How Giacom is supporting its partners through the biggest technological change in decades

Leading IT and communications provider Giacom has launched a new campaign to showcase the powerful proposition Microsoft Teams Phone offers to businesses.

Openreach’s Stop Sell In September 2023 and the impending 2025 Switch Off is the biggest technological change the Channel has seen for decades.

As businesses transition from old copper-based services to a fully digital network, there is a significant opportunity to drive productivity and integrate voice and video calls into one simple, efficient platform. With over 50% of SMBs using Microsoft 365 and utilising Microsoft Teams on a daily basis, there is huge potential to maximise Microsoft profits by selling Microsoft Teams Phone to customers.

Microsoft Teams Phone provides businesses with a simplified yet rich, unified collaboration and communication solution, enabling people to stay connected while working from any location – whether in the office, at home, or on the move.

Giacom is uniquely positioned in the UK Channel to support the migration to Cloud-based communications services like Teams Phone. Its in-house team of experts can help partners make the most of the opportunities Teams Phone presents, in turn providing maximum value to their customers.

Giacom’s new and improved Cloud Market platform makes it easy for partners to buy and manage all of their products in one place, and Giacom is the only distributor to offer all three options to deliver Teams Phone – Direct Routing, Operator Connect and Calling Plan.

Claire Makin, Head of Voice Portfolio at Giacom, said: “Openreach’s Stop Sell marks a significant milestone in communications, as we phase out analogue telephone services in the UK and welcome a new digital era of telecoms ahead of the PSTN Switch Off in December 2025.

“The transition from traditional analogue methods of communication to a fully digital network brings with it exciting opportunities for businesses to drive productivity, efficiency and growth.

“One of those big opportunities is MS Teams Phone, which enables businesses to bring all of their voice and video calls into one place, saving time, reducing costs and improving performance.

“At Giacom, we’ve got the people and the tools to help make the move to MS Teams Phone as smooth and simple as possible. We’re perfectly positioned to support MSPs with the migration of customers to modern IP phone systems, and Operator Connect allows businesses to unlock the full potential of Teams in a flexible and cost-effective way, while we can help get them to market quickly.”

Giacom has been supporting and raising awareness to its partners in the transition to Cloud-based solutions such as Teams Phone since 2018, when Openreach announced the PSTN Switch Off would take place in 2025.

In December 2025, the UK’s traditional, copper-based telephone network will be switched off, as the country moves to a fully digital network.

A significant milestone in the transition came in September this year, when Openreach stopped selling new copper products and services to customers.

Giacom is one of the only providers in the Channel which can offer partners a full suite of communication products to enable the digital transformation and support with UC and Microsoft experts for Teams Phone.

With 30 years of experience in the communications sector, Giacom is a Microsoft Gold Partner, with thousands of IT businesses using the provider to resell Microsoft products.

While the migration from copper services to a digital network was already underway, the Covid pandemic in 2020 hugely accelerated the transition.

Claire said: “Covid forced businesses to think differently about the way they were communicating.

“When the pandemic arrived in 2020, businesses went from being largely office-based to spending their days on platforms like Microsoft Teams.

“What Teams Phone offers is a way to combine the video calling service, which many of us are now very familiar with, and their existing voice calling network.

“Microsoft has worked hard in recent years to develop and expand Teams Phone, responding to customers’ requirements and needs. It’s a really strong, rounded product and at Giacom we’re perfectly placed to help partners gain the maximum benefit from Teams Phone.”

Giacom’s focus is firmly on supporting its partners to ensure they have all the tools and support they need to best serve their customers.

Giacom offers simple, monthly billing to customers for all of its cloud services, with its tech support team on hand to provide rapid, reliable assistance.