Your team already lives in Teams. Put the phones there too.
If your team spends the day in Microsoft Teams for chat and meetings, running a separate phone system on top is one more app to open, one more number to remember, one more login to keep track of. Teams Phone turns the window that’s already open on every screen into a proper business phone line – same app, same number, nothing extra to manage.
It isn’t a different phone system to the one described on our phone systems page – it’s the same underlying platform, answered somewhere your team already spends the day.
What Teams Phone gives you
Teams Phone adds real calling to Teams – dialling in, dialling out, hold, transfer, hunt groups – the same routing and call handling covered on our phone systems page, just answered from the Teams window instead of a separate softphone app or desk handset.
Anyone who already lives in Teams for chat and meetings picks up calls in exactly the same place, on a laptop, a mobile, or a desk phone that’s simply another Teams device. Nothing new to install, nothing new to learn – the interface is the one already open on every screen in the building.
Two ways to buy it
There are two ways to put your phone number in Teams, and the difference isn’t the phone system on your screen – it’s who supplies the calls, and where the numbers live behind it.
Both routes start the same way: we supply your Teams Phone licences, as a Microsoft Partner, laid over your existing Microsoft 365 subscription. That part doesn’t change whichever way you go.
From there the two routes split. With Microsoft calling plans, Microsoft supplies the calls and holds the numbers – if you ever want to redirect a number somewhere else, that’s a request into Microsoft. With Operator Connect, we supply the calls and host the numbers ourselves, which means moving a number, or pointing it somewhere new, is a conversation with us rather than a ticket into a much larger company.
| Microsoft calling plans | Operator Connect (us) | |
|---|---|---|
| Teams Phone licences | Supplied by us, as a Microsoft Partner | Supplied by us, as a Microsoft Partner |
| Who supplies the calls | Microsoft | Rejuvenate IT |
| Where the numbers live | With Microsoft | With us |
| Redirecting a number elsewhere | Raise it with Microsoft | We do it – to our own hosted voice platform, or an external service |
| Room for AI answering or agents | Limited | The number can point wherever it needs to |
Why we think the numbers should live with us
This is the part of the decision that matters most, so it comes before anything about price.
A phone number is only as useful as what you can do with it. If Microsoft holds your numbers, moving one – to a different system, a different provider, a new use you hadn’t planned for – means raising it with Microsoft and waiting on their process. That’s not a criticism of Microsoft; it’s simply a large organisation running a support queue built for millions of customers, not a conversation with someone who knows your business.
With Operator Connect, we host the numbers ourselves. That means a number you own is a number you can actually redirect – to our own hosted voice platform, the same one behind our standard phone systems, or out to an external service if that’s what a particular number needs to do. You’re not locked into Teams as the only place a call can land; Teams is where it lands today, with room to point it elsewhere the day that changes.
If a number does need to move quickly – redirected after an incident, or changed ahead of a deadline – you’re talking to us directly rather than working through someone else’s support queue, and our average response time is 15 minutes.
Cost
Cost is a real factor, and it’s worth being straightforward about it: which route costs less depends on your call volumes, your existing Microsoft agreement, and what you’re already paying for calls today – so we won’t put a figure on it without seeing your bills first.
What we can say plainly is that Operator Connect puts the licence, the calls and the numbers under one relationship with us, rather than splitting the bill between us and Microsoft – which for most businesses means one invoice to reconcile instead of two, and one place to call when something needs changing. Whether that works out as less spend than Microsoft calling plans depends on the detail, and we’ll work through that with you rather than assume it either way.
Room to try things later
Because a number with us can point anywhere, it’s also ready for wherever call handling goes next. If you ever want to try an AI agent answering routine queries, or routing calls based on what a caller’s actually asking for, the number doesn’t need re-plumbing to get there – it can already point at whatever’s built to answer it. That’s not something we’re selling today, and we won’t pretend AI answering is a mature, off-the-shelf feature yet; it’s simply one more reason getting the plumbing right now matters later.
When a standard hosted system is the better buy
Teams Phone isn’t the right fit for every business, and it’s worth saying so plainly.
If your team isn’t really living in Teams day to day – if chat and meetings happen somewhere else, or a chunk of the business barely opens it – putting the phone system inside an app people don’t use often just adds friction. A standard hosted phone system, answered through a dedicated softphone app or a desk handset, is simpler to roll out and doesn’t depend on everyone being comfortable in Teams.
It’s also worth a harder look if you run a busier contact-centre-style setup – several people answering the same queue, detailed call reporting, that kind of thing – where the wider feature set of a standard hosted system may serve you better than what sits inside Teams today. Our phone systems page covers that standard route in full, including numbers, routing and handsets, and it runs on the same underlying platform – so moving to Teams Phone later, if that changes, isn’t a rebuild from scratch.
Licensing gotchas
Teams Phone sits on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription, not instead of it – so before switching, it’s worth knowing what has to be added.
Every person taking calls needs a calling-capable add-on layered onto whatever Microsoft 365 licence they already hold; exactly which add-on fits depends on what that licence already includes, so we check this as part of onboarding rather than quote a generic figure that might not match your setup. If you’re not sure what your business currently holds, our Microsoft 365 page is a good place to start.
Emergency calling is another one worth flagging early: each number needs a registered physical address behind it so a 999 call can be located properly, and that’s something we set up as part of the switch rather than a step a business has to chase separately.
Exact minute bundles, and how quickly a number can be added once you’re up and running, vary by agreement and by what’s already on your account – so we’ll confirm real figures once we know what’s moving, rather than quote a generic one here that might not hold up.
Common questions
Do we need to buy new Microsoft 365 licences, or just add to what we've got?
Just add to what you’ve got, in almost every case. Teams Phone needs a calling-capable licence add-on layered on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription, not a fresh subscription altogether. We check what you’re already licensed for and add exactly what’s missing.
Can some people be on Teams Phone and others on a standard handset?
Yes. Plenty of businesses run both side by side – people who live in Teams take calls there, people who don’t keep a standard handset or softphone on the same underlying platform. Numbers and routing work the same either way.
What's the actual difference between Microsoft calling plans and Operator Connect?
Both give you Teams Phone licences from us, as a Microsoft Partner – that part is identical. The difference is who supplies the calls and where the numbers live: Microsoft for calling plans, us for Operator Connect. That’s what decides how easily a number can be redirected later.
Do we lose the routing and hunt groups described on the phone systems page?
No – Teams Phone runs on the same underlying setup, so routing, hunt groups and out-of-hours handling work exactly as described on our phone systems page. The only difference is that calls surface in Teams instead of a separate app or handset.
Can we move from Microsoft calling plans to Operator Connect later, or do we have to decide now?
You don’t have to get it right immediately. Moving between the two is a change to how calls and numbers are supplied – it isn’t a rebuild, and it doesn’t mean starting again with new licences or new hardware.
Get Teams Phone sorted
If your team already lives in Teams, we’ll look at what you’re running now and talk you through which route – Microsoft calling plans or Operator Connect – actually fits, honestly, without steering you towards whichever pays us more.
Call us on 01202 237 273 and we’ll talk it through, or book a free connectivity assessment and we’ll come back with a straight recommendation.
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