In this article, we’ll discuss:
- How Microsoft Teams has transitioned into a communications hub.
- Why organisations are still operating with a multiple supplier model.
- The opportunity for partners to reduce supplier fragmentation.
The number of enterprises connecting their telephony to Microsoft Teams is continuing to rise. The figure has risen from 31% to 41% year-on-year, with 61% now integrating their phone systems with Teams. There’s no denying that the basic function of Microsoft Teams is starting to change.
Its dominance in the cloud communications market is drastically changing how the market operates too. Having now surpassed 320 million monthly active users, there’s a massive opportunity for partners to gain a foothold. Services like Operator Connect and further value-added services are crucial in allowing partners to position voice-enabled Teams as a business necessity.
A core communications hub
What started as a direct competitor to Slack in 2017 has, by 2025, evolved into a powerhouse in business communications. Microsoft Teams is now a big player in this space, having transitioned from a collaboration tool into a core hub for communications.
Consolidating numerous features, including live chat, voice calling, and file sharing, has allowed Teams to become more widely adopted. By integrating telephony with the Teams platform, organisations experience benefits such as:
- Increased flexibility by allowing users to make and take calls from any location.
- Lower costs, as traditional hardware setups are no longer needed, simultaneously eliminating ongoing maintenance expenses.
- AI capabilities, including real-time calls summaries and transcriptions, that captures key insights and actions from each interaction.
- A simplified, unified platform that stops users from jumping between multiple applications.
This rising trend of organisations integrating telephony with Teams has been influenced by numerous factors. 27% of workers in the UK, for example, operate under a hybrid working model, meaning these remote workers need to stay productive wherever they are. By being cloud-based, a voice-enabled Teams solution is crucial when supporting this working pattern.
The supplier dilemma
Although unified platforms are becoming the norm, there’s still a tendency for organisations to work with multiple suppliers. From Cavell’s research, 77% of companies prefer to operate a multi-supplier model rather than work with a single supplier.
Each organisation will have their own reasons on how many suppliers they work with. A driver behind a multi-supplier strategy is protection against supply chain disruption. These organisations aren’t over-dependent on just one supplier, but working with only a small number avoids the potential complications of managing multiple vendor relationships.
However, not all suppliers are the same. Inconsistencies may arise without proper quality checks and performance reviews in place. These suppliers will fall behind on their agreed commitments, leading to a disrupted supply chain and disgruntled end users.
It’s easy to simply recommend ‘work with one reliable supplier.’ If only one supplier is in the mix, then more effort and time can be spent on nurturing this one relationship. Integration becomes easier with a streamlined supplier model, which comes with lower costs and an easier way to track performance.
Working with a single supplier offers more convenience, but if their own operations are disrupted, your own supply chain will be affected. Sticking with one supplier builds dependence, putting organisations at risk of missing out on future innovations if suppliers don’t invest in their own offerings.
If organisation want to unify their communications platforms, while sticking with one supplier, the supplier needs to be reliable and come with plenty of added value.
The Gamma difference
With over 20 years’ experience working with cloud-based solutions, Gamma understands the challenges that come with unified communications. Right now, there are organisation working with multiple suppliers due to departments having their own wants and needs. A fragmented supplier model complicates arrangements and can open the door to inconsistent product quality and burdensome administrative efforts.
Gamma’s Operator Connect proposition brings seamless PSTN calling into a Teams environment. Our experts can guide partners on how to migrate to a fully integrated Teams platform, which comes with Carrier-grade calling capabilities. A fully managed support service wrap helps partners gain easy to the growing market opportunity around voice-enabled Teams.
On top of that is Gamma Edge, a partner growth framework built to help partners achieve long-term success. The Boost pillar offers commercial accelerators that supports margin growth with bundled UCaaS and other connectivity solutions. All-inclusive minutes reduces the barrier to entry and simplifies billing into a more predictable per-user, per-month model.
Webex for Gamma can also seamlessly coexist alongside Microsoft Teams. This solution can be integrated into existing systems, with this approach creating an environment that keeps teams focused and productive. Bringing another solution into the mix doesn’t have to bring unwanted, unnecessary complexity.
Getting more out of voice
Microsoft Teams has now transformed into a central communications hub that now does more than support collaboration. Bringing different functions together changes how a business operates. In a world where hybrid working continues to thrive, companies must do all they can to support the idea of working from anywhere.
For any organisation still relying on multiple suppliers, they can choose to take their UCaaS capabilities from one trusted, reliable provider. The opportunity is there for partners to go to these businesses with all their communication needs bundled into a simplified platform.
Better communication doesn’t have to be so complicated.