News and Events

The Contact Centre market is entering a decisive phase. What was once defined by call volumes, queue times and basic reporting is now being reshaped by AI driven insight, automation and orchestration. Businesses are no longer satisfied with knowing what happened on a call. They want to understand why it happened, how the customer felt, and what should happen next. This shift is creating significant opportunity across UCaaS and CCaaS, particularly for providers and partners that can move beyond generic platforms and deliver intelligent, adaptable solutions. That is precisely where Elisha Telecom is positioning itself. The AI Capabilities Businesses Are Actively Demanding Across the channel, two AI driven capabilities are consistently rising to the top of customer conversations: real time transcription and sentiment analysis. Transcription has moved from a nice to have feature to a foundation for modern contact centres. Accurate, real-time transcripts support regulatory compliance, strengthen quality assurance, and dramatically improve agent coaching. More importantly, they unlock rich post call analytics that give businesses visibility far beyond call duration or outcome codes. Sentiment analysis adds a critical emotional layer. By detecting frustration, confusion or satisfaction within the caller’s language and tone, businesses can assess how interactions feel, not just how they end. This enables supervisors to refine scripts, improve processes and intervene earlier when experiences start to degrade. Together, these capabilities shift reporting from operational metrics to strategic insight. They allow leadership teams to understand patterns in customer behaviour, agent performance and service quality that traditional reporting tools simply cannot surface. Why Our Approach Is Different Many enterprise grade CCaaS platforms already offer AI features, but they often come wrapped in rigid product frameworks. Large vendors dominate the enterprise market, but their scale can limit flexibility, sector tailoring and speed of innovation. Elisha operates differently. With in-house development capability and a deep focus on AI powered communications, our solutions are completely vendor-agnostic and deployable on top of any current solution.. This agility allows AI to be embedded naturally into existing UCaaS and CCaaS environments rather than forcing businesses to reshape their operations around a fixed platform. The result is AI that works the same way businesses already communicate, simply enhancing interactions rather than fighting against them. Turning Insight into Revenue for Partners For resellers and MSPs, AI powered Contact Centre features are not just value adds. They are commercial enablers. Transcription and sentiment analysis lend themselves naturally to usage-based pricing. Minutes transcribed, interactions analysed and dashboards consumed all scale in line with customer growth. This creates predictable, recurring revenue streams with strong margins while keeping partners closely aligned to customer outcomes. Elisha’s UCaaS and CCaaS capabilities allow partners to lead with high impact use cases such as compliance visibility, quality assurance improvement and customer experience optimisation. These conversations often open the door to wider transformation projects spanning unified communications, CRM integration and workflow automation.

Why Aren’t Your Customers Using WhatsApp for Business? WhatsApp is the UK’s most popular messaging app, with over 40 million active users. It’s how your customers’ customers want to communicate—quickly, conveniently, and on their terms. So why aren’t more businesses using it for customer service, sales, and support? Simple: Integrating WhatsApp into business platforms and workflows is complex. Compliance requirements, message templates, routing conversations to the right teams—it’s far from plug-and-play. That’s where most businesses hit a wall. This is Your Opportunity as a Reseller Elisha Telecom takes the headache out of WhatsApp integration, giving you a ready-made, revenue-generating service to offer your customers. Backed by a team of 50+ developers, we deliver seamless, compliant WhatsApp for Business integration as part of our UCaaS and CCaaS solutions. You can now go to market with a solution that: What’s in it for Your Customers? Elisha Telecom’s WhatsApp integration transforms it into a managed, business-grade communication channel: 1. Send Messages at Scale or Individually Enable businesses to run bulk promotions or handle personalised one-to-one chats—all managed from a single interface. 2. Template Management for Compliance First-time outreach requires approved message templates. We make it easy for businesses to create, manage, and deploy these within a compliant framework. 3. Route Incoming Messages Smartly The Business Benefits Area Impact Customer Experience Meet customers on their preferred channel with faster, more convenient service. Agent Productivity Reduce time spent switching platforms and handling repetitive queries, freeing agents to focus on high-value interactions. Sales Growth Personalised, prompt messaging nurtures prospects and encourages repeat business, driving growth. Scalability & Compliance Manage high volumes of WhatsApp interactions while maintaining auditability and GDPR compliance. Real Growth, Real Fast From customer service and support to proactive sales and marketing, WhatsApp integration with Elisha Telecom enables businesses to: Why Elisha Telecom? Unlike bolt-on integrations, Elisha Telecom delivers native WhatsApp for Business functionality as part of our fully managed UCaaS and CCaaS solutions. We handle everything from deployment, compliance, and optimization, ensuring a seamless experience for your teams and customers alike. With us, your customers don’t just adopt a new channel, they evolve their entire communication strategy for the better so you can enjhoy higher margins and a more trusting customer base. Ready to see how WhatsApp can enhance your business portfolio? Speak to the Elisha Telecom team today at info@elishatelecom.com or call 020 7100 1114 to arrange a demo.

AI-Driven Document Automation: Revenue generating examples from our partners In complex customer interactions, particularly within highly regulated sectors, administrative burden can quickly derail operational efficiency. Elisha Telecom’s AI-Driven Document Automation is designed to turn this persistent problem into a commercial advantage – for you and your customers. How It Works AI-Transcribed Calls Every interaction is automatically transcribed in real-time. Customers have a written copy, along with the audio recording, and can even analyse sentiment and quickly search for operational improvements using Elisha Insights. Auto-Form Population Extracted customer data (name, reference numbers, key details) is mapped into forms or internal paperwork instantly, dramatically reducing the time spent manually entering end-customer data. Key Customer Benefits Plus, end-customers benefit from faster resolutions and fewer calls to right mistakes!  What This Means for Resellers In this highly competitive, low-margin marketplace, resellers can just about ‘get by’ from simply selling connectivity and phone systems. But, even if your prices are competitive, someone will undercut you at some point and let’s face it, the race to the bottom isn’t the ideal way to find profit. With Elisha Transcribe and Insights in your portfolio, you can offer a unique solution that’s completely vendor-agnostic. Plus, you can find additional revenue by charging by the minute for call transcription, bringing back the margins of old. All of which means you can build better brand credibility, reduce customer, and grow your business even faster – what’s not to like?! But don’t take our word for it… Here are a couple of examples of how our reseller partners are helping their customers use Document Automation, powered by Elisha Insights and Elisha Transcribe, to supercharge their operations. Example 1: Financial Services In insurance enquiries, agents often collect sensitive data (e.g. identity verification, compliance disclaimers). Elisha Transcribe captures these details during the call, and populates required fields, and generates transcripts, all with full audit traceability, eliminating the need for manual typing after closing the call, accelerating customer onboarding, and reducing errors. Example 2: Healthcare During patient support helplines advice calls, compliance is essential. Our platform transcribes and pulls structured data (patient name, contact details, case numbers, prescribed dosages etc.) into required medical record forms with minimal input from the agent. This not only saves staff hours but also ensures accuracy for both regulatory reporting and care coordination. Plus, combined with Elisha Insights’ AI sentiment analysis and automated interaction analytics, the customer can also leverage insights into call quality, agent performance, and customer experience at scale. Why Choose Elisha? Elisha Telecom offers this AI-driven documentation automation with decades of telecom expertise – and a vendor‑agnostic, fully managed approach – so you can integrate, deploy, and support AI reliably into customer businesses, without disrupting operations. Plus, our 50-strong team of developers are ready to create a bespoke solution for your customers’ needs, ensuring compliance, real‑time metrics, and continuous improvement no matter the challenge. Let us help you make a dramatic impact in your customers’ time-heavy and regulated workflows. Speak to our team today – book a call or contact us at info@elishatelecom.com or 020 7100 1114 – to see how we can help you automate your document workflows.

AI isn’t just optimising communication—it’s transforming it. From how calls are routed to how emotions are interpreted mid-conversation, Artificial Intelligence is rewriting the rules of business communication. And the best part? You don’t need to be a tech giant to benefit. At Elisha Telecom, we bring enterprise-grade AI tools—like speech analytics, sentiment detection, and predictive routing—into everyday business communications through our ETPBX platform and Elisha Insights. Here’s how AI is turning ordinary conversations into smarter, more strategic interactions. Sentiment Detection: Understand Emotions in Real Time Using advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP), Elisha Insights can detect when a customer is frustrated, confused, or satisfied – as the call is happening. Agents can adjust tone or escalate when needed. Supervisors get alerts for calls that may require intervention. Trends in customer sentiment can guide training and policy updates.   Predictive Routing: Match Customers with the Right Agent Instantly Traditional call routing is random or menu-driven. AI changes that. With predictive routing, calls are directed based on customer history, preferences, and emotional tone—improving first-call resolution and satisfaction. It’s personalisation at scale, built into the backbone of ETPBX. Speech Analytics: Turn Conversations into Insights What are your customers really saying? With speech-to-text transcription and keyword tagging, Elisha Insights enables: Trend tracking (e.g., recurring complaints). Compliance monitoring. Sales opportunity detection.   You move from reactive service to proactive intelligence. Coaching in the Moment AI isn’t just for customers—it helps your team, too. Elisha Insights provides live coaching cues during calls, helping agents improve performance on the spot. Whether it’s suggesting better phrasing or flagging risky language, AI empowers smarter service without micromanagement.   Bring AI Into the Heart of Your Communications The smartest conversations happen when people and technology work in sync. At Elisha Telecom, we make that future real—right now. Whether you’re ready to integrate AI today or just starting to explore, our expert team is here to help you discover what smarter business communication looks like. Book a demo

Automation is powerful—but it’s empathy that builds loyalty. In a world of auto-attendants, chatbots, and voice recognition, many businesses are leaning into automation to streamline operations. But customers still crave real human connection—especially when the issue is complex, emotional, or urgent. At Elisha Telecom, we believe the future of customer communication isn’t just AI-driven—it’s hybrid. Here’s why blending automation with human support is not only smart, but essential. When Automation Works Best AI tools like IVRs and call deflection systems shine when: Customers have simple queries (e.g., balance inquiries, opening hours). Speed is the top priority. Workflows are repetitive and predictable. Our ETPBX platform offers advanced IVR and self-service capabilities that reduce wait times and free up agents for more nuanced tasks. But Here’s the Catch: People Still Matter AI lacks one critical skill: emotional intelligence. No matter how advanced your IVR, there will always be moments when a customer needs: Empathy after a service failure. Nuanced explanation of complex policies. Reassurance during a stressful issue. That’s where hybrid call handling shines, automating the routine, but escalating the emotional. How to Build a Hybrid Model That Works Use Smart RoutingCombine IVR and sentiment analysis (via Elisha Insights) to detect frustration and escalate to human agents proactively. Empower Agents with ContextEquip your team with real-time customer data and AI-generated summaries so they pick up conversations seamlessly. Design for Escalation, Not Just ContainmentMake sure your system enables quick handoffs from bots to humans—without forcing customers to start over. Empathy + Efficiency = Loyalty The companies that win in today’s landscape will master both the machine and the human. With Elisha Telecom’s intelligent UCaaS/CCaaS tools, you don’t have to choose one or the other.  Let’s build a communication experience that feels smart, but never cold. Contact our team to explore hybrid call handling strategies tailored to your business. Talk to a specialist

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant vision—it’s transforming how companies engage, support, and understand their customers right now. But before jumping into AI-powered tools, it’s vital to ask: is your current communication infrastructure ready to embrace this shift? At Elisha Telecom, we believe that the road to intelligent communication starts with a solid foundational understanding of where you are, so you can make the best plan to get where you want to be. With that in mind, here’s how we’d advise you to assess your current setup and prepare for seamless AI integration. Step 1: Audit Your Current Communication Stack Take inventory of your communication tools: PBX systems, CRM integrations, call routing mechanisms, and customer engagement channels (voice, chat, video, etc.). Ask yourself: If your setup is fragmented or overly manual, it may be holding back your AI potential. Step 2: Evaluate Your Data Strategy AI thrives on data—but not just any data. You need quality, context-rich customer interaction data to power accurate insights. With Elisha Insights, we help businesses move from data collection to actionable intelligence, using tools like real-time sentiment analysis and conversation tagging. Step 3: Identify Quick-Win AI Use Cases AI doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Start with manageable, high-impact applications like: Our ETPBX platform makes it easy to activate AI modules without overhauling your system. Step 4: Build for Scalability AI is evolving rapidly. Your system should be flexible enough to adapt as new capabilities emerge. With a cloud-native platform like ETPBX, you get a scalable, future-proof solution ready to integrate with advanced AI tools today and tomorrow. Ready to Futureproof Your Communication? Don’t wait for disruption—get ahead of it. Let Elisha Telecom help you audit your systems and identify AI opportunities tailored to your needs. Schedule your Free Communication Audit with our expert team to get started.

A traditional interactive voice response, or IVR for short, is simply a voice-based menu system used to route calls to the right person. We’d be willing to be that (bar a change to any recordings, mentioning a sale or changes to opening hours), the actual workflow of your IVR hasn’t changed in the last 5 years – would we be right? But after reading this blog, you’ll be chomping at the bit to perform a top-to-bottom revamp of your IVR experience because, believe it or not, the technology is experiencing a true revolution thanks to AI… How are IVR’s evolving? Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling IVRs to better understand your customers – and not just what they say, but how they’re saying it, too – as well as the ability to converse with your customers. Combined, this has widespread implications for businesses where customer communication is key, positively impacting everything from analytics to headcount, bottom lines to customer satisfaction scores. Here’s how… Hands-off resolution AI agents can field basic enquiries and troubleshooting issues with no need to engage with a member of staff, saving them from monotonous queries day after day. They could also reroute queries to other support channels, for example an FAQ on your website or product page. Alternatively, if the information provided by the caller flags the need to direct the call to a human, they could transfer the call immediately. By taking interactions away from your team, you’re saving their time for more nuanced and complex conversations. You could even look to reduce headcount to increase operational agility or reskill team members to fulfil other roles within the business! More efficient routing As Large Language Models (LLMs) have advanced AI systems can better understand what callers are saying, reducing the number of ‘sorry, I didn’t quite catch that’ replies that instantly make caller’s blood boil. They can also better understand a-typical responses, routing callers to the right team more frequently, and shortening the time callers spend on the phone to increase CSAT scores and the chances of them leaving a positive review, too! Operational efficiency increases too, as interactions are resolved quicker, meaning your team members can do more in a day, leading to a significant boost in productivity across the board.   Better customer understanding in-call AI-powered IVRs can analyse not just the words your customers are using, but the tone, pace, and context of their speech in real time. This opens up a wealth of opportunities for tailoring the caller’s journey. If frustration is detected, for example, the system could fast-track their call to a live agent or prioritise it in the queue. On the other hand, a calm tone might signal that the caller is enjoying the experience, prompting the AI to continue assisting without intervention. Either way a conversation goes, the AI is further enhancing customer experience, optimising resource allocation, and creating a win-win for both your customers and your business. Sentiment analysis One of AI’s best features is its ability to ingest information, and find patterns that remain through it all, far quicker than a human ever could and at scale too! For example, you could import all your customer conversations (whether historic or on an ongoing basis) for the AI platform to highlight particular pain points, keywords that lead to a positive resolution, or any other factor you want to look at in closer detail.   Sentiment analysis has the potential to give stakeholders a unique insight into the entire operation – Are product issues causing negative interactions? Why are lines busier at certain times of the day? Why does this agent have a much better CSAT score than another? All of these could be answered in a matter of seconds by sentiment analysis. However, AI solutions are incredibly complex to deploy, requiring a considered approach and integration process to ensure accuracy and prevent them going ‘off the rails’ when an unexpected prompt enters the system – that’s where Elisha Telecoms comes in. We specialise in helping resellers and end-customer businesses seamlessly implement cutting-edge solutions like AI-powered IVR, tailored to their unique needs. Our decades of expertise in writing AI algorithms and personalised approach to deployment ensures you can unlock the full potential of AI, reassured that it’s deployed reliably for maximum impact and no nasty surprises once it goes live. No matter your industry, businesses are not only upgrading their technology, but they’re also reimagining the way they engage with their customers through IVRs. And if you leave it too late, you’ll lose this opportunity to get ahead and differentiate your business from those competitors. Find out how Elisha Telecom can help you usher in a new era of customer communication, blending efficiency with a personalised touch by calling our expert team on 020 7100 1114 to take the first next step in revolutionising your customer experience.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, omnichannel chat – where customers have multiple options for how they interact with your Contact Centre – has cemented its position as a cornerstone of modern communication within contact centres. This dynamic communication strategy empowers agents to manage customer conversations across various platforms like social media and messaging apps, enhancing the customer experience by delivering consistent engagement with customers across multiple interactions. Until now, many of these interactions required third-party apps, making the process less efficient and user-friendly. However, with the introduction of RCS (Rich Communication Services) on iOS 18, a new era of omnichannel communication is set to unfold, revolutionising the contact centre industry. At Elisha Telecom, we have consistently stayed ahead of technological trends, ensuring our clients remain at the cutting edge of communication technology. As this shift to RCS continues, we want to help you navigate and capitalise on this new chapter in contact centre communication, so keep on reading to discover how your Channel business can capitalise on the RCS revolution! What is RCS, and why is it a game-changer for contact centres? For years, RCS has been a feature on Android devices, but its absence on iOS limited its full potential in truly unifying communication. That’s all about to change. Now, with RCS on both Android and Apple devices running iOS 18, there’s no longer a need to juggle multiple apps for messaging – everything will be handled natively within the user’s device, making omnichannel communication faster, richer, and more integrated. RCS offers several key features that elevate it beyond traditional SMS and current messaging apps. This more interactive form of communication delivers features such as: Multimedia supportRCS enables businesses to send images, videos, and even carousels of products within a single conversation. Real-time interactionNo need for customers to refresh apps; RCS messages arrive in real-time, just like traditional SMS. Read receipts and typing indicatorsThese small but significant features give businesses and their customers the transparency they’ve come to expect from modern messaging platforms. Native integrationThe real magic of RCS lies in its native integration, eliminating the need for third-party apps, providing a smoother user experience. What this Means for Contact Centres and the Channel in 2024 and Beyond The introduction of RCS in iOS18 is set to transform the way Contact Centres operate. For example, conversations initiated on social media, WhatsApp, or other apps can eventually shift to RCS natively, reducing the reliance on numerous apps while providing a cohesive user experience. Just imagine being able to offer your customers: Seamless communication across all devices No need for customers to switch between apps, giving them a more consistent experience. Enhanced customer engagement A more engaging and interactive conversations that allows for high-resolution images, product demos, or even troubleshooting videos, to be shared between customers and agents in real-time. Faster resolutionsBy reducing the number of back-and-forth messages and waiting between, RCS can empower your customers’ agents to resolve their customers’ issues more efficiently, resulting in first-contact resolution rates going through the roof! With Elisha Telecom’s at your side, we can help you deliver these changes to your Contact Centre customers, so they can build stronger, more personalised connections with theirs. And, with our cloud-based offerings natively designed to integrate effortlessly with many popular CC systems, we ensuring a smooth and seamless transition to RCS-based communication for all invovled. Preparing your Customers’ Contact Centre for the RCS Revolution Here’s how you can put the foundations in place to ready your Contact Centre customers for the shift to RCS: Upgrade their omnichannel platformsEnsure your current contact centre platform can support RCS. Many platforms, like MS Teams, are already integrating this technology, but it’s essential to check for compatibility. Train their teamsRCS brings new features and workflows that agents will need to familiarise themselves with, from sending multimedia content to managing live conversations in real-time. Help them develop a customer engagement strategyWith the richer communication capabilities of RCS, your experience will be vital in helping them reassess their customer journey and interaction strategies to make full use of the technology – more personalised messages, multimedia content, and real-time problem-solving, etc. Monitor early adoptionAs RCS rolls out on iOS, you’ll be perfectly placed to monitor how it impacts their customer base and translate their results into actionable improvements. Early adopters may see quicker shifts in engagement, so being prepared is key. Partner with expertsAt Elisha Telecom, we specialise in helping Channel businesses and Contact Centres adapt to these shifts. Our solutions allow for seamless integration of RCS into your existing communications strategy, ensuring you remain competitive in a rapidly changing landscape. The future of omnichannel chat is here! The unification of RCS across both Android and iOS is poised to make a significant impact on the Contact Centre industry. If you’d like to deliver richer, faster, and more integrated communication to your customers, and transform the customer experience for the better, don’t hesitate to reach out on 020 7100 1114.

While automation has been key to finding Channel efficiencies for decades, in the last few years, AI has taken the limelight, catalysed by significant advances in Generative AI such as Chat GPT, producing a more conversational AI that better replicates the nuances of true human speech. While ChatGPT may be beneficial in enhancing chatbot services and marketing efforts, there is far more that AI can do to maximize channel margins and elevate the customer experience.  But before Channel businesses rush to incorporate various AI-powered solutions into their portfolios, certain factors must be considered, such as ensuring it increases ROI, establishing how AI will address customer needs, as well as educating customers around what AI is and is not. Promoting AI Through the Lens of Customer Needs The key question resellers must ask themselves is how AI can benefit their customers. Given AI’s relative infancy, adapting what AI is already good at is the best place to start. With that comes a need to educate clients on the practical benefits of AI beyond the buzz. This involves providing insights and education on AI tools beyond what’s commonly known, demonstrating through provable metrics the impact that AI can have in making a meaningful difference in business operations. For example, given AI’s prowess in consuming conversations and analysing them, Sentiment Analysis is a perfect place to start, especially in Contact Centres where the sheer volume of conversations prevents a more manual approach. Contact Centres are also brimming with metrics to highlight – customer satisfaction scores, call durations, repeat customer sales etc. – and if you have an AI-based product that helps boost those figures, then you’re already halfway to a sale! For example, metrics often used to prove the efficacy of Elisha Insights are 100% call coverage and average call evaluation metrics (the assessment of a call’s performance, with 100% being the ‘perfect interaction’) being pushed higher than 90%! Typically, Contact Centres only sample 5% of their total calls for evaluation, given the historical need to manually assess the call, with Elisha Insights, evaluating all call automatically. Not only does this drastically reduce the number of calls requiring manual assessment to just the ones that the AI found problematic, but it also surfaces trends that may not even have been noticed by an entire QA team, with each member analysing subsections of the full dataset. This positive cycle of assessing a higher percentage of calls and being able to extract more accurate insights from the data becomes a positive feedback loop, in turn removing agent challenges and improving agent performance far faster than manual processes ever could! Shifting AI Perception while Increasing ROI AI offers the opportunity for resellers to continue changing how customers perceive and consume IT services, especially as many managed services have already transitioned from one-off costs to subscription-based models. Positioning AI as a managed service, rather than a one-off cost, that delivers consistent gains through improved efficiencies helps to transform resellers into trusted partners rather than mere suppliers. Not only does this provide a more predictable and scalable revenue stream to maximise growth, but it also fosters longer-term relationships, which, in turn, enables resellers to have a more significant impact on customers’ businesses and reduce customer churn. Addressing Fear and Misconceptions Even with all the benefits that AI provides, there understandably remains considerable apprehension about how AI could potentially displace jobs and even entire industries. Resellers and IT providers will play an increasingly crucial role in countering and alleviating these fears by educating customers about how AI should be used to complement and enhance existing staff roles rather than replace them. For instance, AI can be pitched as a means to enhance staff engagement by automating tedious tasks and allowing employees to focus on more meaningful aspects of their work, leading to more positive interactions and a more fulfilling work experience – a win/win for all involved! Reframing Solutions to Client Needs Finally, understanding clients’ processes and pain points is essential for providing tailored AI solutions. Given that Channel customers’ communication challenges, as well as their constant compulsion to grow sales, are influenced by so many factors, selling-in a solution that helps teams be more productive and understand those pressures in greater detail becomes much easier. Identifying areas where AI can effectively resolve challenges, or at least reframing challenges in terms of the benefits that AI provides, ensures that Resellers and IT providers can package and sell AI-based services based on the value they bring to customers’ businesses rather than simply promoting what the product is and assuming the customer will be able to connect the dots themselves. By focusing on these four elements, Channel businesses can ride this tidal wave of AI popularity without making empty promises or disappointing customers to the detriment of their brand and the trust customers put in them. Sentiment Analysis is the ideal entry point to the AI market for most of the industry, as well. So, if you would like to discuss how Elisha Insights, our vendor-agnostic AI-powered solution, can help your customers understand their interactions better and find broad operation improvements, don’t hesitate to email info@elishatelecom.com

For more than four decades, the Microsoft Office Suite has supported business growth via apps that have become ubiquitous with productivity. Constantly evolving with the demands of the modern economy, Microsoft 365 as it’s now known, delivers a cloud-based solution via a monthly subscription, making it more flexible and accessible from anywhere. Not to mention Microsoft Teams, which proved invaluable through the first few years of the 2020’s.  But businesses still demand more, namely integrating Teams, and the rest of Microsoft’s Office Suite, into organisation’s wider operations to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and communications.  This is especially key for Teams, which many businesses want to integrate further into its communications systems, not just for video calling, but for typical voice calls too. Thankfully, it’s straightforward to integrate Microsoft Teams and the rest – with the right expertise of course – and the benefits can be significant!  1.One app for all commsBy adopting Microsoft Direct Calling and Teams Phone – services that enable you to make ‘landline’ calls through teams, you can consolidate all your communication tools into a single platform.  Then your users can make calls, hold meetings, share files and chat seamlessly within the same application, streamlining communication while enhancing productivity with less switching between apps. Adding new users, changing permissions and other management tasks also become easier too! 2. Robust Security and ComplianceAs a ‘Silicon Valley giant’, Microsoft’s products adhere to robust security and compliance standards, leveraging industry-leading technology to keep its data, and yours, secure. These same technologies also ensure your communications are protected and reliably accessible.  This is especially important for organisations that deal with sensitive information and need to comply with industry regulations, such as finance and retail businesses, with the right safeguards already in place. 3. Integration with External Phone SystemsIf your business has already adopted a Unified Communication or Hosted Telephony platform like 8×8, Avaya, Ring Central or Elisha Telecom ETPBX, integration with Teams allows you to blend the two services, providing organisations with the flexibility and cost savings of working within existing phone infrastructure. This makes the transition to Teams far smoother for businesses with diverse communication needs, such as Contact Centres, international organisations as well as start-ups that utilise Microsoft 365 and its broader suite of applications. 4. Data, AI and Automation advantagesAt the other end of the spectrum, business that have adopted Microsoft 365 and more – such as Azure and Power BI data solutions – can ‘unsilo’, or combine the potential of their communications when viewed as part of a whole, alongside the rest of their business data,creating the potential for more insightful reporting and a more accurate ‘birds eye view’ of productivity and performance over the entire operation. Even for SMEs that don’t see a need for Azure and other Cloud Data systems, they can take advantage of Microsoft’s AI capabilities built into Teams, such as transcription services and voicemail-to-text. These dramatically reduce the need for humans to perform menial tasks and enhance efficiency by handling routine tasks, such as call routing. 5. Cost SavingsWith the potential for reduced call costs, less platforms on monthly subscription, or simply getting more value from Microsoft 365 subscriptions, by integrating phone services directly into Microsoft Teams, organisations regularly see a reduction in the costs associated with maintaining their communication systems. Plus, those upgrading from legacy ISDN-based PBX systems that require standalone physical phones on each desk, those business can save even more, removing the need for costly hardware and maintenance expenses. Those same PBX systems may not even require being ripped out and replaced either! Many Teams-compatible systems can also work with existing SIP-based PBX or SIP Trunking solutions. So, whether businesses currently leverage an on-premise or cloud-based PBX, Elisha Telecom can swiftly and seamlessly integrate a SIP-based PBX with Microsoft Teams in a matter of days. If businesses are using a more modern UC, VoIP or CCaaS solution, integrating Teams could be even quicker than that, depending on the size, scope, and complexity of the solution, of course! And no matter the underlying technology, Elisha Telecom will configure and maintain the integration at an affordable monthly cost per user. Having provided enterprise-grade Cloud infrastructure with regional terminations for global capability, Elisha Telecom has the experience to guarantee 99.9% alongside Enterprise-grade SLAs and 24/7 System Technical Support. If that’s the level of support and technical proficiency you’d like your business to enjoy, get in touch with our team today.

As businesses up and down the country look to reenergise and capitalise on New Year opportunities, we wanted to highlight some of the most common communication challenges that we’ve heard from businesses looking to us for support. From finding actionable insights and optimising internal operations to developing a unique customer experience, properly integrating technology into business processes is the greatest enabler of business success in 2024 and beyond – here’s how. How to improve the customer experience For the best possible Customer Experience (CX) you need the right foundational communication services, which will most likely be a Unified Communications (UC) platform, that’s hosted in the cloud. Not only will a hosted telephony solution enable your business to introduce hybrid working, but it will also enable your teams to put all their comms – email, instant messaging, phone, video and more – in one place, for more responsive communications and better overall productivity. Plus, certain providers, such as Elisha Telecom, can work with you to develop custom features that put you ahead of the competition. For example, AA Thornton, a leading intellectual property law firm, tasked us to integrate Microsoft Teams with their ETPBX hosted telephony platform. This integration provided the customer with a unified platform for calls, messaging, and video conferencing, allowing the organisation to significantly streamline internal communication processes across offices and locations. It’s also worth emphasising that introducing hybrid working can have a significantly positive impact on your customer interactions. As agents have more control over their work/life balance and can work from where they’re most comfortable, they’ll be more relaxed and happier, which will have a trickle-down effect to your customers too! You could even help your agents deliver even better experiences by exploring system integrations that help them optimise their productivity even further… Maximising efficiency with integrations Integrations, also known as ‘APIs’ in some circles, help different systems talk to each other. For example, adding a CRM integration into your UC platform will mean all agents can check customer and product information seamlessly, without the hassle of changing applications and navigating multiple systems! Integrations can encompass other business aspects like: By integrating your various systems, your team can focus on one app for most-if-not-all their day-to-day tasks, maximising productivity and reducing operational complexity, while removing some training requirements for even more time saved! Surfacing actionable business insights Finally, businesses need to be able to take a bird’s eye view of their operation and customer interactions, to help highlight the short and long-term challenges faced by staff and customers alike. Thankfully, Elisha Telecom’ ‘Elisha Insights’ solution does just that by ingesting all necessary data and processing it through advanced AI algorithms to surface common phrases and issues mentioned on calls. All data is entirely anonymised before it’s processed, meaning there’s no GDPR implications or worries around data security, and it’s entirely flexible to what a business wants to dig into; common customer complaints, customer sentiment, agent productivity, peak demand and resourcing etc. – so no matter where a business thinks it could improve, Elisha Insights’ will stay loser-focused on that aspect alone.  With these foundational technologies and processes in place, businesses can take an honest look at their operations, find ways to improve and provide their teams with the tools they need to succeed and continue to improve long into the future. So, if you want your business to start 2024 off in the best way possible and overcome its business communication challenges, call 020 7100 1114 or click here to book a time to chat to one of our expert team!