Microsoft Teams telephony between head office and 119 branches

Context

Communication between head office and the 119 branches relied on traditional telephony, while teams were adopting Microsoft 365 and Teams for collaboration. Running two separate communication systems fragmented exchanges and increased inter-site call costs.

My role

Regional IT division manager: deploying the gateway, integrating it with the Microsoft 365 environment, and operating the WAN that carries the voice traffic.

Actions and tools

• Deploying an AudioCodes SBC gateway to bridge IP telephony and Microsoft Teams.
• Microsoft 365 integration and end-user support on Teams, Outlook and groups.
• Regional WAN administration: Cisco 1800 routers, Catalyst 2960 switches, VLANs and VPNs linking the sites.
• Separating voice traffic onto a dedicated VLAN and tracking quality of service on inter-site links.
• PRTG monitoring of the links and devices carrying the service.
• User support and documentation of usage and troubleshooting procedures for the branches.

Result

• Voice and collaboration run through a single tool, Microsoft Teams, between head office and the branches.
• Voice traffic uses the existing WAN, with no parallel telephony infrastructure to maintain at each site.
• Scope: coordinated rollout across a network of 119 agencies, according to each site’s needs.
• Telecommunication costs: optimization sought through centralized, modernized telephony, with no amount published.
• Call quality: checked from incidents, user feedback and available technical data.
• Rollout: carried out progressively, with site coordination and service validation.

Visuals and evidence

Principle diagrams describe the approach without publishing real connections, address ranges, numbers or internal dashboards.