Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions’ Telecom team within Information Technology Services is rolling out Microsoft Teams Phone, which will replace Communicator 7 as the University of Toronto’s VoIP solution for making and receiving phone calls.
Migration to Teams Phone will happen over the next 18 months, beginning with Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions staff in November 2022, followed by all units within ITS and other divisions and departments at the St. George and Mississauga campuses in a phased rollout.
“Being able to use MS Teams for making and receiving telephone calls will greatly simplify the user experience, reduce support calls and extend the functionality of an existing software application that many staff and faculty are now very familiar with,” says Patrick Hopewell, Director, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions.
Teams Phone was piloted from June to December 2021 with successful results. In addition to eliminating the need to use a separate tool for VoIP, the move to Teams Phone will create cost savings.
“The monthly cost of a VoIP line will be reduced and will result in roughly $500,000 in savings annually for the University,” Patrick says.
While all Teams users can currently place calls to other Teams users, the Teams Phone feature will integrate individual VoIP lines into Teams and enable a dial pad feature, along with other popular VoIP features such as call forwarding, voicemail and much more.
Visit the Teams Phone resources page and review the Teams Phone migration FAQs for more information.
Published Nov. 8, 2022.
