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Challenges

Moving your phones to Microsoft Teams

Your staff already chat, meet and share files in Teams. Calls can sit there too, on the numbers your customers already dial, without taking a handset from anyone who still needs one.

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The challenge

Your team works in Microsoft Teams all day, but calls still go through a separate phone system and a desk phone, so people switch between tools. You want calls in Teams, but your customers know your numbers, some people still need a handset, and calls to your team have to keep reaching the right person.

If it is left

The move is usually bought as a licence and treated as a software setting. Then the numbers are still on the old lines when the switch-off date arrives, reception has lost its handset, the call queue nobody designed sends the sales line to voicemail, and the people who moved themselves to Teams give out mobile numbers to customers because the main number never rings for them. Teams Phone is a phone system move, and a phone system move needs an audit, call flows, porting and handsets.

What good looks like

Every number audited and ported into Teams on an agreed date, auto-attendants and call queues designed with the people who answer the phone, Direct Routing connecting Teams to the phone network through our platform, Teams Connect keeping the warehouse on its handsets while the office moves, Teams-certified phones for reception and the workshop, and one team supporting calling and the rest of your Microsoft 365.

What to do first

Before you call anyone

  • Check what your Microsoft 365 plan includes

    Teams Phone needs a Teams Phone Standard licence per user, or a plan that includes it; some enterprise plans do and most business plans do not. Your licence list tells you how many you are buying.

  • List the numbers and where they go

    Every number customers dial and who answers it today, including the direct dials, the fax and the number on the van. Only what is on the list gets ported.

  • Decide who still needs a handset

    Reception, the warehouse, the workshop and the boardroom usually do. Everyone else can use the Teams app on a laptop or mobile. The answer sets the handset order.

  • Look at the internet connection

    Calls in Teams run over your internet connection. If the line struggles on a Monday morning already, that has to be fixed first, and a 4G or 5G backup keeps the phones ringing if it fails.

  • Find the lines that are not phones

    The alarm, the lift and the card terminal cannot move to Teams. They need their own digital replacement, especially with the switch-off completing in January 2027.

To see what your connection gives you now, run the speed test: download, upload, latency and jitter in under a minute, with no name or email needed. To see what still runs on the old phone network, take the PSTN switch-off check: ten questions, and a list of what has to move before the switch-off.

What we would do first

  1. Audit your lines and numbers

    The lines and numbers you have today and where each one goes, so every number is accounted for before anything moves.

  2. Connect Teams to your calls

    Teams calling through Direct Routing, and Teams Connect so Teams users and Odyssey phone system extensions work together.

  3. Move your numbers and call flows

    Teams calling licences configured, existing numbers ported into Teams, and auto-attendants and call queues set up in Teams.

  4. Devices and support

    Calls on computers, mobiles and Teams-certified desk phones and headsets if needed, supported by our team alongside your Microsoft 365.

How we approach it

  1. Audit and licence

    Every line and number listed with where it goes and who supplies it, the Teams Phone Standard licences each user needs assigned alongside your Microsoft 365, and the people who keep a handset or an Odyssey extension agreed.

  2. Design the call flows

    Auto-attendants, call queues, opening-hours rules and voicemail designed in Teams with the people who answer the phone, so the sales line rings a team in the right order rather than one person's laptop.

  3. Connect

    Direct Routing connects Teams to the phone network through our telephony platform, so your numbers ring in Teams and calls go out showing the business number. Teams Connect lets Teams users and Odyssey phone system extensions call each other where part of the business stays on handsets.

  4. Port and go live

    Handsets and the Teams app set up and tested while your current lines still work, then the numbers ported on an agreed date and routed to the queues and attendants, so customers notice nothing.

  5. Support alongside your Microsoft 365

    The same service desk that manages your tenant handles calling questions, new starters and call-flow changes, answered within three rings.

The services that apply

How you would buy it

Every hour we work falls under one of four engagement models. These are the ones that fit this situation; How we work compares all four.

  • 02

    Fixed price

    A defined piece of work or project

    The migration is a defined project: the audit, the call-flow design, the porting and any handset installation are surveyed and priced as a fixed sum before we start, and any overrun is ours. Calling is then a monthly charge per user.

  • 03

    Retainer

    The way most of our clients work with us

    After the move, new users, queues and opening-hours changes are pre-authorised within your retained hours and done by the service desk there and then.

Who you would work with

  • A project manager

    Owns the dates, the licences and the porting orders, and the briefing for each team on the day.

  • Our telephony and Microsoft 365 engineers

    Odyssey employees who design the call flows, connect Direct Routing, set up the handsets and port the numbers.

  • The service desk

    Supports calling and the rest of your Microsoft 365 afterwards, answered within three rings.

Questions people ask

Can we keep our phone numbers in Teams?

Yes. Your numbers are ported into Teams through Direct Routing on an agreed date, so customers keep dialling the same numbers, and we audit every line first so none is missed.

What licences do we need?

Each user who makes or takes calls needs a Teams Phone Standard licence, or a Microsoft 365 plan that includes Teams Phone, on top of a plan that includes Teams. We check what you already hold before anything is bought.

What is Direct Routing, and why not Microsoft's own calling plan?

Teams Phone gives users the calling feature; something has to connect it to the phone network. Direct Routing connects Teams to our telephony platform, which keeps your numbers and support with a local engineer. Microsoft's calling plans are simpler to buy and give you no one local to call.

Do we still need desk phones?

Only where someone needs one. Calls work on computers and mobiles, and Teams-certified desk phones and headsets are available for reception, the workshop or anyone who prefers a handset.

Can Teams users call colleagues who are still on extensions?

Yes, if those extensions are on the Odyssey phone system. Teams Connect lets Teams users and Odyssey phone system extensions call each other, so you need not move the whole business at once.

What happens to our contact centre?

We work with Mitel MiContact Center and with contact centres in Microsoft Teams, with Microsoft Dynamics integration. Tell us what you use and we will confirm which fits the move.

How do calls reach the right person in Teams?

Auto-attendants and call queues are designed with the people who answer the phone before anything moves, with opening-hours rules and voicemail, so each call is routed to a team in the right order.

Does this deal with the PSTN switch-off?

Numbers moved into Teams no longer depend on the ISDN or analogue lines that are retired in January 2027. The alarm, lift and card-terminal lines cannot move to Teams and need their own digital replacement, which the audit picks up.

Talk to a human about moving your phones to Teams

Call and we answer within three rings. Or tell us what you need and we will call you back at any time.

01642 661888

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