Newbie: Does *Everyone* need to have 'Microsoft 365 Phone system’ ?

[konman]

Newbie question - ~100 extentions, 3 offices in 3 cities - no user has a direct DID, only 3 'office' telephone numbers.
We are considering integrating 3CX with Teams, but only ~20% of staff would ever need to take advantage of the integration with Teams.
We currently use 3cx (onsite, now moving to cloud) and most staff have Yealink handset and/or softphone on laptop/iPhone.

Scenario: 'Reception ext.100' (who has a "Microsoft 365 Phone system" license) receives an inbound VoIP 3cx telephone call and answers it in Teams.
Q: Can 'Reception ext.100' transfer the call in Teams, to (say) 3CX ext.127. Not a blind transfer, but an 'introduced'/warm transfer.
ext.127 does NOT have a "Microsoft 365 Phone system" license. They would have a Yealink handset on their desk (and/or softphone).

We dont want to almost double the cost of our Micro$oft licenses for everyone.

Can Teams/3cx combo just work like any other softphone, or is there a catch?

 

[NickD_3CX]

Hi!

Actually this is a very good question because there is a "catch".
When a Teams User that is synced with 3CX wants to transfer a call, Blind or Attended, they need to know whether the person they are transferring to is also integrated with Teams or not.

The reason is:

• If the receiver is using Teams, the person transferring needs to transfer using the Teams Name, not the 3CX Extension number
• If the receiver is not using Teams and is not synced, the person transferring can use the 3CX Extension Number.

This is a limitation of Teams where in the first case, the call will bounce back and forth in a way that Teams "doesn't like".

For this reason, I would recommend the Reception use the 3CX Desktop App, remove the "Phone System" license from them, and if they need Teams, they can use them in parallel, each one for it's own purpose.

At this point I want to remind that the Teams integration on our side is not intended to replace the 3CX Apps, but provide users that have Teams but are "low call users" the ability to have 1 app instead of 2.

"Power users" that are frequently on calls like Receptionists, Call Center Agents, etc, are still recommended to go with the 3CX Apps.

 

[konman]

Nick - thanks for the quick response...

So, just to be clear, if 'Reception ext.100' - (that has Teams Phone System) answers an inbound external call with the 3CX Windows Softphone (or a physical phone** with an expansion board), they can transfer the call to a 'Teams Phone' user, using the reciver's 3CX extention number. The Teams (phone system) user can answer the (internal) call from 'Reception' in Teams with 'Reception' introducing the call and then continue with it...

** For the above scenario does it HAVE to be the 3CX Windows Softphone or can it be a physical phone?
Would the following statement be correct .... 'Reception' can use Teams to answer inbound calls and transfer them, as long as when they initiate the transfer,

• They use the Teams Name for a Teams Phone System user
• They use the 3CX extention number for a user that does NOT have 'Teams Phone System'

Also, the 'bounce back and forth behavior' you describe - do you think that will be fixed in the future - either from the 3CX side and/or the Teams side?

 

[NickD_3CX]

So, just to be clear, if 'Reception ext.100' - (that has Teams Phone System) answers an inbound external call with the 3CX Windows Softphone (or a physical phone** with an expansion board), they can transfer the call to a 'Teams Phone' user, using the reciver's 3CX extention number. The Teams (phone system) user can answer the (internal) call from 'Reception' in Teams with 'Reception' introducing the call and then continue with it...

Yes, this is correct, if the Reception DON'T use the Teams Client to answer the call, they should be able to transfer anywhere using the 3CX Extension Number.

** For the above scenario does it HAVE to be the 3CX Windows Softphone or can it be a physical phone?

It can be either 3CX Softclient of IP Phone.

Would the following statement be correct .... 'Reception' can use Teams to answer inbound calls and transfer them, as long as when they initiate the transfer,

• They use the Teams Name for a Teams Phone System user
• They use the 3CX extention number for a user that does NOT have 'Teams Phone System'

This would be correct, though from a practical point of view, this is not very efficient for whoever is at Reception to have to remember this piece of information.

Also, the 'bounce back and forth behavior' you describe - do you think that will be fixed in the future - either from the 3CX side and/or the Teams side?

I wouldn't have high hopes to be honest. This is a kind of limitations on the Teams side. We could overcome it on the 3CX side too, but then we would have to allow 3CX to accept ANY invite message from external sources that resembles a Teams message, and we are not willing to allow that as we would practically be opening the doors for scammers, etc.

 

[konman]

Nick - I really apreciate your detailed answers again. It has given us clarity on how to procede...in that we will save a bucket-load in ongoing (unnecessary) Micro$oft licenses. Dont get me wrong - I think that we would be happy to pay (say) about $4 per user for everone and be done with it .. ... not $10 Australian dollars per user per month.

This would be correct, though from a practical point of view, this is not very efficient for whoever is at Reception to have to remember this piece of information.

No problem - our reception staff are highly skilled admin ninjas....

 

[NickD_3CX]

No problem - our reception staff are highly skilled admin ninjas....

LOL!

Happy I could help out!