Are you a small business or startup? And are you in need of a business telephone number? Telephony can be an integral part of business, but for smaller organizations, getting a business telephone set up could mean some costly installation. But there is a very easy way to set up a business telephony system that even a one-person business could afford. The answer is Microsoft 365 Business Voice. This is an add-on license from Microsoft that adds external calling capabilities to Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration application. In the app, you have a chat section, where you can have both individual and group chats. You also have video calling capabilities – so you can hold meetings, webinars, and live events with Teams. You also have internal calling built in. This means that you can call other users that are part of your organization, as per your Microsoft license, but you cannot make calls to external users, or any kind of telephone.
TechQuarters – a Microsoft partner and IT support company in London – spoke to us about Business Voice and how it works. “Business Voice is incredibly easy to set up, because it sits within Microsoft Teams,” says TechQuarters. “Microsoft Teams is designed to support VoIP telephony.”
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that enables telephone calls to be made over the internet, instead of over the public switched telephone network (PSTN) as is traditional. Once you have the Business Voice license, you will unlock the external calling capability of Microsoft Teams; you can assign a business phone number to your Teams account, and the great thing is you can use it to make calls from your PC, Mac, or mobile device (phone or tablet.) Any device that runs Microsoft Teams can be turned into a convenient business telephone.
Business Voice is an add-on license, meaning you will need to have a Microsoft 365 license first – these licenses start at £3.80 ($5.00) per user/per month – which gives you access to the Office 365 Online Applications, as well as SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams. You can acquire licensing directly from Microsoft, or from one of their partners. Pricing for Business Voice starts at £12.00 ($20.00) per user/per month, with a 25% discount on the first 12 months (available until December 31st, 2021). This license is suitable for businesses with between 1 and 300 employees. If you are a larger organization, you may consider partnering with a Microsoft partner – for example, this managed IT services London package comes with Office 365 support and Business Voice setup and support.
If you are a small to medium-sized business that uses Microsoft and is in need of a telephony solution, you should definitely look for a Microsoft partner in your local area to find a good deal on Microsoft 365 Business Voice for your organization.
