Bringing Detailed Analytics into the Microsoft Teams Ecosystem

Why should partners be investing in the Teams ecosystem?

There are now nearly 300 million users dependent on Microsoft Teams – and the channel opportunity is to add value. There are many third-party applications and the channel should do their research to identify the apps most relevant to their target audience and the ones that will enhance their overall proposition.

Analytics has become business-critical across the globe and adds value to any proposition. Whilst Microsoft themselves delivers personal insights to our inboxes every day, the apps for analytics can go a step further to provide visibility of the estate with valuable insights on collaboration trends, to help identify key drivers for change and to support business decisions.

Marketplaces have made these apps much more accessible and with easy access to free trials, resellers can get involved like never before and in the process establish critical market differentiators.

Microsoft’s roadmap is also extremely aggressive. Not a month seems to pass without new features appearing in Microsoft products, so the Microsoft portfolio itself provides a fertile opportunity for the whole channel. Microsoft’s recent focus on convergence through their Teams phone operator connect mobile service presents yet further openings for the channel. The speed at which they are evolving is a huge opportunity, but also presents the risk of being left behind!

What solutions exist?

The Microsoft portfolio provides the building blocks to channel partners to create a strong proposition in line with their expertise. In leveraging services such as direct routing, coupled with business productivity tools such as contact centre call management and analytics, opportunities are increasingly opening up to meet evolving customer demand for an empowered Microsoft proposition.

As organisations increasingly route their incoming and outgoing calls via Microsoft Teams, analytics delivers deep insight into internal and external business communications. The strength of analytics is in delivering actionable and meaningful insights, highlighting patterns, making observations and spotting changing habits. The channel can add value in helping organisations to identify their drivers for change, then providing solutions that enable them to take action and make positive change, leveraging technology throughout the journey and onwards.

How important is it to attain Microsoft certifications?

Attaining certifications are a major milestone for any organisation and recognises a continual commitment and investment in Microsoft technology and solutions. Tollring is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for its best-in-class capability in Application Integration, Data Analytics, Application Development, and Cloud Platform alongside Silver in Project and Portfolio Management.

Tollring’s investment in Microsoft technologies, and the cooperation we have had from them, has been instrumental in the delivery of Analytics 365 as a native application for Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft’s certification process for an application is rigorous and provides product confidence to end users and partners alike. Furthermore, certification enables an application to be integrated within the Microsoft app store, Appsource.

As a trusted provider, channel partners should leverage their vendor’s certifications coupled with their own, to build trust and confidence through expertise as they look to differentiate themselves.