Using Microsoft Teams as a Phone System

We moved to Circle Cloud just over a year ago because our IT was costing us productivity. There was a lot of downtime and unpredictability, which made running our business harder than it needed to be. Circle Cloud have made things so much more straightforward. Their IT Management Plans are perfect for our needs as a small business. The service is so clear and well designed, we have regular reviews and now have a more proactive and professional provider

As the owner of an accountancy practice, there’s so much to think about. I need to stay focussed on our own products and services and making sure our customers are looked after. That’s why working with Circle Cloud has been perfect. They’ve taken away any concerns I’ve had around information security. The initial 30 day onboarding process made such a big difference, and the support we’ve had since has been excellent.

In our industry it is critical to be constantly focussed on information security. At Accurate Data Services Ltd we always deal with extremely sensitive data, so remaining one step ahead of IS risk is our top priority.  We wanted to work with Circle Cloud because there IS infrastructure design continuously ticks all of the right boxes, can be delivered quickly and is scaleable.  It really is a comfort to everyone in the business that Circle Cloud are there, constantly having our back and making sure that our IS systems are always best in class.

Circle Cloud’s IT Managed Service has been brilliant for us. It really is focussed on the security side of things. That matters a lot. When you think about all the emails and information that get shared on a daily basis, there is always that worry that something important might slip through. But Circle Cloud have put everything in place to make sure we’re safe.

Working with Circle Cloud to implement the transition of our ERP system and SQL server into Azure has been a great choice. They have shown great knowledge of the platform and it's possibilities and have worked closely with us to ensure key project milestones and testing phases were met resulting in a successful and on time go live. Furthermore, they have also offered great advice and help on licensing to ensure costs are kept to a minimum.

We needed to modernise our server infrastructure in order to enhance resilience, as well as improve accessibility for our European workforce.  This is why we decided to move to the cloud, however we needed a supplier that could help us on our journey. We found the perfect technology partner in Circle Cloud, who specialise specifically in the Microsoft Cloud. They moved all our applications and files to Microsoft Azure which has proven extremely robust, ticking all the boxes we needed it to.

As a business we had various challenges from moving a legacy on premise exchange system into hosted Office365 environment. Our Office365 system offers the users almost guaranteed uptime, accessible from any place and device, whilst its management facilities make it easier to monitor and control. The commitment to quality and care by Circle Cloud, provided the management team with assurances.

We needed a telephone system that offered the functionality of a PBX solution. Circle Cloud were the perfect partner to guide us. They demonstrated how Microsoft Teams itself could be used as our full, business-wide telephone solution. They scoped our requirements and migrated our group to Microsoft Business Voice, which bolts seamlessly onto Microsoft Teams.  Our decentralised workforce can now make and receive business calls from anywhere using mobile apps and laptop headsets. This has proven invaluable over the last year and will assist in our future growth. 

As our Customer Care team grew we soon realised we needed to open up forms of contact for our customers. We also needed a system that was flexible and easy to use. As we already used Teams, it felt natural to incorporate Teams Voice and we couldn’t be happier with the result. As a result of Circle Cloud’s recommendations, implementation and training, we now have a happy team and customers.

Circle Cloud’s offer of Office 365 security audits catered for every aspect of the brief, however it excelled in the way it was delivered to us as a customer. The added value area of mapping out detailed next steps alongside flagged areas was highly valued and demonstrated their unique ethos of being able to provide an external sound board/advisory presence and where needed, action change by their internal staff as a commissioned service. Based on the experience we had from Circle Cloud, including value for money, the accuracy and attentiveness from staff, we have now adopted the company as our external consultant for Microsoft cloud technologies.

In November 2021 Circle Cloud were engaged after a shortlisting process, for a time sensitive tenant to tenant domain migration following a business separation- each tenant being wholly separate to the other. Several companies were contacted and their tools assessed, but none could provide a ‘one stop shop’. The expectation was that end users would see no visible difference with regards to experience or content, with the exception of a new temporary password and new MFA registration process. Circle Cloud were able to achieve this within the tight deadline. Denbury Homes are happy to recommend Circle Cloud for Office 365 and Azure Cloud to Cloud migrations, as well as On Premise to Cloud migrations.