Is Microsoft Teams Phone Operator Connect Better Than Direct Routing as a Service for a Med-Large-Size Company?

You’re a medium to large size company and wondering if Microsoft Teams Phone Operator Connect is better than Direct Routing as a Service? After getting to know both products for many years, I have a strong opinion on this.

In this video, I cover why Operator Connect is almost always better for your company.

Want my recommendations on the best Operator Connect provider? Ask me today.

About Me

Mike Smith has been helping companies select the best telecom, WAN, security, and cloud services since 1999. He founded AeroCom in 2003, and has been the recipient of numerous business telecommunications industry awards, including being recognized as one of the top 40 business people in tech-heavy Orange County, CA. Follow Mike on YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit and SpiceWorks.

Transcript

I’ve had a lot of medium and large size companies reach out to me and asked me should they use operator connect for Microsoft teams phone system or should they go with direct routing as a service? And they’re a little bit confused on which one is the best fit for their company. They might have seen, especially some of my older videos, really comparing the two and talking about the advantages of one versus the other. So it makes a lot of sense that they’re confused. Well, I’ve got a really strong opinion on this and I’m going to share it with you on this video. My name is Mike Smith. I’m the president of Aerocom. Let’s put our heads together on this.

My Recommendations

Well, before we get started really quick, if you’d like my recommendation on the best operator, connect vendors or direct routing as a service vendors, your companies should be quoting for teams phone system, especially if you’re like a medium to large size business with hundreds or thousands of phone system users. That’s my expertise. Reach out, send me an email or give me a call (714.593.0011). I’d love to help you. I’m a broker for all the major phone system vendors out there. That cell operator connect and direct routing as a service. Like there’s I think there’s over 100 operator connect vendors out there now. So it gets pretty confusing. And there’s definitely some that are going to be a lot better fit than others, and you’re not really going to know why unless until you ask somebody like me. So reach out, send me an email, give me a call. I’d love to help you. I will help your company make a lot better decision in a fraction of the time. So more information on that at the end of the video. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel. So you don’t miss any of my weekly videos that I put out. And if you’d like to video, hit the like button, ring the bell and leave me a comment down below. I’d love to hear from you. I respond to almost every single comment that I get, so let me know what you think.

Operator Connect is the #1 Solution

Okay, let’s make this really easy. Operator Connect is going to be the best solution for any medium to large size company. Well, I should say probably for 99.9, 99% of companies Operator Connect is the way to go. Let me tell you why. So direct routing as a service was really Microsoft’s first offering that they rolled Microsoft teams phone system out with. So as the first way of letting third party vendors provide dial tone for teams phone system. And then about three years ago, they rolled out version 2.0 of that, which they called Operator Connect. So, Operator Connect is the latest, greatest way to have a third party come and provide dial tone for teams phone system. And it’s really the best way to get your dial tone for teams phone system. Watch any of my other videos, I’ll explain why. But Operator Connect is the way to go. If you’re medium to large sized business, don’t make the mistake of trying to do direct routing on your own and installing your speakers. That’s way too much work and it’s not even going to save you any money. Getting calling plans from Microsoft directly is going to be way too expensive and not give you the support you need. Operator Connect is the way to go and it’s the latest and greatest compared to direct routing as a service.

DRaaS is more expensive for larger companies

By the way, direct routing is a service, especially for medium to large size company with hundreds or thousands of employees is going to be at least twice as expensive. So it makes the decision really easy. The only companies out there that are still offering direct routing as a service and not offering operator connect are the ones who haven’t been approved yet for Operator Connect. Or maybe they don’t. They haven’t put in the amount of work it takes to get approved to be an operator connect partner, because to do that you have to jump through a lot of hoops with Microsoft and prove a lot of things to them that you’re technically sound in the way you’re deploying it. So it’s a lot of work to become an operator connect vendor and a lot of vendors just haven’t gone down that route yet.

It’s just easier for them to connect to teams phone system over the public Internet as opposed to Microsoft Azure peering service. So that’s getting really into the weeds with the point is Operator connect the way to go.

Still confused? Reach out and contact me

Give me a call if you’d like my recommendation on the best operator Connect vendors your company should be quoting, especially if you’re medium to large size company. That’s really my specialty. I wouldn’t recommend trying to pick a random operator connect vendor without talking to me, or at least somebody else in the industry that’s an expert in this because you’ll probably end up with the wrong vendor or paying way too much money or have a vendor that’s got a pretty bad reputation. So reach out, send me an email or give me a call (714.593.0011). I’d love to help you with that. I’m a broker for all the major vendors out there. There’s over 100 of them to do Operator Connect, and I’ve been selling teams phone systems since it first came out 2018. So I’ll ask you a few questions based on that or recommend three or four vendors you should be quoting or introduce you to those vendors. The best reps at those companies to work with Oversee a demo for you and the quoting process. I’ll make sure you get the best quotes possible for your vendor of choice, the best pricing and on top of all that, I won’t charge your company anything.

Best Business Phone System Providers

The service providers actually pay me my broker fee. If you select one of the vendors I recommend  So I’m very motivated to find the best vendors that you’ll end up selecting. And there’s no excuse not to at least reach out and see what I have to say because I won’t charge you anything for it. So especially if you’re a medium to large size business, that’s my area of expertise. Reach out. I’d love to help you. It’s the reason why I do these videos. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, so I know a couple of things that you might want to know. Also, remember, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss any of my weekly videos that I put out in like, in like the video. Ring the bell, all that good stuff. Thanks for watching. I will catch you on the next one.