Microsoft Teams has opened significant opportunities for communications providers, who can take comfort in the fact that they have a major advantage over general IT providers; they already know what it takes to deliver high quality telephony services and they know the art of the possible.
Here are six key areas to consider when looking at adding Microsoft Teams to a communications product portfolio:
1. Ease of transition and deployment
Businesses that are transitioning to Microsoft Teams telephony need a solution that is as disruption-free as possible for both themselves and their customers. Today, virtually all businesses will be replacing existing telephony systems rather than starting anew, which means the transition process must also minimise operational downtime and ensure continuity of service.
In order to provide a service that mirrors or enhances the existing functionalities that a business relies on, comms providers should take a consultative approach. For instance, ensuring that essential features like call recording, analytics, and collaboration tools are not only available but similar to what they used before and also improved upon, makes the transition more appealing and less daunting. The more the solution offered is consistent with Microsoft applications and intuitive to use, the more the learning curve is reduced for both the service provider’s sales teams and the end users.
2. Leveraging call analytics and recording across multiple platforms
A key advantage for the channel is that robust call analytics and recording capabilities that customers are used to on Cisco and Mitel systems now exist in the Microsoft ecosystem. These tools provide valuable insights into customer interactions and can significantly enhance the customer experience management process by improving customer satisfaction, driving operational efficiencies and reducing costs.
Call analytics, collaboration analytics, call recording and AI-powered analysis of conversations on Microsoft Teams can reveal patterns in customer behaviour, helping businesses to identify areas for improvement. Businesses can pinpoint factors leading to negative customer experiences, such as long wait times or repeated interactions before issues are resolved.
3. Future-proofed solutions
Providers must offer solutions that are easy to deploy, scale, and adapt to changing needs. This includes the ability to quickly add new features or scale up services to accommodate growth or new business requirements.
One key advantage of Microsoft Teams is its modular nature, which allows for a flexible and scalable approach to communication services. Providers should highlight the ease with which new functionalities and applications can be integrated into existing systems, emphasising the simplicity of the licensing structure and the ease of provisioning. This approach not only makes it easy for resellers to manage their offerings but also provides a smooth and, importantly, future-proofed experience for end users.
4. Strategic upselling and cross-selling
A key consideration when selecting products to bundle into a service offering is the ability to cross-sell and upsell customers once on board. This helps partners to drive revenues and increase ‘stickiness’ to strengthen relationships and loyalty. It also provides choice to customers, meeting their needs as their businesses evolve.
Upselling and cross-selling are integral to maximising the value of a portfolio. Incorporating multiple products that are complimentary to each other can add significant value to spotting opportunities within the customer base. For instance, the customer may mention that their analytics solution is revealing frequent negative customer experiences due to long call queues, but they may not be sure how to fix this. The provider can make suggestions such as advanced call routing features or call recording capabilities to help analyse conversations and address these issues.
5. Education
Educating customers on the benefits of all the products in their portfolio is easier when there are commonalities and consistency in user interface.
The more providers understand their whole portfolio, the more they can highlight benefits to customers during the sales cycle. Where third party applications are incorporated in the portfolio, vendors should be asked to provide core USPs to help educate the sales team and account managers. For example, analytics may include specific stats that are considered particularly valuable to the business, such as how many calls are queuing and how many missed calls are left unreturned. The benefit of reviewing both real-time and historical analytics could be highlighted to reveal if there is a negative impact on the business overall or if it is cyclical.
Education and knowledge-share enables providers to become more consultative and drive down the cost of customer acquisition, as they focus on value and help customers to get up and running with ease. Customers in turn realise the value of their purchases, can deploy with information to hand and quickly see the impact on their business.
6. Flexible purchasing options and marketplaces
In the Microsoft ecosystem, flexibility in purchasing is a significant advantage. Offering a variety of purchasing options, from direct sales to marketplace transactions, allows providers of all sizes to choose the model that best suits their needs. This flexibility is particularly important for smaller resellers who may not have the resources to engage directly with large vendors but can still access the services they need through marketplaces.
Marketplaces such as the Microsoft Marketplace facilitate easy access to a wide range of solutions, enabling smaller players to compete on a more level playing field with larger organisations. The recent introduction of multi-party private offers supports the channel model within the marketplace environment, taking care of billing and enabling simple online transactions.
As the communications landscape continues to evolve with the increasing integration of Microsoft Teams, it is essential for channel providers to adopt a strategic approach to portfolio management. By focusing on ease of deployment, carefully selecting a consistent range of value added products to the portfolio, offering future-proofed solutions, and providing diverse purchasing options, providers can not only stay competitive but also drive significant growth in this dynamic market.
Tollring’s analytics offers tangible differentiation within a provider’s Microsoft Teams Direct Routing and Operator Connect offerings, whilst making it easy to implement using the familiar interface of Tollring’s traditional cloud-based analytics platforms.
For further information, visit https://tollring.com/triple-play-for-teams/