BT Wholesale has announced the launch of WHC Teams Direct Connect, which will give businesses the ability to access external calling for Microsoft Teams using the firm’s cloud-based phone solution, Wholesale Hosted Communications (WHC).
Built for the channel market, BT says the solution is quick and easy to deploy and doesn’t require specialist IT support.
Demand for collaboration software has rocketed in recent years, fuelled by the widespread boom in hybrid working. Microsoft Teams has the biggest share of this market currently, with approximately 6.75 million users in the UK – and that figure has been predicted to rise to 10 million by 2023.
With WHC Teams Direct Connect, users can now leverage hosted PBX or hosted SIP Trunking directly from within Teams, enabling high-quality digital phone calls across all devices, as well as the usual benefits of WHC such as call recording and analytics, BT said.
“Bringing Microsoft Teams into our WHC portfolio was a natural next step for our partners and their customers,” explained BT Wholesale channel director Gavin Jones. “At BT Wholesale we want to ensure our propositions are adding the best value.”
With WHC Teams Direct Connect, partners can mix and match hosted PBX, SIP trunking, and Teams to build solutions that fit their customers needs, with ordering and deployment that doesn’t require specialist IT support or long wait times.
Additionally, BT says the solution offers competitive pricing without requiring end customers to invest in IT development or training.
Ultimately, that means customers can take advantage of improved collaboration in this era of hybrid working. Users can have the same number anywhere, on any device, alongside quick service set-up.
The solution is also natively connected to BT’s WHC automated ordering journey, allowing end users to be added in real time and making calls in a matter of minutes, the company added.
“Microsoft Teams is a great platform that many businesses rely on, but we wanted to take our support further by adding the extra functionality of allowing phone calls,” Jones continued.
“This is a simple and cost-effective way to get calls in Teams so that we can deliver the greatest benefits to our partners and their customers.”
