Your customers are moving to Teams, and the Teams Phone bundle is coming for your calling revenue. Here are the ways to deliver your service inside Teams, how they compare, and how to choose.
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Microsoft bundles Teams Phone into more Microsoft 365 plans, and customers who already live in Teams start to ask why they pay for a separate phone system. If the provider has no answer inside Teams, the customer can buy calling from Microsoft, or from an Operator Connect carrier, and the provider loses the seat.
Microsoft Teams integration for service providers is how you keep that seat: your numbers, your PBX features and your brand, delivered in the Teams app your customer already uses. The right path depends on what the customer wants to keep, what it will pay Microsoft for, and how much you want to build yourself. How to keep PBX customers when they move to Teams Phone →
These are the paths most providers weigh. Other vendors offer their own variations, so treat this as a map, not a complete list.
Connects your SIP trunks or PBX to Teams Phone through a Microsoft-certified session border controller (SBC). Flexible, but doing it yourself means buying, certifying and running SBCs and configuring every tenant. Direct Routing vs Operator Connect →
Microsoft's program for certified operators, whose numbers customers assign in the Teams Admin Center. It requires technical, security, service and compliance reviews and a partner agreement.
SIP Trunk Connector automates Direct Routing with SBCs included. Operator Connect Express gives you Operator Connect-style provisioning with your own DIDs, without a certification program.
PBX Connector turns the native Teams dial pad into a softphone on your PBX. Each Teams user is a real extension, so numbers and call flows stay on your platform. ACS Call App adds calling with no Teams Phone license.
| Path | How it works | Teams Phone license | Keeps your PBX features | Microsoft certification | Your brand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Calling Plans | Microsoft sells the numbers and calling directly. | Yes | No | Not a provider product | No |
| Operator Connect | The certified operator's numbers, listed in the Teams Admin Center. | Yes | No | Required | Listed as the operator |
| DIY Direct Routing | Your SIP trunks through your own certified SBC. | Yes | No | SBC must be certified; you build and run it | No |
| TeamMate PBX Connector | Your PBX on the native Teams dial pad; each user is a PBX extension. | Yes | Yes | Not required | Branded Teams app |
| TeamMate ACS Call App | Add-on to PBX Connector, built on Azure Communication Services. | No | Yes | Not required | Branded Teams app |
| TeamMate SIP Trunk Connector | Automated Direct Routing on your SIP trunks, SBCs included. | Yes | Numbers, not PBX features | Not required | White-label portal |
| TeamMate Operator Connect Express | Operator Connect-style provisioning with your own DIDs. | Yes | Numbers, not PBX features | Not required | White-label portal |
Licensing reflects Microsoft's requirements for Teams Phone calling. See the full TeamMate comparison.
PBX Connector. Each Teams user registers as a real extension on your PBX, so numbers, extensions, hunt groups, IVRs and call flows stay on your platform and on your bill.
ACS Call App on top of PBX Connector. Calls run on Azure Communication Services, so users don't need a Microsoft Phone System license.
SIP Trunk Connector if you want to manage routing in your own portal, or Operator Connect Express if the customer wants to assign numbers in the Teams Admin Center. Both use your DIDs.
Call Manager turns number delivery into a managed service: a setup wizard, a PBX-style control panel and call reports, without Teams admin rights.
Add AI Voice Agents, Teams Call Recording, SMS Connector and ChatBridge to the same tenant, all under your brand.
Mix them per tenant. PBX Connector, SIP Trunk Connector and Operator Connect Express users can sit in the same Teams tenant. About the partner platform →
Your UCaaS or hosted PBX on the native Teams dial pad, with a Teams app that carries your brand. 80+ PBX types and variants tested.
Learn more →VoiceAdd-on to PBX Connector. Calling in Teams with no Microsoft Phone System license, plus an iOS and Android companion app.
Learn more →VoiceDirect Routing as a Service: automated Direct Routing between your SIP trunks and Teams, with SBCs included.
Learn more →VoiceOperator Connect-style provisioning with your own DIDs and carriers, without a certification program.
Learn more →VoiceSet up and run Teams Phone from one simple portal: main number, auto attendant, users and call reports.
Learn more →AIWhite-label AI voice agents for Teams, generally available, with 40+ languages and sub-100ms response.
Learn more →VoiceWhite-label recording of Teams calls and meetings, with PCI pause and resume.
Learn more →MessagingWhite-label SMS and MMS in a branded Teams app, with shared team inboxes per number.
Learn more →MessagingTwo-way chat between Teams, Slack and Webex, including cross-tenant Teams without guest access.
Learn more →Further reading: Microsoft Teams telephony integration guide · There's no single way to put a customer on Teams · White-label Microsoft Teams integration · Selling AI voice agents for Teams
It's a way for a UCaaS or hosted PBX provider to deliver its calling, numbers and other services inside Microsoft Teams, so customers use Teams as their phone while the provider keeps the service and the billing relationship. The main paths are Direct Routing, Operator Connect, a PBX integration that keeps calls on the provider's PBX, and app-based calling built on Azure Communication Services.
Not with TeamMate. Operator Connect is Microsoft's program for certified operators and needs certification. With TeamMate you can offer Direct Routing, PBX calling and Operator Connect Express without joining a Microsoft certification program. Direct Routing runs through Microsoft-certified session border controllers (SBCs), which TeamMate includes.
Yes. With PBX Connector, each Teams user registers as an extension on your PBX, so numbers, extensions, hunt groups, IVRs and call flows stay on your platform. With SIP Trunk Connector or Operator Connect Express, your own DIDs are used in Teams.
Yes. ACS Call App, an add-on to PBX Connector, is built on Microsoft's Azure Communication Services Calling SDK, so users don't need a Microsoft Phone System (Teams Phone) license. It includes a companion app for iOS and Android.
TeamMate adds white-label AI voice agents, Teams call and meeting recording, SMS and MMS in a branded Teams app, chat federation with Slack and Webex, and Call Manager, a portal for setting up and running Teams Phone.
Yes. TeamMate is white-label. Partners manage every product in a portal branded as their own, and PBX Connector, SMS Connector and ACS Call App add a Teams app with the partner's name and logo.
See TeamMate in a live demo, or start a proof of concept with your own PBX, trunks or numbers.
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