Voice doesn't need a separate vendor.

The honest rule of thumb. Operator Connect suits most organisations. You pick a Microsoft-certified operator in the Teams Admin Center, there is no session border controller to deploy and no on-prem voice infrastructure to maintain. Direct Routing is the path when you need PBX coexistence, custom routing logic or specific in-country number ranges an operator cannot carry. It uses a SIP trunk and an SBC, so it carries more control and more to run. We assess your network, your number ranges and your coexistence needs, then recommend one. Most SA mid-market lands on Operator Connect.

Yes, in almost every case. Fixed-line and DDI ranges port into Teams Phone. The SA-specific reality is lead time and process. ICASA rules, operator paperwork and cut-over windows mean porting is planned in weeks, not days, and run in waves over a weekend per range. Where a range cannot port cleanly, we map new ranges and a forwarding plan so no caller hits a dead number. The porting plan is part of the readiness review, costed and dated, before any cut-over.

Fair, and it is the first thing we test. Teams Phone call quality depends on the network path, not the Teams app. The readiness review measures bandwidth, jitter, packet loss and QoS end to end before a single user moves. We design the network for voice, set QoS policies, and validate on the pilot group on live calls. Call-quality telemetry runs from the moment each call connects, so a degradation shows on the dashboard before a user logs a ticket. We gate rollout on the pilot proving quality, not on a promise.

Emergency calling is configured per site and per user, mapped to a dynamic or static location so an emergency call routes correctly and carries the right address. This is part of the design stage, not an afterthought, because a mobile-first voice estate changes how location is determined. We document the emergency-calling design and test it before go-live. It is one of the checks that separates a properly deployed Teams Phone estate from a licence someone switched on.

Yes. Microsoft-certified Teams Rooms devices and handsets are part of the design. The meeting room dials out and receives calls on the same number plan as the desktop and the mobile app. Device choice, provisioning through Intune, and call-quality validation on room hardware are part of the pilot and rollout. One identity reaches the user whether they are at the desk, on the mobile app or in the boardroom.

The honest baseline first. PBX maintenance contracts, SBC licensing, telco minutes, line rental and the hardware refresh cycle, against Teams Phone licensing plus the calling plan or Operator Connect minutes. The saving is usually real, but it is specific to your estate, so we cost the baseline before we claim it. The softer case. One vendor instead of a PBX maintainer plus a telco plus an integrator. One bill, one SLA, one number that follows the user. We name the rand figure in the readiness review, not in the brochure.

Compliance recording, call analytics and voice telemetry sit in your Microsoft tenant, on Microsoft Azure South Africa where data residency applies, governed by Microsoft Purview retention and access policies. Braintree designs the recording and retention posture to your POPIA obligations and manages it from SA-resident workstations under POPIA-compliant access controls. A voice estate that records customer calls is a POPIA surface. We treat it as one, from the design stage.

Three answers. Credentials. Braintree is one of nine Microsoft Managed Partners in South Africa. 220+ SA clients. 100+ Microsoft-certified professionals. 10+ years on the Microsoft estate. Depth. We run the operator side and the user side, Operator Connect or Direct Routing, with the network and emergency-calling design a telco rarely touches. Continuity. Voice sits under the same One Intelligent Agreement as your Microsoft 365, security and support, run by the same SA team. A telco sells you minutes. A reseller sells you licences. Braintree brings the dial tone and runs it.