Evaluating Direct Routing for

Microsoft Teams telephony

Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams may be the best path to the PSTN
for most companies. But organizations should weigh their specific
needs when choosing a Direct Routing partner.

Published: 28 Jan 2021

Microsoft Teams has come a long way since it was first introduced as the
successor to Skype for Business. The pandemic only accelerated the
adoption of Teams, as many organizations relied on cloud-based
collaboration software to maintain workflows and business continuity as
employees worked from home.

Organizations that have successfully used Microsoft Teams over the last

year for collaboration should consider using Teams as their phone system,
said Kevin Kieller, co-founder of Microsoft consulting firm EnableUC. While
Teams users can make peer-to-peer calls within the platform over the
internet, Teams is also capable of being an enterprise PBX for many
organizations, he said.

Voice is often the first communication channel used when someone needs
to get in touch with a company or solve a problem, said Alex Gruber, vice
president of product management at Vonage.

"Getting voice embedded into Teams is really bringing the outside world to
the inside world," he said.

Kieller, Gruber and other industry insiders spoke at an Enterprise Connect

virtual summit on Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams and why Teams
customers should consider using the platform as a phone system.
Connecting Teams to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) offers
organizations a few benefits, Kieller said, including the following:

 Consolidation and simplification. Organizations can consolidate their

phone system to a single platform to make both PSTN and internet-
based calls and transition off a legacy PBX.

 Resiliency. With many employees still working from home, PSTN

connectivity through Teams can address poor internet connections by
enabling users to make and receive Teams calls on their mobile device.

 Direct inward dialing (DID). With the mobile app, employees can make
calls and have their corporate DID number display on caller ID rather
than their personal mobile number.

Organizations with on-premises systems are accustomed to having

enterprise-grade functionality, which is not always available with cloud-
based telephony, said Shawn Cooke, senior product specialist at Masergy
Communications.

president of product management, Vonage

"Moving to the cloud, there ought to be some comparable exchange, not

just the promise of cloud telephony," he said.

Teams has lagged in offering feature parity to on-premises Skype for

Business. But, now that Teams offers PSTN connectivity, it can fill some of
the gaps between cloud-based and on-premises telephony. Microsoft offers
two paths to PSTN connectivity, and the question for organizations is which
path is the best fit for their business. For many, the answer will be Direct
Routing, Kieller said.

Direct Routing vs. Calling Plans

Microsoft offers Calling Plans and Direct Routing to connect to the PSTN.
With Calling Plans, Microsoft is the sole carrier for the Teams phone
system. Calling Plans are easy to deploy and a nice way to pilot Teams
voice, but they do have limitations, Kieller said.
While an international plan is available, it is not available in all countries.
This presents a challenge for global and multi-tenant organizations. Calling
Plans also don't support integrations with existing equipment and use a
pay-per-user price model, which can be costly for larger organizations, he
said.

The second approach to a Microsoft Teams phone system is Direct

Routing. Approximately 80% of medium and large organizations use this
approach, Kieller said. Direct Routing is available worldwide and enables
organizations to integrate Teams with their existing PBXs and analog
devices, as well as continue existing carrier contracts.

However, configuring Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams is more complex

compared with Calling Plans and may require some Capex spending for
equipment. Direct Routing also requires additional management of existing
on-premises hardware, he said.

Direct Routing requirements and considerations

Direct Routing has some requirements that organizations must meet, Kieller
said. First, organizations must have the appropriate licensing to enable the
phone system. Organizations also need a physical or virtual session border
controller (SBC) that connects through a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
trunk to the PSTN.

Organizations also need to consider their own requirements for using

Teams as a phone system, including reporting, monitoring and
management. For example, organizations should determine the level of
monitoring and reporting they require from a Direct Routing partner. Some
providers may only monitor the quality of PSTN calls, while others may also
include peer-to-peer calls placed over the internet, Kieller said.

Organizations must also decide how much phone system management they
want to dedicate in-house or offload to their provider.

"A number of partners can help you manage Teams voice on an ongoing
basis should you decide that's not a focus for your IT resources," he said.
This will also help organizations decide which type of provider to use, as
some providers will only manage and monitor basic SIP connectivity, while
others will take on more responsibilities, like moves, adds and changes.

Choosing a Direct Routing partner

While Microsoft has improved the Teams phone system, some
organizations may find feature gaps for their particular voice needs, such as
attendant consoles and contact center functionality. Here is where
organizations can find value in working with a third-party provider.

"Partners can both help you set up Teams voice and help you fill any gaps
in functionality for your organization that you've identified," Kieller said.

Direct Routing partners come in three different flavors, said David Lee, vice
president of platform products at RingCentral.

First are basic access providers, which typically provide only SIP
connectivity between Teams and the PSTN. The organization is responsible
for managing an SBC. These types of providers don't offer PBX capabilities,
he said.

Second are Direct Routing-as-a-service providers, which manage SBC or

virtual session border controller ( and SIP connectivity. They also offer
basic PBX capabilities, such as call minutes and phone numbers, Lee said.

Third are enhanced Microsoft Teams telephony services in which the third-
party provider includes SBC and SIP connectivity, advanced support and
advanced PBX capabilities, such as toll-free dialing, extension setup and
voicemail greetings, he said.

Organizations evaluating Direct Routing partners need to determine the

level of support and functionality they require to choose the right provider
for their telephony needs.