Microsoft and Genesys Collaborate to Transform Unified Communication

Never has there been an acceptance as wide as the current use of conferencing software to replace in-person communication. This software is now used as ubiquitously as email or texting for nearly every business and individual.

Microsoft Teams has risen as the gold standard for video conferencing and collaboration among many businesses. Similarly, Genesys continues to be the leader for the contact center space. These two technological giants have joined forces to integrate the Genesys Cloud platform with Microsoft Teams, providing a complete solution for customer engagement and collaboration.

Enable Direct Routing Through Microsoft Teams

Microsoft has always had Teams direct routing for carrier connectivity, but it is now possible to connect this to Genesys Cloud. This allows dialing between Teams users and the agents on Genesys and uses Teams endpoints as a Genesys softphone. This is accomplished through integration through a physical or virtual SBC and routing between the two platforms.

Avtex utilizes Teams as our communication platform and has been dialing between our business users and agents on Genesys Cloud to allow complete communication across the organization. We understand the value of this integration and its power to unify our teams across business units when working on different projects.

Creating a Unified Communications Environment

Microsoft Teams direct routing and calling between platforms is a significant advantage of utilizing this system with Genesys. Unfortunately, there are problems with this arrangement, mainly that users on each system cannot tell when someone on the opposite system is available to take a call. This means the contact center is not aware of when an agent is on a Teams call when they pass an ACD call, and that agent is not available.

Genesys has been working with Microsoft since late last year to create a solution for this by allowing sync of presence and status between Teams and Genesys Cloud. This serverless integration lets users on Genesys Cloud see the activity status of Teams users and syncs that status with their Teams status, so the system knows when they are unavailable to take an ACD call. This required extensive API work by both companies and specialized services in the cloud to ensure constant and accurate sync between the platforms.

Once released, this integration will be the tightest and most effective solution for a cloud contact center solution. Combined with the power of Teams, it offers companies the best of both unified communications and powerful customer engagement working together as a single, cohesive environment for all.

The Future of Collaboration

The future of Genesys and Microsoft collaboration is one to bring innovation to the desktops of all contact centers. Allowing embedded Genesys Cloud controls in Teams and enabling full control of Teams endpoints inside the Genesys Cloud user interface transforms every contact center's potential.

Future developments will also include the extension to the Microsoft Power Platform, including Virtual Agents, taking advantage of Teams conferencing for Genesys Cloud users, and using Genesys Cloud as the IVR for Teams. You can be sure that Genesys and Microsoft will continue to alter the unified communication and cloud contact center space through this innovation.

As a leading partner to both Genesys and Microsoft, Avtex is thrilled to join them in supporting the transformation of the contact center space. We will be there to help contact centers with the design, implementation, training, and customization of these systems to meet your business needs.