We finally retired our 15-year-old PBX system, moving 150 users to Microsoft Teams Phone. The technical migration was straightforward; the change management was harder than expected.
Why Teams Phone
Our legacy PBX was end-of-life, parts unavailable, and expertise scarce. Options were: new on-premises PBX, hosted VoIP provider, or Teams Phone. Since we're already heavily invested in Microsoft 365, Teams Phone made sense - one less vendor, one less system, unified communications.
The Migration Plan
We used Operator Connect through our carrier for PSTN connectivity. Simpler than Direct Routing, no SBC to manage. Ported numbers in batches over three weekends to limit blast radius.
Phase 1: IT and pilot users (20 people, one week). Phase 2: Sales and customer service (60 people, one weekend). Phase 3: Everyone else (70 people, one weekend).
What Surprised Us
Fax machines: We still have fax machines. Teams Phone doesn't do fax. Solution: cloud fax service that delivers to email. Users adapted quickly.
Analog devices: Warehouse paging systems, door intercoms, elevator phones - all analog. Required ATAs (analog telephone adapters) or replacement with IP devices.
User resistance: People loved their desk phones. The Teams app felt less "real" to some users. We deployed Poly Teams phones for heavy phone users who wanted hardware.
Training Approach
Created short video tutorials for common tasks: making calls, transferring calls, checking voicemail, setting up call forwarding. Held drop-in sessions the week before each migration phase. Published a FAQ based on pilot user questions.
Results
Three months post-migration: call quality scores high, user complaints minimal, monthly cost down 40% from legacy system. Main benefit isn't cost - it's having phone integrated with the rest of our collaboration platform.
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