Olive Communications steps up support for Teams

Olive Communications has reacted to the surge in demand for remote working tools by launching a fresh service to meet those needs.

The channel player is rolling out phase two of its Connect4Teams suite of services, which includes direct routing, PBX integration, secure voice recording and contact centre capabilities in a Microsoft Teams environment.

Connect4Teams will be delivered via the firm’s Cloud Managed Service Platform and should meet the needs of customers that want to add external calls into Teams, integration into an existing telephony solution or for those moving to new telephony.

Olive has been offering Connect4Teams for the last six months, but in phase two it will provide it to those businesses that are not yet going through a full-blown digital transformation process, but want to have choice and do more with their existing PBX.

Lucy Callaghan, head of marketing at Olive, said Teams had been one of the products swiftly adopted by users during the lockdown, but it was also looking to the future.

“Microsoft Teams has seen tremendous success as a remote working and collaboration tool, especially since the unprecedented events we’ve seen from the ongoing pandemic,” she said. “As we look towards a post-pandemic workplace culture, Olive is already seeing the demand for simplified voice and audio-conferencing solutions, ones that are truly scalable.”

Nick Beardsley, enterprise director at Olive, said many customers were taking a look at how they communicated, not just during the crisis but in the longer term.

“It’s time to transform the way we think about voice and collaboration,” he said. “Just as businesses want agile, robust and flexible solutions, they also want choice – hence our dedication to onboard Microsoft Teams as a core service available from Olive, leveraging our 10-plus years of Microsoft expertise and accredited partnership.”

Microsoft Teams, along with Zoom, has been one of the go-to tools adopted by millions of people who have been forced to start working from home during the coronavirus lockdown.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella used the firm’s third-quarter numbers, for the three months ending 31 March, to touch on the impact the pandemic had had on the business.

“We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months,” he said. “From remote teamwork and learning, to sales and customer service, to critical cloud infrastructure and security – we are working alongside customers every day to help them adapt and stay open for business in a world of remote everything.”

Although the Q3 numbers missed the full impact of Covid-19, Microsoft was able to report that it had seen a surge not only for Teams, but also for Office 365 and tools that would enable people to work remotely. There had also been a slowing down in transactional licensing, particularly in small and medium businesses, in the latter part of March.

“Our durable business model, diversified portfolio and differentiated technology stack position us well for what is ahead,” Nadella added.