Teams Phones and Receptionists

[_techie_]

Hi.

 

We have some Yealink Teams Voice Handsets, which work 'most' of the time. The software can be buggy at times, and we have done as much as we can do to resolve the issue.

Current issue is surrounding transfer of calls, which puts the handset into hold... and is causing our receptionists some annoyance, the only workaround being to reboot the phone, which also only resolves the issue temporarily.

 

There are two 'service'/anonymous accounts which are signed into the Teams handsets, as we have a number of staff that manage and run the reception desk throughout the day. The

 

Ideally I would like for the reception staff to use the software version of Teams on the computer, but this currently logs the user into Teams using their own accounts.

 

Has anyone achieved this? Our reception staff have other tasks throughout the day, so aren't on reception full time. Transfer of roles/reception roles or forwarding would need to be automatic, which I can imagine might be a nightmare to manage.

 

Thanks

Mark Williamson

[Boredguy]

We've been using Teams since end of July, and all our reception staff are using the Teams app on the PC for calls (we only have a few Yealink MP54's for communal areas)

 

We have a Call Queue setup for the Reception staff, and listed the users as agents within it. There are several options within the Call Queue on how to handle incoming calls, and I've got the routing method set to "Attendant Routing" which looks at the list in the Call Answering section and starts with the person at the top first (or main receptionist) and then flows down to the staff who are only covering once or twice a term.

The Agent selection also allows the staff to opt out of taking the call, so within Teams, they can go into their settings and move the slider to enable/disable receiving calls from that queue.

 

Only other modification we had to make was on the calling policy. Users we selected as "Reception staff" have a slightly different calling policy so that "Busy on Busy when in a call" is set to enabled instead of "unanswered". This stops the call queue from trying to present another call to the user while they are in the middle of one.

[RobFuller]

Interesting feedback as we are looking to move to a Teams phone system in the new year. I'm certainly coming to the thought about minimising handset wherever possible as it's just another device to manage and maintain. Do staff just have headsets, or do you use the Yealink MP50 USB phone?

[Boredguy]

It is significantly easier to go down the headset route (we purchased all our staff USB Mono headsets, and the reception team went and got some Bluetooth ones so they can easily move around without getting caught up).

 

I've only use the MP54's and they are our biggest bugbear as you need to ensure you check them monthly to ensure the firmware and version of the Teams app is up to date, as over 3 months old and they stop communicating.

 

After 3 months of solid use on using Teams compared to the old PBX system, there is still some that don't like it, but the connivance factor of the headset over handset is much better... no need to go off to an office to call, some staff actually call IT support now from their classroom with an issue (if they don't want to use the chat feature)

 

There are key locations where handsets are a good idea, but as a replacement for the old PBX switchboard isn't really one of them from what we've found and from our Telephony providers experience.

 

Handsets with their own Teams account (so not the USB ones) also require a device licence so thats something to factor into it as well.

[RobFuller]

I'm testing with Yealink but considering look at other manufacturers, AudioCodes being one.

Just worried about national guidance to avoid tech from certain countries later down the line, e.g. certain CCTV camera manufacturers get caught up recently.

 

Interesting about keeping the firmware up to date, with any cyber security guidance this is a given so way of automating this would be the solution.

[Davit2005]

We are only having the physical Teams phones in specific areas. And to be honest we are pretty glad now as we too are having issues with the Yealinks.

[Boredguy]

Keeping the firmware up to date is a Teams requirement more so than the handset requirement. Same as keeping the Team App valid on the device, as after a few months MS does not allow it to connect.

 

One downside to any of the handsets is it limits the functionality when you want to transfer a call.

In the Apps you can do a chat session easily since you have a keyboard... on a phone with just a small touch screen it is much much harder. Certainly using the PC App going between calls is easy enough as when you transfer and consult the incoming call goes on hold and you can switch between them before you finish the transfer (handy if you the person your transferring to wants more details). Think that is much more clunky via the phone interface unless you have a large screen

[Boredguy]

We are only having the physical Teams phones in specific areas. And to be honest we are pretty glad now as we too are having issues with the Yealinks.

 

What sort of issue are you finding? I just have to remember to check the Teams Admin Panel at the start of the month to see if there is any updates needed, but I rarely have anyone say there is something up with the handset itself.

 

We've got ours configured so some of the key people (Reception & IT Call Queues) are on the quick dial for that phones account, everything else they have to type in the name of the member of staff they want, or the external telephone number.

 

Still confuses some people that there is no extension numbers.. going to confuse the other 4 schools when we roll out Teams to them before the end of the school year!

[Jaymate]

Hi,

Incase it helps with the underlying issue. I think there is a recent issue that we have experienced with the Yealink MP56 phones and the lightweight calling experience with transferring of calls and calls dropping. We found if you disable the lightweight calling experience normal service resumes. I think this is done from the handset.

[RobFuller]

Is everyone using Yealink, no other manufacture of handsets?

[Boredguy]

Yealink seem to be at the cost effective range of devices compared to others like Audiocodes, Poly and Crestron when looking at Microsoft Business Desk Phone site.

 

For example, we were around the £150 range for the MP-54's from one of our box shifter suppliers, so when you add it up even providing Bluetooth headsets to office based staff makes more logical sense than handsets.

[RobFuller]

Oh totally and not going to take much convincing for management to see the cost saving and if you're overall getting a better user experience too. I was just wondering for the areas where this isn't possible. That why I liked the USB devices as really they are glorified headset for people that also still like buttons to push

 

As the risk of going slightly OT who do you use for your SBC?

[Boredguy]

I still wouldn't worry about having a USB handset for those users, since the Teams interface has the dial pad, quick dial options etc and they can use the number pad on the keyboard to dial numbers. Plus as you have to use the keyboard to type in the 365 name of the person you want to transfer and consult with, it doesn't make much sense.

 

We went with one of our local telecoms providers so don't actually have a SBC setup on our tenancy, but just have voice routes going via voiceflex

[supportman]

We had same issues on our reception phone but they are slowly moving over to the software app as its so easy to use.

 

We also setup the robo attendant setting which actually takes most calls away from the receptionist automatically.