The benefits of migrating to Microsoft 365
Enhanced voice features. Microsoft is a full collaboration solution. By making the switch, you’ll add features like voice recording and meeting transcripts to your toolbox.
Easy integration into the wider environment. Teams, as a collaboration hub, integrates effortlessly with other key M365 apps like Outlook for email and calendar management, SharePoint for document storage and collaboration, and OneDrive for personal file storage and sharing. This means you enhance your teams’ collaboration and the way they navigate from one app to another.
Consolidated costs. Instead of paying for separate licenses for email, storage, communication tools, and security solutions, Microsoft 365 bundles them under a single subscription model. So, you’ll get simplified billing and vendor management, while also reducing costs.
Flexibility. You can consider flexibility from two points of view. First, for your employees. With cloud-based access to all Microsoft 365 apps, they can work from anywhere with an internet connection, using any device, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Second, flexibility extends to scalability for your business. This allows you to quickly adjust in periods of growth or downsizing. Over time, this leads to more predictable budgeting and a better return on investment.
- Security and Compliance. Microsoft 365 is designed to meet compliance standards, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO/IEC 27001. Your organization can maintain regulatory compliance more easily and cost-effectively.
The challenges of migrating to Microsoft 365
The perceived gaps in features. Traditional phone systems are often limited to voice calls. So they come with an extensive list of advanced features, such as highly customizable call routing, detailed reporting and analytics, and complex auto-attendant configurations that have become the standard expectation for many businesses. Microsoft 365, while robust, may not always match their depth or specificity out of the box. Especially in areas like detailed call reporting. If your business needs advanced monitoring, reporting, and analysis of telephony systems you might seek out a solution, such as Clobba, to bridge the gap. We’ve previously shared a comparison between the native MS Teams Admin Center vs. Clobba, for companies to understand where they stand.
Long contracts. The long-term nature of contracts in the telecom industry may make it financially difficult to justify a switch before the contract ends when there’s a hefty investment in the existing infrastructure. IT admins will need to present CFOs an airtight cost vs. savings plan long before the renewal date to align with the organization’s desired timeline or goals.
Change management. There’s always a learning curve when switching to a new platform. This shift forces your employees to learn how to navigate new interfaces, features, and new ways of working. With the time and effort required, upskilling can be a turn-off for most. But providing them with qualitative training and ongoing support can turn agents into Teams advocates. For instance, Clobba License Adoption helps you see who and how much is using the new tools and who isn’t. Knowing these details, you can tailor training sessions to your needs or readjust their license type.
- Set up costs. Another challenge of migrating to Microsoft 365 is the setup cost. While with the old PBX system, you had to invest in space, equipment, upgrades and maintenance, with Microsoft Teams they’re all handled by your provider. You’ll have significant cost savings. However, some will have to be re-invested in additional systems or services to complement the native features of Teams, such as Clobba.
Conclusions
As we engage with customers and learn more about their journey from different platforms to Teams, the same issue always connects them. Their business, much like yours, needs a more in-depth level of reporting and analytics around auto attendants, call queues and agent performance. Using native reporting and analytics resources like the Teams Admin Console or Power BI can be difficult and not many understand how to properly extract and analyze data. So, they leverage Clobba to fill in the gaps and create that “lite” contact centre experience.
