Podcasts about operator connect

In this episode, UC Today host Kieran Devlin sits down with Steve Forcum, Director of Marketing and Program Management at SIPPIO, to explore how the company is helping UC channel partners navigate today's evolving market.As economic uncertainty grows and traditional UC sales slow, SIPPIO offers a compelling blueprint for partners to drive growth, tap into new verticals, and simplify voice deployments across Microsoft Teams and Zoom. If you're a UC channel partner looking to stay ahead, this is one conversation you don't want to miss. What if you could turn Teams or Zoom into a seamless calling experience without complex integrations or added costs?In this insightful video, Steve Forcum reveals how SIPPIO empowers channel partners with the tools, knowledge, and flexibility to do just that—while scaling faster and smarter.Tapping into untapped UC potential – Why the unified communications market isn't saturated, and how SIPPIO helps partners find “white space” opportunities with customers who already have platform licenses but no calling planA smarter go-to-market strategy – From vertical-specific campaigns to demand-gen kits, SIPPIO gives partners ready-made tools they can brand and deploy instantlyThe SIPPIO Partner Exchange advantage – Learn how this marketplace expands reseller access to Operator Connect, shortens the sales cycle, and connects customers with the right partners based on location and specializationSales velocity meets e-commerce – Discover how the SIPPIO Store gives partners a customizable online storefront to accelerate quoting and streamline UC sales with automation 

 In this video, UC Today's David Dungay talks with John Tucker, VP of Product at Intermedia, about how Service Providers can enhance their Microsoft Teams offerings.They explore the challenges of delivering a seamless Operator Connect experience, strategies for differentiating Teams services in a competitive market, and how to avoid the "commodity trap" by developing higher-value propositions. 

On this episode of Telecom Reseller news, Doug Green sits down with Zach Bennett, Microsoft Teams MVP and Principal Architect at LoopUp, a leading Cloud Telephony provider primarily concentrated on Microsoft Teams and the PSTN connectivity into Microsoft Teams via Direct Routing and Operator Connect. LoopUp enables multinational enterprises to consolidate their global telephony into one consistent vendor. Doug and Zach discuss how Teams Phone can be used as a full telephony replacement solution, how Direct Routing and Operator Connect can bring business telephony to the truly unified communications fold, the differences between Operator Connect, Direct Routing, and Calling Plans, and Microsoft's Copilot and how it can influence Teams telephony. Additionally, they discuss how larger enterprises can deal directly with LoopUp's expert in-house consultants and how LoopUp's channel program can help organizations looking to get into the Teams telephony market. To learn more about LoopUp you can visit https://loopup.com. You can also find LoopUp in the Microsoft Teams admin center under the Operator Connect section where you can see LoopUp's multinational coverage to find if LoopUp can fit with your business and help you consolidate your Teams telephony.

Podcast with Steve Forcum, Chief Evangelist, SIPPIO At Channel Partners 2025, Doug Green, publisher of Technology Reseller News, sat down with Steve Forcum, Chief Evangelist at SIPPIO, to discuss how the company is helping partners tap into new growth by simplifying and accelerating calling services within Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and soon Cisco Webex. “We make it fast, easy, and flexible for partners to offer calling, messaging, fax, and more to customers already using the platforms they love,” said Forcum. “We're not competing with Microsoft or Zoom—we're the cheese on their hamburger.” SIPPIO is a 100% channel-only voice enablement platform. Built natively on Microsoft Azure, the company supports both enterprise-scale deployments and small business use cases with equal efficiency. Forcum emphasized that this scale-down capability enables partners to profitably serve customers with as few as one user, while maintaining high margins and a simplified service model. Turning a Saturated Market into New Opportunity Forcum challenged the prevailing industry assumption that the UCaaS market has gone cold: “It's not that the market is saturated. It's that the opportunity has shifted. Instead of trying to replace what a customer already uses, help them make it better.” SIPPIO's platform lets partners add functionality to Microsoft Teams or Zoom—such as voice, SMS, fax, and contact center integrations—without requiring disruptive infrastructure overhauls. This “additive” model not only shortens the sales cycle, it opens up entirely new revenue channels inside existing customer relationships. Fast, Automated, Profitable One of the differentiators SIPPIO brings to partners is a user experience designed for speed and simplicity. “You can spin up a trial or provision new numbers in minutes. It's faster than signing up for Netflix,” said Forcum. The platform features a modern shopping experience, full automation for service activation, and a new suite of calling plans (Connect Basic, Connect, and Connect Pro) designed to increase partner profitability and customer value. Marketing, MDF & More In addition to product innovation, SIPPIO offers deep go-to-market support, including: Pre-built demand generation kits Verticalized marketing assets Co-branded content and campaign support A new MDF program to fund partner-led pipeline creation “We're not just a product and margin company,” said Forcum. “We co-invest with partners to grow their business.” Serving Carriers and Global Providers SIPPIO's composable architecture also appeals to service providers and carriers, offering modular automation layers that sit atop existing SBC infrastructure from vendors like AudioCodes, Oracle, and Ribbon. The result: a faster path to scaling Operator Connect or similar programs—without costly rip-and-replace strategies. To learn more, visit sippio.io

Channel Partners 2025 | By Doug Green “If your customers are using Microsoft Teams but still relying on a third-party phone system, you're leaving money on the table.” That was the bold message from Dean Manzoori, CEO of UniVoIP, during our conversation at Channel Partners. Manzoori isn't just pitching a product—he's outlining one of the clearest opportunities for the channel in 2025. UniVoIP is expanding its cloud voice solution for Microsoft Teams with support for Operator Connect, Microsoft's fast-growing platform for direct PSTN integration. For channel partners and MSPs, that means a frictionless path to deliver full Teams voice capability—supported by automation, real-time number provisioning, and a management layer built for scale. From Hosted PBX to Teams Native Manzoori brings over 30 years of experience in telecom. As a founding member of the Cloud Communications Alliance and UniVoIP's former Chief Technology Officer, he has been at the forefront of unified communications since the Hosted PBX era. Now, as CEO, he's leading UniVoIP's next evolution. “We saw the Teams opportunity coming as early as 2017,” said Manzoori. “By 2019, we had fully pivoted to become the best voice provider for Microsoft Teams.” UniVoIP's onboarding process is fully automated and designed for businesses of all sizes. One standout feature is intra-ID synchronization, which enables seamless number assignments across both the UniVoIP portal and Microsoft Teams Admin Center—giving users and admins maximum flexibility. Built for the Channel, with the Channel What sets UniVoIP apart is its partner-first platform, developed with direct input from the channel. Partners have complete visibility across tenants, with a single sign-on experience for quoting, provisioning, ticketing, and ongoing support. “We don't just sell PSTN access,” Manzoori emphasized. “We provide analog support, contact center integration, texting, paging, and more. And we remove the uncertainty from Teams voice deployments.” With over three years of delivering Teams-native voice and a 100% customer retention rate, UniVoIP's expansion into Operator Connect marks a milestone in their channel commitment—and a major opportunity for partners looking to grow revenue while delivering lasting value. Learn more at univoip.com or contact dean.manzoori@univoip.com.

Tom Garland, Global Service Delivery Manager at Willis Towers Watson shares an insight to the journey from traditional PBX systems to Skype for Business, and then to Microsoft Teams.Key considerations and challenges in implementing such large-scale telephony changes across a diverse global workforce The importance of aligning projects with business requirements and managing user expectations to prevent operational complicationsSpecific regional challenges, and experience in implementing Operator Connect in countries like IndiaThe importance of adhering to compliance requirements through sophisticated call recording systems and practical approaches for managing call data efficientlyThanks to Pure IP, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support.

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In this episode of UC Today, host David Dungay is joined by Ian Reither, Co-Founder and COO of Telnyx, to discuss how Operator Connect is transforming global communications for multi-region businesses. As a connectivity provider with a strong focus on AI-first solutions and global compliance, Telnyx is setting the standard for seamless, scalable Microsoft Teams calling. If you're navigating the complexities of multi-region operations or exploring the potential of Operator Connect, this is the conversation you can't afford to miss.Discover how Telnyx is tackling the biggest challenges of multi-regional communications with the power of Operator Connect and Microsoft Teams. In this engaging discussion, Ian Reither shares key insights into how Telnyx helps businesses scale globally while ensuring compliance and cost efficiency. Highlights include:Simplifying Multi-Region Communication: Learn how Operator Connect consolidates communication needs under a single provider, streamlining operations across 61 countries.Ensuring Call Quality & Reliability: Find out how Telnyx leverages a private MPLS network and 17 global data centres to deliver unmatched call quality, even in remote or bandwidth-constrained regions.Navigating Compliance Complexities: Explore how Telnyx ensures GDPR-compliant voice services, local number portability, and adherence to regional telecom regulations.Cost Efficiency Done Right: Discover how partnering with Telnyx allows enterprises to cut costs while benefiting from scalable and reliable communications.Whether you're struggling with fragmented systems, compliance headaches, or high costs, this video offers actionable advice for optimising your communication strategy.

Patrick is joined by the team from PingCo to preview their participation at Cavell Enable which takes place in London on 3rd of December. The podcast explores key challenges that operators are facing when they join programs, such as Operator Connect. Patrick and the PingCo team discuss how operators can maximise commercials, leverage true customer journey automation, and explore customer data to make the most of the opportunity markets like Operator Connect present.

In this month's episode of our Microsoft Teams news show, Kieran Devlin, Tom Arbuthnot and UC Today's panel of Microsoft Teams experts discuss the latest news impacting the Teams ecosystem:In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month's special guests:Kieran Devlin, Technology Journalist, UC TodayTom Arbuthnot, Empowering CloudJosh Blalock, Chief Video Evangelist, JabraSatish Upadhyaya, Microsoft Unified Communications Architect, SOFTEL CommunicationsGraham Walsh, Director, Global Technical Sales, Alliances, NeatAmanda Sterner, Employee Experience & Productivity Expert, Xenit ABExciting Teams Phone Updates! Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans, Callbacks for Call Queues, Enhanced Survivable Branch Appliance, Operator Connect expansion, and more. How will these enhance your calling experience?Teams Rooms 5.2 Release: The release encompasses experience dynamic video tile resizing, Cloud IntelliFrame in room previews, and much more with the latest Teams Rooms update. What do you think of the enhanced video features?Microsoft Places Launching Soon! Microsoft Places will be generally available in Q4 CY24, with deployment beginning in November. Two new service plans—Places (core) and Places Premium—will be part of Teams Premium. How will this new feature reshape your workplace?Microsoft 365 Copilot Wave 2 Announcements! Swathes of new features, including dynamic collaboration with pages, BizChat features, as well as updates for Copilot in Excel, Teams, PowerPoint, OneDrive and Word.Voice and Vision in Copilot Consumer Updates: An AI companion designed for everyone. Are you excited to explore the future of AI in your everyday tasks?Events and Plugs:The Teams Fireside chat covers the Queues App with Stella Lin and Cassandra Marrero on October 10Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything covering EMEA/NA and APAC on October 22 and 23Microsoft Ignite takes place November 19-21The Converged Communications Partner Sales Bootcamp occurs 2-4 and 3-5 DecemberMicrosoft UC User Group London takes place on November 27Stay ahead of the curve by exploring these new features in your own Teams environment. Connect with our regular hosts Rob Scott and Tom Arbuthnot on socials here:Rob ScottLinkedInTwitterTom ArbuthnotLinkedInTwitterThanks for watching, if you'd like more content like this, don't forget to

Hello Readers, I hope you’re well. Welcome to Episode 62 of the UCStatus Podcast. This episode features me (@randychapman), Mark Vale (@markvale83) and Shawn Harry (@shawnharry). This week was a random list of stuff I found interesting in the Message centre and roadmap for Teams. Here’s the list At this point the Teams client decided […]

Taimoor Husain, Global Telco M365 GTM Strategy Lead at Microsoft, discusses the Microsoft Teams telephony landscape, the rise of Operator Connect and the future of Teams Phone.The transition from Skype for Business to Teams and the resulting changes in operators' business modelsThe growth of Microsoft Teams Operator ConnectTeams telephony options including Microsoft Calling Plans, Direct Routing, Operator Connect and Teams Phone MobileHow Copilot is set to revolutionize telephony by enhancing productivity and supportThe SMB and mid-market opportunityFuture developments in telephony, including new tools, APIs, features and incentivised partner programsThanks to Numonix, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of Empowering.Cloud

UC Today's Susie Harrison hosts David Casem, Telnyx CEO, for a discussion around the future of UC.In this video, we discuss:Whether PSTN is still relevantOC vs DR and Teams PhoneThe role of channel partners in the evolving UC ecosystem

Momentum Recharge Changes the Game for MSPs and VARs, Podcast, CCA Member company strives to shake up market “I think the MSPs have always struggled with, a lot of have struggled with, going into the telecom business or not going into the telecom business, Rick Garcia, EVP of Modern Work and Marketing at Momentum. “And when they want to dip their toe in, they quickly realize that it becomes very expensive to keep up from a regulatory perspective, to be able to include telco billing in their portfolio of services to deliver that one bill to the customer.” In June, Momentum announced the launch of Momentum ReCharge. The innovative program enables Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and Value-Added Resellers (VARs) to seamlessly add Teams Phone, Operator Connect, and Global Internet Connectivity to their portfolios. “It's going to be a game changer for those MSPs. They will include telco services, predominantly Microsoft Teams Operator Connect, and broadband services from Momentum.” The program allows the MSPs to jump into the market, and resell the most popular services without having to climb billing, tax and regulatory hurdles. “It's going to be a game changer for those MSPs. They will include telco services, predominantly Microsoft Teams Operator Connect, and broadband services from Momentum.” Momentum Recharge Changes the Game for MSPs and VARs It gives them this door, this avenue to bring a new service and a new solution to their customers without a ton of heavy lifting, says Brandon Bradley VP of Modern Work & UC Innovation of Momentum. We learn that the program effectively hands an MSP an almost ready-made telecom practice. In this podcast, we watch an illustrated presentation on the program. We learn how Momentum takes on the “heavy lift” of offering telecom. We also learn about Momentum's extensive wholesale and retail businesses. Visit www.gomomentum.com Momentum Recharge Changes the Game

UC Today's Tom Wright hosts CallTower's William Rubio.In this session, we discuss the following:CallTower's evolving Operator Connect operationHow demand for Operator Connect is comparing to Direct RoutingHow Operator Connect providers differentiate themselves

William Rubio, CallTower, Speaking at Cloud Connections 2024 “We were one of the first to actually do voice within Microsoft back in the days of Link and even Skype,” says William Rubio of CallTower. In this brief podcast Rubio discusses how his organization was one of the pioneering firms in doing Operator Connect on Microsoft Teams going back to September of 2021, along the way of trajectory of mastering how to make Microsoft Teams deliver on its full potential. Rubio will be speaking on, “Mastering the Microsoft Matrix” at the upcoming Cloud Connections event. Rubio reminds us that his talk will be part of a tradition at the Cloud Communications Alliance of cloud communications companies helping each other learn, peer to peer, sometimes, competitors, sometimes partners, building on a shared wealth of learning. “I think when you really look at working and navigating within Microsoft and understanding the value add that you can bring to your customers, it's exciting. We have a lot of expertise there and we still learn every day something new that we just didn't know. And it's really it keeps me up at night at the same time. It's exciting.” Visit www.calltower.com

Zach Bennett, Principal Architect at LoopUp and Tom Arbuthnot discuss Teams Phone options for complex and global organisations.Different options and challenges with Teams Phone deploymentMigration from legacy PBX systems to cloud telephonyThe complexity of certain countries like Dubai, China, and LATAMUsage of analog devices and methods to integrate them with cloud-based solutions,Importance of selecting the right Operator Connect provider based on specific requirements

“It goes all the way back to Microsoft OCS,” says Greg Zweig, Director, Solutions Marketing at Ribbon Communications. Ribbon, a company whose deep telephony roots and IT DNA reach back to the beginnings of telecommunications. The brands and product lines that went into the making of Ribbon, have been aligning with Microsoft's communications footprint almost from the software giant's earliest entries into the market. In July, Ribbon announced that Beanfield is leveraging Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect to facilitate and enhance its deployment of Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams. An as a Service (aaS) solution, Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect offers portal-based administration tools that enable service providers to simplify selling, provisioning, and billing of telecom services, making it easier for businesses to transition from legacy telephony services to Microsoft Teams Phone. Ribbon Connect dramatically reduces the integration efforts typically required to enable Operator Connect by providing pre-assembled API integration, sales enablement, and a multi-tier portal. The Ribbon Connect portfolio is built with Ribbon's proven carrier-grade security products and services, that are already trusted and deployed in many of the world's largest telecom networks. In this podcast, Zweig walks us through the announcement with Beanfield. Zweig offers a deeper look at Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect. We also learn more about the deep technology connections between Ribbon and Microsoft and the literal presence of Ribbon SBCs in Microsoft's R&D labs. “When they're doing testing, they're actually testing their products against ours, with every release cycle.” Visit www.rbbn.com Beanfield Simplifies Teams Phone Integration with Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect

Don't miss this episode where we talk to Joe Mauk of C3 Technology Advisors about UC, Contact Center, MS Teams, and more on this episode titled: Direct Routing or Operator Connect with MS Teams - Which is better? Joe dives in about his history from a customer perspective along with his transition as the initial UC/CC Expert with C3 and crushing a huge deal only two weeks into his start! Josh Lupresto (00:00): Welcome to the podcast that is designed to fuel your success in selling technology solutions. I'm your host, Josh Lupresto, SVP of sales engineering at Telarus. And this is Next Level BizTech, everybody. Welcome back. We've got another, uh, exciting wrap up on a chapter today. We're talking more Microsoft Teams direct routing operator connect, and, uh, whatever else Microsoft wants to come out with here by the time this podcast drops. So, uh, today we've got on the amazing Joe Mauk of C3 Technology Advisors to talk to us. Joe, thanks for coming on, man. Joe Mauk (02:10): Yeah, thanks for having me, Josh. Josh Lupresto (02:12): Joe, first step in this is, uh, we gotta hear your journey, man. Uh, we, we wanna know where did you start out? Have you always been in tech? Have you been in something crazy and got sucked into this space? Uh, tell us about your journey. Joe Mauk (02:25): Sure. Yeah, I mean, I probably took a little bit different over a route than most people do. Um, I actually went to college for, um, criminal justice. I was gonna be a state trooper, and as I was going to class, people started saying, Hey, you know, 40% of Michigan State troopers are ex-Marines. So I started thinking, I'm like, you know, I probably need that experience, but I am not a marine . So I took the Navy route. Uh, so I spent four years on the USS George Washington, which is an aircraft carrier, and, uh, worked in the weapons department. So I was in charge of, uh, keeping, uh, the ship secure and then also moving bombs and missiles from the magazines down below up to the, the hangar bay up, up, up top to, uh, give out to the squadron. So, uh, yeah, it was, it was actually, um, once I got out of the Navy, um, by my wife's stepdad, had all of these old, uh, 3-86X computers, , and I was messing around and, you know, upgrading from 4K of RAM to eight K of Ram and, and my mom of all people, she said, you know, why don't, why don't you do something with computers? Joe Mauk (03:34): Um, might be a little bit more safe than being a trooper. And, and I said, you know, you, you might be right. Uh, so that's how I got into it. Um, but the funny, you know, funny story that I'll share with you as far as when I was in the Navy, um, you know, we, we went everywhere in the Mediterranean area and, um, we stopped in Palma, Spain, which is an absolutely gorgeous island on the south side of, of Spain. And, you know, Navy guys, you spend 30 days on the ship, you finally hit land, what do you do? You go out and have some drinks. Yeah, around town. We're on the boardwalk and this beautiful beach, and we see this entourage walking towards us. I'm like, who, who is that? It was, it was actually Muhammad Ali. Josh Lupresto (04:15): Oh, get out. Joe Mauk (04:17): I got a picture with Muhammad Ali. Now going back to what I said, what a, what a Navy guys do when you hit, when you hit land, we can proceeded to go out and continue to party a little bit. And, uh, somewhere that evening, I lost the camera. So I did meet Muhammad Ali, I got a picture with Muhammad Ali. Um, but unfortunately I have no proof that I met Muhammad Ali in Palm of Spain. So Josh Lupresto (04:45): I don't know that anybody's gonna be able to dispute that. I love it. Joe Mauk (04:48): . No, no, probably not. Josh Lupresto (04:50): That's awesome. So, so tell us then about, uh, how, how does that transition and, and, and kind of how did you come into C3 and then really give us a little bi...

Long-time channel friend Shelby Cooper joins us today and talks about Microsoft Teams as we pick apart their deployment options. Do your customers want Direct Routing, or is Operator Connect the new direction they want to go? What are the differences, and where does Fusion have success. Listen in today to find out and learn even more about the ever-changing Microsoft Teams deployment options and how Fusion Connect keeps it simplified! Josh Lupresto (00:01): Welcome to the podcast that is designed to fuel your success in selling technology solutions. I'm your host, Josh Lupresto, SVP of Sales Engineering at Telarus. And this is Next Level BizTech, everybody. Welcome back. Today, we are talking about something that comes up all the time, Microsoft Teams, but we're gonna dive in a little deeper. We're gonna talk about direct routing. We'll talk Operator Connect. Lots of good stuff to unpack here, but today I'd like to welcome on. Good man. Shelby Cooper, VP of Channel Sales from Fusion Connect. Shelby, welcome on. Shelby Cooper (00:36): Josh, what it is, brother . Sorry. Thanks for having me on, man. It it's fun to be on podcasts that you listen to. Josh Lupresto (00:44): I get invited to podcasts, and it's like I have to go do research and figure out who the heck that is and what they're talking about. But with dio, I'm like, oh, I mean, it's like getting invited to the Jay Leno show. It's a big deal for me. Josh Lupresto (00:57): His cars are way cooler than mine. I have one. He's got a lot. He's got a lot. Maybe I'll take it though. I'll take it. Uh, all right, man. Let's, let's kick this off with your personal background. Uh, this is my, one of my favorite parts of this show is being able to understand where everybody came from. Some people this industry sucked him in, as we know, some just destined to do this. So I would love to hear, uh, whatever kind of cool blackmail or anything interesting you have in your story. Uh, how'd you get here? Shelby Cooper (01:26): Uh, it, it's, uh, it's not blackmail cuz I wrote it in my bio. Uh, I'm just kidding. But, uh, look, I was, uh, a struggling college kid and like all struggling college kids, you have priorities. Mine was try to figure out how to get some beer money, . Um, I successfully found, uh, through the college job applications, I found an opportunity at a company called Confer Tech to be a nighttime phone operator. Um, little did I know it was for conference calls and it was in multiple languages, and my typing skills were not what it should have been. But I talked my land to the job, even though I only spoke one language and I spoke it. Okay, not even really well. Um, and after sitting there, you know, and looking out the window, I don't, I, people probably forget this, but when you are at a corporate office, the parking lots get segregated almost. Shelby Cooper (02:23): You know, not on purpose, but they just do. And it's like, there's some, usually some really nice cars in one, one part of the parking lot. And then there's the guys like me that were driving an old pickup and things like that in other parts of the parking lot, maybe some station wagons and minivans, things like that. But there was this one row of cars right out my window at the office, and it was all Mercedes and Beamers. And there were some high end things that I didn't even know how to pronounce at the time in that line. And I asked my, my director at the time, I said, who drives those cars and what do they do? And because I'm thinking in my head, I'm like, I'm changing my major. Like I gotta get into whatever that is because I don't see these kind of cars in most places. Shelby Cooper (03:07): Turns out they were the salespeople, . And so I integrated my way through coffee breaks and did lunchroom times and things like that, and figured out who the salespeople were,

Listen in today as Mikey B, Telarus CX Solution architect underscores all the differences of how your customers can procure Microsoft Teams, along with the value props of each. Not only will he address different customer environments and how to sell them, but we'll learn storytelling and hear how Mikey's early path to Shakespeare comes in handy! Josh Lupresto (00:01): Welcome to the podcast that is designed to fuel your success in selling technology solutions. I'm your host, Josh Lupresto, SVP of Sales Engineering at Telarus. And this is Next Level BizTech, everybody. Welcome back to another episode. We are kicking off this track talking about Microsoft Teams, as if you haven't heard enough about Teams. You haven't because there's new stuff and we need to talk about what's important, why it matters, and no better to do that than bring on somebody. Really smart. Mike Baillargeon, Telarus solution architect. Mikey, welcome to the show. Mike Baillargeon (00:39): Thanks, Josh. Super happy to be here. Josh Lupresto (00:41): So the title of this track, Mike, is Microsoft Teams. Is it direct routing now? Is it Operator Connect? You know, we're gonna get into that now. How do we, how do we pick that? So, so I think as we go through this, we're gonna answer that for the partners and, and kind of walk them through that. And as we kick this off, what I wanna start with is I wanna start with you personally. I want to hear your background. Anybody that doesn't know you, I, I find that that's probably a really small list of people, but anybody that doesn't know you, help us understand where did you start? How did you get here? Have you always been on this path? Did you, did you get sucked into this world, like some have? Fill us in. Mike Baillargeon (01:20): , thank Josh. So I was an English major in college. I wanted to bring Shakespeare to the masses, , that was, that was my end goal. But a funny thing happened on the way to that path, and it was called being a substitute teacher for six months. And I gotta say, if you, if you're a parent out there with kids in school, those teachers worked so hard. And in the six months I was a substitute teacher, I decided maybe I should get a minor in engineering and math , because I, I, I could handle the English. I, I love the, the, the English language and reading and poetry and all that goes with it. But the teaching part's actually the hard part. So interesting. My wife and I, we, we were married and up here in New England, and we decided we wanted to leave the cold for the sun. Mike Baillargeon (02:14): So we moved to Phoenix, and we lived in Phoenix for about 20 years where we decided, you know, that cold might be okay. So we left the, the, the sun and moved back. And what happened was when we moved out there, like a lot of us, you know, right outta college, you just, you know, pick up, pick up the newspaper back then Josh, I'm a bit of an old guy. Yeah. Pre indeed. And there's this opportunity. Do you like to talk to people? You know, do you have good customer service skills? This job is few. I'm like, great. Sounds amazing. And they were paying like eight bucks an hour. I was like, this is awesome. So what that job was, by the way, was a call center rep at a thousand person B p o. Nice. The second hardest job in the world besides teaching is being a call center rep. . Mike Baillargeon (03:04): And I learned that pretty quickly. So while I was there, I made good friends with the IT team because I saw what they did. I'm like, okay, they're, they're walking around the building. They're, they're at these high level meetings that, you know, I want, that's where I wanna be. I wanna be where a sausage it made. So I, I, I started talking about, I'm like, what do you guys do? And what, what, what is this? They're like, oh yeah, we're with a telecom admin. We have an AT&T now, Avaya,

UC Today's David Dungay hosts Mark Bunnell, Chief Operating Officer, Nuwave.In this session, we discuss the following:How Nuwave's Operator Connect enablement is unique in the context of the global marketplaceHow Nuwave's partners are benefiting from what the company has developed for Operator ConnectThe steps that need to be taken for a partner to get involved

Sinch has announced a new private label offering for partners and service providers to provide Microsoft Teams voice calling. This offering is available through Sinch's new program called Operator Connect for Partners, designed for communication service providers, managed service providers, and value-added resellers. In this podcast Sinch CIO, Brett Scorza, discusses Sinch, Sinch solutions for the enterprise and their new offering. Brett points out how the Sinch announcement opens the door for Sinch partners by being able to offer voice services for customer using Microsoft Teams. Visit https://www.sinch.com/

In our latest podcast episode Cavell's Head of Research, Patrick Watson is joined by Jeff Coleman (Director, PingCo) and Erhan Boduk (Global Partner Executive, PingCo) where they explore the challenges that service providers face when joining Operator Connect Accelerator program. Questions explored: What are some of the key/most common challenges you help service providers joining the Operator Connect program overcome? What do we mean by automation, can you provide some examples?What solution areas can you automate, is this just restricted to the Teams Phone element?How easy is it to automate these processes internally?Tune in to gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of automation in the service provider industry

In this week's podcast, Cavell Senior Research Analyst, Patrick Watson chats with Microsoft's 1 of 6 operator connect accelerator partner and Teams telephony expert Dawn-Marie Elder, COO & GM (SIPPIO) about their latest Accelerator Program launch.Topics:Introduction to Sippio and  their latest Accelerator programHow important do you think having a Microsoft Teams telephony strategy is for service providers & telcos?What do you think are the key considerations for service providers considering their options?Thank you to SIPPIO for being Gold Sponsors of our upcoming #CavellEnable22. Register now: https://cavellgroup.com/events/cavell-enable/#tickets

Onboarding. Automation. Customer Readiness. Customer Engagement. These are the four pillars of SIPPIO's fast track program to accelerate carriers and service providers to Microsoft Operator Connect and Zoom Provider Exchange. Onboarding and automation are must haves to be an Operator Connect or Zoom Provider network. Customer readiness and customer engagement are two pillars SIPPIO has added because, according to Dawn-Marie Elder, COO and GM at SIPPIO, “…because although you need to know the tool set and the infrastructure in order to support your customers, you also need to know a lot about your customers in order to understand their evolving needs as their looking to transition their traditional telco needs to the world of collaboration.” In this podcast, we learn how SIPPIO views the customer experiences and customer needs to be critical and how their partnerships and offerings have been developed with eyes not only focused on the mechanics, but on the actual people, companies and organizations that will use these services. Understanding, knowing, and then matching their needs, creates a value driven approach. Elder breaks down the process of making things, such as the boarding, simple and easy to follow. In a very competitive market, every part of the experience matters, so onboarding must be smooth and successful, but then SIPPIO works to deliver intel back to the carriers so that the carriers are keeping up with the changing needs of their customers.  The much discussed, but hard to achieve, customer trusted advisor relationship, can be achieved by the carriers, but only through making sure these steps and needs are met and met well. Visit https://www.sippio.io/

Nuwave Partners can now activate Microsoft Teams Operator Connect customers at Scale with its new game-changing iPILOT Ascent solution.Nuwave just announced iPILOT Ascent which enables Microsoft Teams customers to self-activate Microsoft Operator Connect with their chosen partner.This revolutionary new capability is now available to all Operator Connect Carriers and Managed Service Providers globally, find out how it works and how to gain access iPILOT Ascent in this video interview with Mark Bunnell, COO at Nuwave and David Spears, Chief Product Officer at Nuwave.For more information visit Nuwave.

Wholistic is the word Maurie Munro uses to describe how Peerless Network Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams brings simplification and accountability to create a Tier One, end to end solution. “Now we can offer this to the enterprise customers,” adds Munro. Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams provides deeper integration into the Teams platform to enhance and streamline the Teams Phone experience around networking, provisioning, management, and reporting APIs. Doing this provides customers a simplified Teams Phone experience delivered by operators that has parity with Microsoft offerings. The more optimal use of Teams means better calling experiences. “Buying direct is very attractive,” says Maurie, adding that Peerless sees Operator Connect as a way for customers to leverage strong choices in the market. Jim Brewer, EVP of Products and Technology at Peerless, adds, “This is just the first,” as he outlines that more announcements are in the works as the company continues to build choice and simplicity into the complex journey enterprises are now navigating. Visit www.peerlessnetwork.com

In this episode, the team interviews our very own Michael LaMontagne and his new Saas application, TeamsBoss. TeamsBoss allows you to easily manage your Microsoft Teams deployment (Calling Plans, Operator Connect, Direct Routing) through a single tool and apply profiles and policies. https://teamsboss.com

UC Today's Rob Scott hosts joined by Mark Bunnell, COO from Nuwave.In this interview, Mark talks us through the top features of iPILOT V2 including how channel partners can now migrate Microsoft Teams voice environments from Microsoft Direct Routing to Operator Connect in just one click!In this session we also discuss the following:Why iPILOT V2, why now?Direct Routing to Operator Connect conversion in One ClickFull visibility across the voice estateMicrosoft Teams Call Analytics and UX update

In this episode, we discuss, how to manage Microsoft Teams operator connect outbound dialing to restrict users from calling international numbers.

TalkingHeadz is an interview format podcast featuring the movers and shakers of enterprise communications - we also have great guests. In this episode  Dave and Evan  discuss how carrier services can improve services such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom  with Dawn-Marie Elder, GM and COO of SIPPIO. SIPPIO offers a single platform and automation for DRaaS (Direct Routing as a Service), Operator Connect, and Zoom Cloud Peering, These are all cloud-native services on Azure. In this podcast we learn more about SIPPIO and Dawn-Marie, and even uncover a few unmentionables. Dawn-Marie was a pioneer in cloud sales with Microsoft's launch of BPOS (now Microsoft 365). At Avaya she got exposure to Telephony and digital transformation. Dawn-Marie lives in North Carolina. In addition to COO, her other titles include Mother, Wife, and Chief Gardner. 

Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect helps providers According to Greg Zweig, Ribbon's Director, Solutions Marketing, as Teams adoption escalates, “…it's just a matter of time that people ask ‘what else can I do with this' and phone is a natural extension.” In this podcast Zweig discusses the sweeping changes that Microsoft Teams brings, including the way enterprises deliver voice and real time communications. Teams also breaks the connection of geography to carrier. Zweig outlines Microsoft's recently announced offering for telecom service providers, Operator Connect Accelerator. With the development, Ribbon is enabling Operator Connect Accelerator with their latest Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect offering. Zweig discusses how Ribbon's SBC's, a fifteen-year relationship with Microsoft and organizational DNA that tracks back to the dawn of telecommunications, have come together to make Ribbon a trusted and known partner for many companies as they make this migration for themselves or their clients. “There's a sea change here and I think the service providers really see it,” says Zweig. Read Greg Zweig's blog Ribbon Connect for Operator Connect Visit https://ribboncommunications.com/

UC Today's Tom Wright hosts Microsoft's Taimoor Husain and Ribbon's Greg Zweig.

Microsoft MVP Randy Chapman shares his perspective on the Operator Connect Accelerator program, Teams Connect, and the contact center market.

UC Today's Rob Scott speaks to Taimoor Husain, Global Strategy - Telco/Operator at Microsoft and Mark Bunnell, COO at Nuwave.Microsoft has announced Operator Connect Accelerator which opens the door for Nuwave channel partners to further enhance their Microsoft Teams cloud voice propositions.

The new Teams Phone Operator Connect Mobile service is an industry first that lets you use a single SIM-enabled mobile phone number across your company provided mobile, desk phone, and Microsoft Teams. This is enterprise-grade security and consistent call quality as you move between mobile voice and data networks. Mahendra Sekaran, VP of Program Management for Microsoft Teams, joins Jeremy Chapman to share the quick admin steps to set up the first fixed mobile convergence productivity solution for business. - Instead of two business numbers, use and pay for just one SIM-enabled mobile number - Uplift from a voice-only call to a Teams call. Add video, people, and share content - As an admin, assign a SIM-enabled phone number to your employees, set policies for enterprise-grade security ► QUICK LINKS: 00:00 - Introduction 00:46 - Operator Connect Mobile 01:42 - Teams integration 03:35 - See how it works 05:49 - Additional integrations 06:18 - Admin setup and policy setting 08:15 - Wrap up ► Link References: Watch our previous Teams Phone and the Operator Connect service episode at https://aka.ms/TeamsPhoneMechanics ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? We are Microsoft's official video series for IT. You can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries?sub_confirmation=1 Join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog Watch or listen via podcast here: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/website ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ 

In this episode, we talk to Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect Evan Zaleschuk about Teams Phone System options. Understanding your options: Teams Phone System Options: Calling Plans vs Operator Connect vs Direct Routing.

UC Today's Rob Scott hosts William Rubio, Chief Revenue Officer at CallTower and guest speaker Kevin Kieller, Co-founder & UC Strategist at enableUC.

In this episode of the Digital Digest, we roundup the biggest stories of the week from the first quantum metro network to – potentially – the last landline. Alan cover the news that BT and Toshiba are to build the ‘world's first' quantum metro network in London – and a little bit in Bristol. Natalie brings us all the latest updates from Orangefollowing its European press and analyst day in London this week. And Saf covers the latest Operator Connect developments, which as the team concludes, is likely to signal the end of the landline. Joining the conversation this week CEO of Exa Infrastructure, Martijn Blanken, talks about the challenges of acquiring an infrastructure portfolio – and how Exa Infrastructure will build it out (among other things). Season 2, episode 6 is presented by editor Melanie Mingas, and features editor-at-large Alan Burkitt-Gray and deputy editor Natalie Bannerman At Capacitymedia.com you can catch up with our latest magazines, news and events.

You can keep your remote workforce connected thanks to this new partnership! Gamma has been announced as the newest Operator Connect partner for Microsoft's Teams programme. You can access many benefits by selecting Gamma as your operator of choice. Find out more at https://www.gamma.co.uk/products/microsoft-teams-operator-connect (https://www.gamma.co.uk/products/microsoft-teams-operator-connect)

We're going to teach you how to use PSTN telephony options with Microsoft Teams Phone. Teams ties together all of the different communications modalities, so you can easily move from one modality to the next. Shift from a text-based chat to a one-on-one voice call. And just like with a video conference, you can easily add people to it to make it a group call. Beyond pure voice calling, there are rich PSTN telephony capabilities that are available inside of Teams, and we've made it a lot easier to bring any endpoint, including your physical desktop phone to Microsoft Teams, or use the built-in calling functionality that's inside of Teams itself. Scott Van Vliet, Microsoft CVP, joins Jeremy Chapman to show you the latest capabilities and how to set it up. Operator Connect helps you bring over your existing phone numbers directly from your telephone service operator of choice into Microsoft Teams. Receive calls from and make calls to normal telephone numbers anywhere, on any device. Seamlessly transfer calls from your laptop to your mobile device, without having to hang up and redial. Turn on live captions with real-time speech-to-text AI conversion if you're in a noisy environment. ► QUICK LINKS: 00:00 - Introduction 02:47 - User experience and capabilities 05:42 - How to set it up 06:41 - Match people and services to real telephone numbers 08:41 - Day-to-day management experience 09:35 - Direct routing 10:06 - Wrap up ► Link References: To learn more go to https://aka.ms/MicrosoftTeamsPhone ► Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? We are Microsoft's official video series for IT. You can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at #Microsoft. Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries?sub_confirmation=1 Join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog Watch or listen via podcast here: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/website ► Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ 

Hello Readers, I hope you’re well. Welcome to Episode 29 of the UCStatus Podcast. This episode features me (@randychapman), Mark Vale (@markvale83) & Shawn Harry (@shawnharry). This week we discuss the upcoming demise (31 July 2021) of Skype for Business Online, what might happen and what you should do to prepare. We also talk at […]

Auch diesmal sprechen wir wieder über #Windows11 und zwar aus einem einfachen Grund: Es gibt einen Leak und erste Informationen zum nächsten Windows! Wir sprechen über die Details und Features, die bereits bekannt sind und was Euch auf dem Microsoft Event vom 24.06. erwarten wird. Als zweites Thema geht es "in den sicheren Hafen", denn wir sprechen über #MicrosoftTeams und die verschiedenen Telefonie-Möglichkeiten. Wir sprechen über die Möglichkeiten von Calling Plan, Direct Routing und dem neuen Operator Connect. Vor allem die Unterschiede, Vor- und Nachteile der jeweiligen Techniken sind ein Fokus für unser Gespräch. Viel Spaß bei unserem Talk, Michael und Thorsten -------------------------------------------------- Link zum Blog findet ihr hier: https://talkm365.net Link zum YouTube Kanal gibts hier: https://youtube.talkm365.net Auf Twitter unter: @TalkM365 Twitter Michael: @plemich Twitter Thorsten: @thorpick -------------------------------------------------- Reference-Links: Music Intro/Outro: Vacation - AShamaluevMusic Music Link: https://soundcloud.com/ashamaluevmusic/vacation Music Background: Inspirational Corporate Ambient - AShamaluevMusic Music Link: https://www.patreon.com/ashamaluevmusic --------------------------------------------------

As customers look to standardize on Microsoft Teams the move to voice and calling often is high priority. In this MidDay Café we cover connecting to existing phone carriers with Microsoft Operator Connect. Covered in this session: Show Operator Connect in my Lab Tenant Show Operators and Provisioning process with Operators Show Numbers After they are provisioned by Operators Show Assignment process Show comparison slide of Operator Connect compared to Direct Routing for Pitch Deck (public approved) Panel Discussion To see the video of the podcast, as well as the resources, visit https://aka.ms/HLSBlog

In this episode we discuss the new Microsoft Teams Operator connect functionality currently in public preview. What is Operator Connect What is Operator Connect Conferencing Requirements How to configure Current experience and guidance in the public preview https://cloudpartners.transform.microsoft.com/practices/microsoft-365-for-operators/connect

In Episode 227, Ben listens as Scott vents about his Q-NAP NAS was attacked with ransomware and some things you can think about doing to have a better posture for configuring and securing your NAS. Then they get into the Azure Retail Prices API, a publicly accessible API for accessing retail rates for PayGo and reservation pricing for Azure services and Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams. Sponsors Sperry Software – Powerful Outlook Add-ins developed to make your email life easy even if you're too busy to manage your inbox ShareGate - ShareGate's industry-leading products help IT professionals worldwide migrate their business to the Office 365 or SharePoint, automate their Office 365 governance, and understand their Azure usage & costs Office365AdminPortal.com - Providing admins the knowledge and tools to run Office 365 successfully Intelligink - We focus on the Microsoft Cloud so you can focus on your business Show Notes Improper Authorization Vulnerability in HBS 3 Hybrid Backup Sync Removed the detected malware: MR2102 For secure data backup, here's how to do the 3-2-1 rule right Azure Retail Prices overview Introducing Operator Connect and more Teams Calling updates About the sponsors Every business will eventually have to move to the cloud and adapt to it. That's a fact. ShareGate helps with that. Our industry-leading products help IT professionals worldwide migrate their business to the Office 365 or SharePoint, automate their Office 365 governance, and understand their Azure usage & costs. Visit https://sharegate.com/ to learn more. Sperry Software, Inc focuses primarily on Microsoft Outlook and more recently Microsoft Office 365, where a plethora of tools and plugins that work with email have been developed. These tools can be extended for almost any situation where email is involved, including automating workflows (e.g., automatically save emails as PDF or automatically archive emails that are over 30 days old), modifying potentially bad user behaviors (e.g., alert the user to suspected phishing emails or prompt the user if they are going to inadvertently reply to all), and increased email security (e.g., prompt the user with a customizable warning if they are about to send an email outside the organization). Get started today by visiting www.SperrySoftware.com/CloudIT Intelligink utilizes their skill and passion for the Microsoft cloud to empower their customers with the freedom to focus on their core business. They partner with them to implement and administer their cloud technology deployments and solutions. Visit Intelligink.com for more info.