The momentum that the work from anywhere trend got from the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing with the integration of subscribers’ Verizon Wireless business numbers with Microsoft Teams.
The carrier says that the service, which will be available later this year, will provide enterprise voice quality and policy management to Microsoft Team mobile calls. Mobile users will be able to place calls through the Microsoft Teams desktop application, an integrated IP phone or the dialer on the mobile device.
The deeper integration of mobility into Teams has three potential impacts, the company says: It enables easy and quick application of enterprise policies, reduces costs of parallel management of mobile and desktop systems and provides a path to moving all activity to mobile handsets.
“We continue to see global demand for unified calling platforms to keep distributed workforces connected,” Verizon Business Chief Revenue Officer Sampath Sowmyanarayan said in a press release. “Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams answers that customer demand and will make an immediate impact on the collaboration industry. Verizon is helping large enterprise customers adapt and succeed in today’s hybrid work environment by delivering a best-in-class suite of professional services spanning voice, security, and Network as a Service solutions to power the mobile workforce.”
The key is that the integration enables mobile to move from being a parallel communications channel to a core element able to take advantage of advances made elsewhere in the network.
“This collaboration with Verizon allows us to combine the power of cloud, cellular and edge to deliver tightly integrated mobile calling and business collaboration workflows that are reliable, secure, device & network agnostic all while being cost-efficient and simple for the customers to manage a single calling offering,” said Martin Lund, CVP of Azure for Operators, in the press release.
“The solution leverages the power of Azure to accelerate the migration of critical workflows to the cloud and benefits from Microsoft’s expertise in providing managed services that enable operators to quickly certify with the Teams Operator Connect program.”
This is not Verizon Business’s first move to integrate the networks. Last September, it introduced the One Talk T67LTE desk phone. It features embedded 4G/LTE cellular for use on the One Talk mobile-first offering.
