How to Migrate from Avaya to Microsoft Teams?

Avaya has a long history in the communication vertical and has been the natural choice of enterprises for unified communication solutions for several years. It offers a wide range of tools, services, and platforms for cloud communications and workstream collaboration. Although Avaya is one of the largest telephony solutions in the market, a significant segment of the customers is switching to Microsoft Teams for their IP-based collaboration, video, and team communications needs. In this article, we will focus on migrating from Avaya to Microsoft Teams.

What Are the Advantages of Migrating from Avaya to Teams?

As a part of the Microsoft 365 suite, Microsoft Teams is a convenient tool for businesses and professionals to communicate whenever and however they choose. Here are some of the advantages of migrating from Avaya to Microsoft Teams.

• Microsoft Teams benefits from the end-to-end integration with other Microsoft 365 products and services. This is beneficial to businesses and enterprises that are already using the suite.
• It offers best-in-class video and audio-conferencing capabilities along with artificial intelligence (AI)-based in-line translation and transcription.
• Microsoft Teams offers excellent search performance, allowing users to find files and conversations quickly.
• The high level of privacy and security capabilities in Microsoft Teams is unparalleled.
• It offers business phone and direct routing capabilities allowing businesses to integrate Teams with existing infrastructure and third-party services.

How to Migrate from Avaya to Teams?

A migration between telecom platforms can be complex and requires significant experience and planning. Here is a summary of the process involved in migrating from Avaya to Teams.

• Inventorying the Existing Environment

  The first factor to consider before migrating from Avaya to Teams is to understand the key components of the existing solution. Businesses should be able to generate reports detailing some of the following factors.

  • Number of users requiring dial-in capabilities
  • Costs associated with calling plans
  • Organizational structure and features required for daily operations
  • Voicemail system setup
  • Type of hardware such as desk phones
  • Contracts and warranties

• Understand Business Requirements

  With the information gathered from these reports, businesses will be able to plan for the solution to be implemented with Teams. It should now be able to calculate the bandwidth requirement based on usage, assess the compatibility of the phones and other hardware, and identify how users will leverage various features in Teams. All this data can be used in selecting the appropriate Microsoft Teams plans and customizing the solution.

• Designing Collaboration Environment in Teams

  Avaya offers different solutions that vary in terms of features and capabilities. Features in older Avaya systems might not have matching capabilities in Microsoft Teams, and businesses might have to re-think how they can utilize the expanded set of collaborative tools in the Microsoft solution. Additionally, Teams supports a wide range of third-party integrations. In some cases, businesses might have to implement third-party solutions to extend the capabilities of Microsoft Teams.

• Transferring Users and Data from Avaya to Teams

  Once the blueprint of the solution is designed, a cost analysis can be performed followed by the migration from Avaya to Teams. At this stage, it is time to communicate the intention to transition from Avaya to Teams to end-users. After the users are familiar with Teams, port the numbers to Microsoft, if it is a part of the plan. Assign appropriate Office 365/ Microsoft 365 licenses and add-ons to users that have to be migrated to Teams. Finally, move users and their content from Avaya to Teams.

Apps4Rent Can Help with Avaya to Teams Migration

There are different methods of migrating from Avaya to Teams. Some Avaya services also integrate with Microsoft products allowing users greater flexibility. Regardless of the approach, migration between telecom platforms requires research, planning, methodology, implementation, and continuous monitoring, which is true of Avaya to Teams migration as well.

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, Apps4Rent has deep expertise in migrating business phone systems to Teams. We can provide appropriate Microsoft 365 licenses and customize the solution based on business requirements. Contact our Microsoft Teams specialists, available 24/7 via phone, chat, and email for assistance.