Unlock the Power of Teams in a modern workplace

Workplace collaboration is being reshaped by the evolving modern workplace, fuelled by technological advancements and the rise of soft interfaces and unified communications (UC) tools like Microsoft Teams. Its adoption is at an all-time high and still rising, quickly becoming the default communication platform for businesses with over 320 million monthly active users worldwide.  

Yet while the move to digital collaboration has been revolutionary, Microsoft Teams lacks basic critical service many businesses need – integrated enterprise-grade voice and customer service solutions. With the global Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market set to grow to over 131 million users by the end of 2028 at over 10.3% growth per year, MSPs have an opportunity to meet this demand by adding on voice solutions and gain entry into a new market by offering solutions that integrate with Teams.  

Balancing voice with modern tools  

Voice communication is an irreplaceable mode of connection that just simply can’t be replaced by chat alone. Now, businesses can leverage integrations to unify their existing voice services within Microsoft Teams, creating a seamless hub for collaboration, chat and calling.

The result is that employees would no longer have to juggle between different tools to communicate effectively. They can now consolidate all forms of communication to enhance both internal collaboration and client interactions. 

The lack of a voice integration in Microsoft Teams represents a huge new opportunity for resellers and MSPs. According to our recent research into MSP opportunities in the UK, no respondents from organisations of under ten employees had a UC solution in place. Yet despite this, nearly half (48%) of MSPs have not decided to introduce a communications solution or are still undecided about it.  

This is a missed revenue stream that MSPs can tap into as having an UCaaS solution brings on many benefits and makes for a much more compelling value proposition. MSPs benefit from higher recurring revenue because MSPs can move beyond the one-off Microsoft license sales. MSPs also benefit from increased customer retention because the more critical services MSPs provide the sticker they become to customers. Customers, in turn, experience reduced vendor fragmentation and a more streamlined communication experience.  

Building for the future 

The future of customer engagement with Microsoft Teams is heading toward a more integrated, AI-driven experience that enhances personalisation and efficiency. Improving customer experience and enhancing hybrid work collaboration top the list of reasons for why customers are adopting new communications solutions. Therefore, as AI tools within Teams continue to evolve, we can expect businesses will want more advanced features for tracking customer engagement, sentiment, automating routine interactions, and providing instant insights to improve service quality.  

Integrations with CRM and productivity tools are likely to deepen too, making it easier for businesses to access and leverage customer data in real-time during interactions, creating a seamless customer experience. Virtual meetings will also drive demand for more immersive, interactive communication formats, where features like real-time transcription, language translation, and enriched collaboration spaces become standard.  

As Teams becomes a full-service customer engagement platform, MSPs should stay alert to the need to offer new integrations for AI capabilities, in order to remain competitive and responsive to customer needs. 

The way forward 

Although this trend presents significant opportunities for MSPs, introducing new solutions can come with its own challenges that can get in the way of financial, competitive, and operational benefits. Our research shows that the lack of in-house expertise, sales knowledge and concerns about cost were some of the most pressing challenges MSPs have in taking unified communication solutions to market. 

The variety of concerns we’ve heard voiced by MSPs across the sector clearly indicates which vendors are best positioned to give support. For MSPs aiming to meet growing customer demand for voice solutions, selecting a vendor that meets both current and future needs will help them fully integrate solutions without complex infrastructure investments. Therefore, vendors with well-structured and comprehensive Partner Programmes are best placed to address the concerns that vendors have and to meet future customer demand. 

Embracing the evolving landscape 

Microsoft Teams has been a fundamental shift in how businesses communicate and collaborate. However, critical voice and contact centre solutions have been left behind to some extent in the digital collaboration movement, leaving smaller businesses at a distinct disadvantage. 

MSPs can help place that final piece in business collaboration and introduce a new generation of voice integrations to Teams that are more accessible to businesses to all sizes and are designed to scale seamlessly as Teams heads towards more AI-driven experiences. The MSPs who seize the opportunity will unlock a new market, solidify their customer relationships and establish themselves as key players in the future of workplace communication.