Summary: Microsoft Teams Phone has evolved from a tool for knowledge workers into a core part of enterprise voice. This guide breaks down the five core personas to consider in planning your next phase of Teams Phone deployment: Knowledge Worker, Pre-Agent, Agent, Frontline Worker, and Common Area. For each persona, it outlines common use cases, voice requirements, and the Teams-compatible services that best support them. This framework helps IT leaders plan sustainable voice strategies beyond basic migrations.
Teams Phone isn’t just a lightweight Microsoft Teams feature anymore. It’s grown up and as part of its evolution, it’s now meeting the reality of how voice operates across modern organizations. That reality is often fragmented, multi-layered, and occasionally just plain awkward, but it’s also where the real business value lives.
On a recent Empowering.Cloud podcast, Tom Arbuthnot and Alistair Pidd from Pure IP presented a framework to explain what Teams Phone can do now to support different distinct users, central to most enterprises.
What emerged was a clear message: Teams Phone is no longer just a tool for knowledge workers. It goes beyond that, with capabilities designed to support the complex users and edge cases that remain.
Teams Phone for every user type
The first wave of Microsoft Teams Phone deployments for any enterprise is generally clean and predictable. Knowledge workers with softphones, headsets, and home offices. Migration by the thousand. Click-click, ported and done.
But once that’s complete, you’re into the second act, the harder part.
This is where Teams Phone starts to earn its place. It must stretch to accommodate legacy workflows, voice-first users, and all the messy, non-standard edge cases that don’t show up on a migration spreadsheet. These are the people and processes that don’t follow the rules, but still expect the dial tone to work perfectly every time.
Teams Phone solutions by user persona
| Persona | Use case | Key solutions | Voice features/devices |
| Knowledge Worker |
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| Pre-Agent |
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| Agent |
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| Frontline Worker |
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| Common Area |
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1. The Knowledge Worker
The knowledge worker is where most Teams Phone deployments begin. They’re everywhere, and they’re easy to bring into Teams Phone. They already live in chat threads, join meetings with a click, and barely notice when you switch out their calling platform. Voice is there when they need it, but it’s not where their work begins or ends. That makes them ideal for the first wave of migration: straightforward, scalable, low risk.
The knowledge worker is the natural place to start, already using softphones, already living in Teams. It’s quick, easy, and familiar. That makes it the obvious entry point for any Teams Phone deployment.
- Tom Arbuthnot, Solutions Director, Pure IP
Common use cases
These users typically work in roles like finance, HR, marketing, or IT — desk-based, cross-functional, and focused on collaboration over communication. Their need for voice is intermittent but requires features like:
- Internal calling to check in with colleagues across departments
- Voicemail to catch missed updates in global time zones
- Basic call handling features like call transfer or forwarding to stay responsive without being tethered to a desk phone
Services that fit (and why):
- Operator Connect – Connects Teams to certified carriers through the Teams Admin Center for fast, scalable setup.
- Direct Routing – Lets you use existing phone systems and customize call flows while still routing calls through Teams.
- Voicemail and call history – Built-in features that help users stay responsive, even across global time zones.
2. The Pre-Agent
This is where Teams Phone deployment starts to get more interesting. Meet ‘pre-agents’, the voice users that don’t fit the script. They’re not sitting in a Contact Center. But they’re handling live customer calls, managing coordination, or reacting to issues as they happen. Voice is how they get things done, not just something they use once a week.
And here’s the challenge: standard enterprise voice doesn’t give them what they need. They need visibility into who’s picking up. Coverage when someone’s out. Lightweight tools that feel like Teams, but function more like a call group.
Pre-agents highlight the danger of under-planning. They’re left out of contact center rollouts and oversimplified in enterprise voice. But they carry the business between the cracks. If you don’t design for them, you design in failure.
- Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, Pure IP
Common use cases
Pre-agent users often work in roles like scheduling, reception, logistics coordination, and office administration — functions that sit between customer support and internal operations. Their work depends on real-time communication and shared visibility.
They require:
- Shared queues
- Group pickup and delegation
- Light-weight routing and presence tools
- Voicemail visibility across the team
Services that fit (and why):
Teams Queues App – Routes incoming calls to groups of users, so no one misses a customer or coordination call.
Group call pickup and delegation – Allows team members to answer each other’s calls or cover when someone is away.
Call routing and shared line appearance – Enables shared visibility and access to key lines for better coordination.
MI-lite reporting via Teams Premium – Provides basic stats on missed calls and volume, without needing full analytics.
3. The Agent
Contact Center agents operate in high-pressure, voice-first environments. Their work depends on reliable routing, real-time reporting, and systems that don’t crack under volume. This is where Teams Phone needs to integrate seamlessly or extend through certified platforms.
Once you hit true Contact Center territory, Teams has a growing ecosystem to support it, but it’s critical to align the solution to the level of complexity. Some can get by with Queues App, others need a full CCaaS stack.
- Tom Arbuthnot, Solutions Director, Pure IP
Common use cases
These users typically work in support desks, service centers, outbound sales teams, and internal escalation units. They require:
- Intelligent call routing
- Real-time dashboards
- Call recording and compliance features
- CRM or ticketing platform integration
Services that fit (and why)
- Certified Teams Contact Center integrations – Purpose-built platforms with routing, dashboards, and compliance tools, all inside Teams.
- SIP trunking to third-party platforms – Connects Teams to established CCaaS platforms like Genesys or NICE, using your current voice infrastructure.
- Compliance call recording – Automatically records and stores calls to meet legal and regulatory requirements.
- Azure Communication Services + Teams extensibility – Allows you to build custom call flows and embed Teams voice into your own tools.
4. The Frontline Worker
Frontline workers are out in the field, on factory floors, in retail aisles. They don’t sit at a desk, and many of them share devices. What they need is access, not a complicated Teams experience.
Common use cases
Frontline workers typically operate in roles such as warehouse staff, retail associates, field service technicians, and healthcare support.
They rely on:
- Shared desk phones
- DECT handsets
- Mobile-first calling
- Simple, reliable calling tools
Services that fit (and why):
- Teams frontline licenses – A lightweight license with just the essentials for workers who don’t need full Teams features.
- Mobile Connect (eSIM) – Extends Teams numbers to mobile phones, even personal devices, without an app.
- ATA integration – Brings analog devices (like intercoms or wall phones) into your Teams environment.
- Shared device support – Allows shift workers to share phones without needing individual logins or configurations.
- SIP Connect - For securely registering non-Teams-certified SIP devices in frontline areas — bridging analogue and SIP endpoints into Teams Phone with minimal reconfiguration
5. The Common Area
These endpoints aren’t assigned to individuals, but they’re critical to business continuity. Lobby phones, warehouse lines, loading dock intercoms, and factory-floor stations all serve functional, operational roles.
Common use cases:
These endpoints support environments where access to voice is required but not tied to a user:
- Lobby and entrance phones
- Emergency contact stations
- Production-line voice stations
- Staff-accessible phones in break areas
Services that fit (and why):
- Teams SIP Gateway – Lets you register older SIP devices (like lobby or warehouse phones) with Teams.
- Native Teams phones – Certified desk phones that work out-of-the-box with Teams, perfect for shared spaces.
- Managed SBCs – Helps connect and manage devices or systems that aren’t natively supported by Teams.
- Simple call routing – Directs calls from shared phones to the right team or person without complex configuration.
- SIP Connect - For enabling shared spaces (like lobbies or meeting rooms) to use legacy SIP phones or other analogue devices within your Teams Phone deployment.
Key takeaways
- Teams Phone isn’t just for desk workers anymore.
- Successful deployments must reflect five core user types.
- Microsoft now offers nuanced tools beyond just dial tone.
- Planning around personas improves adoption and operational fit.
Conclusion
Deploying Microsoft Teams Phone isn’t just a technical migration. It’s a design exercise. One that requires understanding how different roles use voice, where the gaps are, and what services can support them without compromise.
Voice is often the last piece to move, and the easiest to overlook. If you don’t account for how people actually work, the rollout breaks down at the edges. Defining user types brings clarity to complex environments and helps solutions land cleanly.
- Alistair Pidd, Professional Services Director, Pure IP
Whether you’re scaling globally, solving for edge cases, or bringing legacy systems into a cloud-first environment, building around these five personas gives your deployment a framework. It helps IT teams move faster, with less friction, and makes Teams Phone work for the people who rely on it every day.
Get in touch with us for more advice on Teams Phone deployment.
