May 4, 2022 | XPERTECHS

The Pros and Cons of Microsoft Business Voice vs. Regular VoIP Phones

Has the way your people communicate changed compared to pre-pandemic times? If your answer is “yes” then it’s a good bet that it’s because you relied on Microsoft Teams to keep everyone connected when your employees went home to work. Lots of companies not only increased their use of Teams when they had remote workers, they discovered that they could pull a lot of their everyday activities into their Teams workspace. Integrating the other applications they use not only created efficiencies, but employees liked the convenience of having everything in one place.

Now there’s another app that can be pulled into Teams – your phone system. Replacing your onsite or traditional VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone system with Microsoft Teams Business Voice makes sense for companies that want the convenience of having everything in the same workspace.

Let’s explore if this is the right option for you by going through some pros and cons so you can compare Business Voice with a regular VoIP phone system.

Microsoft 365 Business Voice

PROS

Accessed through Microsoft Teams workspace.
Integrates with other Microsoft applications.
Cloud-based, no server to manage.
Use any device.
High level of built-in security.
Consolidate communications vendors.
Easy administration.
May save on phone costs.
Unified communications functionality.
IT management is simplified.
Can be used for any size business.
May save on overall phone costs.

CONS

May have to replace your phone hardware.
Adequate internet bandwidth needed.
Doesn’t work for complex needs like call centers.
Getting your best price takes some planning.

Regular VoIP Phone System

PROS

Unified communications functionality
Cloud-based, no server to manage.
Use with any device with some configuration.
Easily scale up or down.
Web-based administration.
May have more complex capabilities (like call center)

CONS

Have to leave Teams workspace to use phone.
May have to purchase new hardware.
Multiple vendors for communications services.
Adequate internet bandwidth needed.
Overlap in capabilities that you have in Teams.
May be more expensive depending on phone provider.
May be limits to app integrations.

On-Demand Microsoft Business Voice Webinar

Learn more about Microsoft Business Voice in our on-demand webinar. In this webinar Mike Mellott talks about how Microsoft’s phone services can improve the way your people communicate and bring your company benefits that will support your growth and goals.

Get immediate access to the webinar here.

XPERTECHS is a Microsoft Gold Partner

Here at XPERTECHS, we not only support clients in their use of Microsoft 365 apps, we help them find the best ways to utilize the platform and the rest of the Modern Workplace to improve operations and enable success. If that’s not what you’re getting with your current managed IT service provider, it’s time to up your game.