Microsoft have been working on cloud telephony for several years – at least 10 by my count – and it’s been available through Office 365 E5 for a few years now. E5 is very much an enterprise level offering so it’s great to see that Microsoft have now introduced Business Voice for organisations of 300 seats and below.
It requires an underlying package that contains Microsoft Teams and includes a phone system, audio conferencing, and calling plan all bundled together and is available via CSP in the UK & Canada immediately.
How to buy
It is available as an add-on to:
- Office 365 Business Essentials
- Office 365 Business Premium
- Office 365 A1/A3
- Office 365 E1/E3
- Microsoft 365 Business
- Microsoft 365 A3/E3
Includes 1,200 minutes per user (in the UK), can host up to 250 people in an audio conference, and costs £12.00 per user per month.
Office 365 / Microsoft 365 already represents a great offering for small to medium businesses, giving them so many of the things they need all in one package. Adding telephony strengthens it even more and surely makes Microsoft 365 the “go-to” for the vast majority of organisations…and a difficult proposition to compete against if you’re Google et al.
Further Reading
Microsoft Announcement – https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Small-and-Medium-Business-Blog/Introducing-Microsoft-365-Business-Voice-in-Canada-amp-the-UK/ba-p/970064
Microsoft Product Page – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/business-voice
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 