Last Updated on December 5, 2022 by GrahamWalsh
Here is a guest post by Paul Rowe of Spectralink as he is better placed about talking about DECT devices native to Microsoft Teams. Paul’s bio is below.
In July 2022, Microsoft announced that Teams Phone, its UCaaS/cloud calling product, has reached 80 million users with 12 million PSTN-specific users. This is nearly double the number reported at the same time the previous year.
The growth and adoption of Teams Phone is no doubt accelerated by the pandemic. As more desk workers remain at home or adopt hybrid ways of working, digital transformation plans have sped up—especially in enterprises.
The option to do nothing and power on as before seems an archaic view that few businesses can afford to employ.
Teams Phone a market leader
During the FY Q4 2022 earnings call, Microsoft declared “Teams Phone is the market leader in cloud calling across VoIP and PSTN.”
This is a fantastic statement to be able to make and a wonderful achievement is a short space of time. Other VoIP providers like RingCentral, Cisco, and 8×8 have been operating in this market for a significant amount of time.
According to GM Insights, the VoIP market size was over $30 billion in 2020 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 15% from 2021 to 2027.
But a significant part of this market is made up of DECT phones, common areas licenses, and frontline workers—an area which Microsoft is yet to penetrate fully.
In fact, Alaa Saayed, ICT Industry Director at Frost and Sullivan, suggests the deskless worker market size includes over 2.1 billion users itself.
So, if Teams Phone is already a market leader, imagine the figures once warehouse, healthcare, and leisure workers migrate to Teams Phone too.
Given the 200 million active monthly users across the rest of the market, surely this is a given?
And with news coming out of Microsoft about its Teams DECT support, this looks to be very soon.
Microsoft Teams DECT support
Around the same time as the FY Q4 2022 earnings call, Microsoft confirmed support for DECT devices to register via its native SIP gateway.
This allows customers retaining old PBXs just for DECT can now finally go all in on Teams without the need for an SBC.
Announced at Enterprise Connect in March 2022, options from vendors like Spectralink, Ascom, Poly, Yealink, and Gigaset were expected to roll out by the end of the year.
Spectralink was first to market with its Microsoft Teams Phone DECT offering enabling deskless workers in logistics, factory, and nursing home settings.
When it’s impossible to remain near a desk-based handset or softphone, portable devices are the best option.
There has long been an argument for adoption of the Teams mobile app in these scenarios. But, when forklifts are in operation or staff are operating at height, the need for durable, cleanable phones becomes obvious.
Spectralink offers the following DECT hardware as part of its Microsoft Teams integration:
DECT handsets:
- DECT 72 series
- DECT 75 series
- DECT 76 series
- DECT 77 series
Base station:
- IP-DECT base station
Server:
- IP-DECT 200
- IP-DECT 400
- IP-DECT 6500
- VIP DECT Server One
Existing Spectalink customers can now use these handsets as part of their Teams deployment. There’s no need to continue clinging to PBX deployments and third-party gateways for mobility.
Businesses craving the addition of deskless workers to their Teams environment must see this as the opportunity to complete the final steps of their Teams Phone migration.
There is the added draw for IT procurement teams that DECT phones don’t need some features seen in desk workers. This means you often only need common area phone licenses rather than a full user license.
This cost element coupled with the empowering of deskless workers will be key contributing factors into the growth of Teams Phone DECT adoption over the next year.
Furthermore, integrations for messaging, alerts, and alarm systems come as standard. So you keep enterprise-grade voice quality, the rigidity of a DECT phone, and everything else you rely on DECT phones for.
Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to deskless and frontline workers
The DECT support for Teams Phone follows many initiatives from Microsoft as it targets frontline workers.
From Teams Walkie Talkie apps to shift management within Teams, the awareness of a market crying out not to be left behind is building rapidly.
DECT support, implementation, and adoption has never been optional for businesses operating in conditions like warehouses and care homes.
Moving that setup to Teams has been optional and seen as a drawback to both digital transformation and productivity.
Rick Yvanovich once wrote in a blog post for TRG International that “Despite being the largest group in the workforce, 2.7 billion in 2018, “deskless workers” seem to be overlooked by the sweeping digital transformation at their workplaces.”
While that may have been true in 2018, 2022 and the future looks another scenario entirely.
Now, with Microsoft’s continued innovation in the frontline worker environment and support for DECT integration with its native SIP gateway, everyone can benefit from the Microsoft Teams ecosystem without compromising on quality or user experience.
Paul Rowe’s Bio
30 years’ experience working in the enterprise telecoms industry. A background in product management, product marketing and go-to-market consultancy roles at leading international telecoms vendors: Nortel, Avaya, BroadSoft and Cisco. Paul helped launch the first DECT cordless products at Nortel before taking international roles to help launch and scale IP-PBX, unified communications, contact centre and cloud/hosted communications offers through service providers. Now at Spectralink, he’s responsible for product management of Spectralink DECT portfolio
Also published on Medium.