5 Reasons to Consider Direct Routing as Service (DRaaS) as Your PSTN Connectivity into Microsoft…

5 Reasons to Consider Direct Routing as Service (DRaaS) as Your PSTN Connectivity into Microsoft Teams

Microsoft provides customers great flexibility in choosing their PSTN connectivity into Microsoft Teams through various options. Earlier this year, Microsoft released a Microsoft Teams Phone gives you PSTN connectivity blog providing guidance via 4 PSTN choices:

• Calling Plan Use Microsoft as your PSTN carrier. Purchase calling plans directly from Microsoft.
• Operator Connect Operator-managed PSTN calling to Teams through a participating carrier.
• Teams Phone Mobile Assign a single business-provided cell phone number as your desktop, mobile and Teams Phone number.
• Direct Routing The most customizable approach that allows you to do things like connecting your calls to an existing PBX Phone system or integrating into a contact center or other 3rd party applications.

Today I provide you with 5 reasons to consider a 5th option:
Direct Routing as a Service (DRaaS)

1. Direct Routing as a Service (DRaaS) gives you the best of both worlds

DRaaS is exactly what it sounds like — the most customizable PSTN connectivity to Microsoft Teams via Direct Routing that a 3rd party provider simultaneously manages.

Think of it a bit as a hybrid between Direct Routing and Operator Connect — you get the most customizable calling solution while having someone else manage and host your Session Border Controllers (often referred to as SBC as a Service or SBCaaS) to manage your PSTN connectivity.

In short, you get the best of both worlds 🌎

Making a small addition 🫢 to Microsoft’s PSTN Options Chooser, you end up with a table like this:

2. Operator Connect and Calling Plans won’t always help you migrate faster to Teams

Nobody can argue that if you want to buy net new PSTN numbers in Microsoft Teams, buying a calling plan from Microsoft is dead simple and quick.

But what happens when you have additional needs such as:

• You have existing phone system features (Call Queues, AutoAttendants, Shared lines, Call Groups) you don’t want to lose and need to rebuild
• You have existing numbers to port
• You have Phones and Meeting Room Devices to replace/upgrade
• You have a Call Center to integrate
• You have end-users to train and guides to update.

None of the PSTN options you pick will make these items go faster.

I’ve seen large enterprise organizations decide to go with Operator Connect only to take over a year to migrate only a few hundred numbers 🐢. I’ve seen Direct Routing providers move a much larger amount of numbers in a smaller period of time 🐇.

The bottlenecks and challenges you face may have nothing to do with which PSTN option you chose and more to do with the many different components of your entire calling solution. This brings me to my next point.

3. Picking the right Provider is more important than the right PSTN option

Many operators are simply interested in selling you numbers without providing expertise and guidance on how to get the most out of your Calling System.

Those who can provide DRaaS are often the same folks who can also provide a deeper UC expertise to ensure you move to the solution that is right for you.

Buying numbers is easy, but moving a calling system that includes devices, calling features, a contact center anything else you can think of requires a lot more planning.

Finding the right provider who will take a more holistic approach to your Phone System is the quickest way to ensure successful deployment and user adoption of Calling in Teams.

4. DRaaS gives you more control when sh*t hits the fan 💩

Envision this situation:

Your helpdesk gets a ticket from a high-ranking VP. Their PSTN calls are not coming into Teams. Your helpdesk does some initial analysis and requires further investigation. Time to escalate and get some additional help.

Scenario 1 — You purchased your numbers through one of the many Operator Connect providers. This operator used an accelerator program through a 3rd-party accelerator partner — they don’t actually fully manage/control your PSTN connectivity.

Maybe it’s something with a configuration that changed on your tenant? Maybe the issue resides with the provider? Maybe it’s on Microsoft’s side? Let the finger-pointing dance begin…

Scenario 2 — You went with a Provider with deep UC expertise who manages your entire UC stack through a DRaaS Service. Your provider owns the SBCs going into your tenant, they sold you your numbers, and they have connectivity to your tenant. You have more control and one place to get help.

5. You don’t need Powershell to Manage Direct Routing Numbers

Microsoft moves fast. Things change every month. Many Operators continue to post outdated marketing content stating that your IT Admins or Helpdesk will need Powershell to assign Numbers and Policies to users using any Direct Routing. Others will tell you that unlike Calling Plans and OC, there’s no “single pane of glass” solution to manage your users with Direct Routing. Both are outdated and wrong.

Since January 2022, you can assign Direct Routing Numbers in the Teams Admin Center without the need/use of Powershell.

In addition, many solutions in the market manage and automate your number management beyond what can be done within Teams Admin Center, killing the need for any Powershell entirely.

• ZIRO Platform For Microsoft Teams
• Number Management for Microsoft Teams (callroute.com)
• Clobba Range Manager — DID Number Management — Code Software
• Kurmi Software
• TeamsBoss

For folks on a budget, Martin Heusser | M365 Apps & Services MVP has even written a great blog on how to build a SharePoint phonebook automatically, which is updated by an Azure Automation Runbook.

DRaaS for Microsoft Teams — The option is yours to pick!

You are now enlightened 💡 on a great option for your PSTN connectivity to Microsoft Teams while expanding on the many other things you must consider when enabling or migrating your Phone System to Microsoft Teams!

Please feel free to leave me a note in the comment section!