers, all within a secure, familiar Microsoft environment. A commissioned Total Economic Impact™ study conducted by Forrester Consulting found that organizations using Teams Phone extensibility with Dynamics 365 Contact Center could achieve a projected return on investment up to 345% over three years 2 . These savings stem from lower operational and service fees, streamlined administration, and greater call center efficiency. With its certification in progress, Teams Phone extensibility with Dynamics 365 Contact Center is more than an integration. It’s a shift toward unified, intelligent communication that helps businesses operate smarter and deliver better customer experiences. Download the full study to learn more. ISV partners provide additional choice and flexibility Teams Phone extensibility is also supported by contact center ISV solutions that utilize the Teams Unify integration model. With Unify, ISVs build directly on Microsoft infrastructure, using Azure Communication Services (ACS) and gaining access to Microsoft Copilot and Cognitive Services. This approach enables them to embed advanced features and intelligence, resulting in richer, more unified solutions that help organizations deliver efficient, secure, and customer-focused interactions. ISV solutions that have completed certification for Teams Phone extensibility include AudioCodes, CentrePal, ComputerTalk, Heedify, and Landis. 1 We look forward to adding additional certified contact solutions to this growing ecosystem in the months ahead. If you are a contact center developer, learn more about enabling Teams Phone calling for your CCaaS solution. Contact center ISVs that are Unify-model certified for Teams Phone extensibility include AudioCodes, CentrePal, ComputerTalk, Heedify, and Landis. Power your contact center with the calling capabilities of Teams Phone If you're already using Teams Phone and Dynamics 365 Contact Center or any of the certified ISV solutions, you can start taking advantage of Teams Phone extensibility today. Not yet using these solutions? You can set up trials for both Teams Phone and Dynamics 365 Contact Center to explore the benefits firsthand. If you're interested in trialing Teams Phone extensibility with a certified ISV contact center solution, please contact your preferred CCaaS vendor for more information. 1 While certification is not required to access the Azure Communication Services API that enables Teams Phone extensibility, we recommend selecting a contact center solution that has completed the certification process for the best experience. 2 Projected benefits for a composite customer. New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center with Teams Phone extensibility, Forrester Consulting, Casey Sirotnak, Jonathan Lipsitz, August 2025.
