Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@DustinB3403 company (or his last one) uses Skype for most if not all of their users.
Why did they go this route? What did they gain? What did they lose?
I'm looking at a new phone project and I'm wondering if I should consider a Teams solution instead of a typical deskphone solution, though I'd still need many stations to be actual phones as well.
Yealink has some nice phones that integrate Teams nicely. I was checking them out at a MS conference not too long ago.
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SfB/Teams while it works in most scenarios doesn't is so many others. If you simply wanted a handset that was fully integrated into your outlook account, go for it.
Be warned that your outlook calendar will show every event on your Desk phone (if you have one), which could be a cause for concern if you're a manager.
The tie in of SfB/Teams (cloud hosted as Teams is CLOUD ONLY) just doesn't integrate with anything you'd might want, like a nice conference room without using something like the Crestron Flex system (which works, but it's essentially a Intel NUC with a custom full screen SfB/Teams interface).
The business really needs to evaluate what kind of intermingle is needed with your phones and your office tenant, IMO it's not worth the hassle as someone who's gone through this and dealt with SfB/Teams for over 2 years now.
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
Why did they go this route? What did they gain?
Generally choices are made because of marketing or sales people.
The gain is that if you already use Teams, you get a unified product and one less thing to manage. It's handy knowing that the software you already have to deploy and manage everywhere will also do voice communications.
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
What did they lose?
Money, stability, flexibility, freedom.
Solutions like this are generally very costly, and very sticky. Moving to another solution will be difficult.
Traditionally, even MS' managed deployments of this technology have not been reliable. So making a company depend on it would be a very risky move unless phones aren't considered critical.
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If you are already all in on Teams, then adding desk phones is not a big deal. You will barely be using them for anything but the legacy phone only people any way.
Companies that are all in on Teams have the app on all their devices and most interaction are happening in the app. If you are not in the app all of the time on all of your devices, then you are going to run into issues with Teams as a phone system for the things it does not do well.
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Pricing...
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
I'm wondering if I should consider a Teams solution instead of a typical deskphone solution
So here is my question... unless I'm misreading the pricing, what makes this worth around double more traditional (and traditionally reliable) phone systems?
$20/user/month for 3,000 minutes isn't a good price, especially considering how much you have to pay to be on the other plan already. It's not just expensive, but locks to in to other expensive products to keep the phones.
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@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
I'm wondering if I should consider a Teams solution instead of a typical deskphone solution
So here is my question... unless I'm misreading the pricing, what makes this worth around double more traditional (and traditionally reliable) phone systems?
$20/user/month for 3,000 minutes isn't a good price, especially considering how much you have to pay to be on the other plan already. It's not just expensive, but locks to in to other expensive products to keep the phones.
I have a fancy spreadsheet which ask's this same question. I still don't have an answer, but here I am. . .
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@DustinB3403 said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
I'm wondering if I should consider a Teams solution instead of a typical deskphone solution
So here is my question... unless I'm misreading the pricing, what makes this worth around double more traditional (and traditionally reliable) phone systems?
$20/user/month for 3,000 minutes isn't a good price, especially considering how much you have to pay to be on the other plan already. It's not just expensive, but locks to in to other expensive products to keep the phones.
I have a fancy spreadsheet which ask's this same question. I still don't have an answer, but here I am. . .
Because it is Teams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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@JaredBusch said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@DustinB3403 said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
I'm wondering if I should consider a Teams solution instead of a typical deskphone solution
So here is my question... unless I'm misreading the pricing, what makes this worth around double more traditional (and traditionally reliable) phone systems?
$20/user/month for 3,000 minutes isn't a good price, especially considering how much you have to pay to be on the other plan already. It's not just expensive, but locks to in to other expensive products to keep the phones.
I have a fancy spreadsheet which ask's this same question. I still don't have an answer, but here I am. . .
Because it is Teams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Teams wasn't even a real consideration when we migrated to SfB for our phone system
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
Why did they go this route?
Because management was hoping to have a unified communications platform (and pressure from even further up management)
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
What did they gain?
A headache and lots and lots of bitching about taking handsets away from people. Also an elevated blood pressure, more gray hair, increased stress, a simple "click to join" call functionality.
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
What did they lose?
Sleep, money, flexibility, mobility, functionality, compatibility with rather simple other needs
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@DustinB3403 said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@JaredBusch said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@DustinB3403 said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
I'm wondering if I should consider a Teams solution instead of a typical deskphone solution
So here is my question... unless I'm misreading the pricing, what makes this worth around double more traditional (and traditionally reliable) phone systems?
$20/user/month for 3,000 minutes isn't a good price, especially considering how much you have to pay to be on the other plan already. It's not just expensive, but locks to in to other expensive products to keep the phones.
I have a fancy spreadsheet which ask's this same question. I still don't have an answer, but here I am. . .
Because it is Teams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Teams wasn't even a real consideration when we migrated to SfB for our phone system
With that in mind - it's really a mystery why your company went that direction?
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@DustinB3403 said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
A headache and lots and lots of bitching about taking handsets away from people.
Yeah - this is my biggest concern.
We have workflows that are station based - not person based - think call center.
It might be nice to track what user is setting at one of those phones to know who's doing what, but the phone itself is just a station, and that station is what needs to get the call, not the user who logs into it - follow?
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Thanks everyone - I was thinking this was pretty much a dead end - and it's definitely looking like that, but it's an option in the world and at minimum I felt it was at least worth talking about for a few mins.
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At this point in time I don't feel that we need/will make use of a fully unified communication system. We have chat through our EHR system, which while available on our mobile devices, almost no one uses it that way, only while in the web client.
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@DustinB3403 said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
A headache and lots and lots of bitching about taking handsets away from people.
Yeah - this is my biggest concern.
Nothing in using Teams implies taking away handsets.
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@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
We have workflows that are station based - not person based - think call center.
Now this, Teams is not good at.
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IIRC you can do service/station accounts within Teams.
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@coliver said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
IIRC you can do service/station accounts within Teams.
My personal desire would be for both - station account for the device - and the user still logging in on the device so we know what user was making phone calls there.
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@scottalanmiller said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
@Dashrender said in Phone solutions - something like Skype/Teams - why/why not?:
We have workflows that are station based - not person based - think call center.
Now this, Teams is not good at.
True - but often management is likely mis-sold on the idea that handsets are no longer needed, and instead the user uses their computer/cellphone as their device.
