Virgin Media O2 Business has announced it will offer Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile as part of its business collaboration portfolio, in a move to empower business customers to easily switch between mobile and desktop Microsoft Teams calls.
In essence, Virgin Media O2 Business says the combined offering – available immediately to large business customers with more than 250 employees – is designed to boost workforce productivity across office and field-based roles by giving employees access to the tools they need on the go, making and receiving Microsoft Teams calls from their mobile device.
With a single phone number or Teams ID, Teams Phone Mobile is built to allow users to make and receive calls over traditional mobile, app-based or desktop calling.
The integrated experience includes mobiles in Teams calling services, allowing employees to extend “in a call” status, access call history and voicemail across devices for ultimate flexibility. This provides easy access to data in a secure and compliant manner, wherever employees are working.
In addition to providing employees with flexibility to take calls from anywhere, Virgin Media O2 Business claims the service offers a 225% return on investment, productivity gains and service streamlining. It says businesses can also cut costs by consolidating mobile services and reducing hardware costs, moving away from public switched telephone network (PSTN) systems before they’re phased out in 2027.
Other benefits claimed by Virgin Media O2 Business include the ability for users to switch between cellular network and internet calls without dropping calls or interruptions, keeping conversation quality high wherever they’re working.
The operator also assured it could offer enterprise-grade security, privacy and policy controls on the go, while allowing integration with compliance services.
In making the announcement, Virgin Media O2 Business stressed that, working with PingCo, it was the UK’s only operator offering the Teams Calling Automation Portal, enabling organisations to deploy and activate users “within minutes”.
The tool is designed to streamline administrative tasks by providing a centralised management interface where IT administrations can provision, configure, and manage phone numbers and calling features across the organisation.
“There are hundreds and thousands of field workers across the UK – from social workers to consultants, insurance assessors to field engineers – all of whom need unified solutions to do their best work on the move,” said Jessica O’Connor, product director at Virgin Media O2 Business.
“With Teams Phone Mobile now available to our customers,” she said. “Virgin Media O2 Business is giving these workers the seamless, secure solution they need to do their best work anywhere. Businesses are empowered to make vital cost savings, all while benefitting from enhanced productivity and responsivity.”
Mark Nixon, director of modern work at Microsoft UK, added: “Teams Phone Mobile offers a next-level calling experience for Microsoft 365 customers, ensuring seamless collaboration, agnostic of device or location. Our ongoing collaboration with Virgin Media O2 Business further expands these capabilities across the UK, making it even easier for businesses to meet the needs of the modern workforce.”
