Microsoft’s release of the Queues App is an admission that native Teams calling wasn't quite cutting it for structured support teams, but that not everyone needs a massive, expensive contact center platform.
The Queues App lands in a very specific middle ground. It adds necessary structure - real-time dashboards, supervisor controls, and agent metrics - without the architectural weight of a full-blown customer experience stack.
If you are trying to figure out if this tool eliminates your need for a third-party contact center solution, here is the honest breakdown of what the Microsoft Teams Queues App does, where it falls short, and who should use it.
What the Queues App does
The Queues App is essentially a paid add-on that comes with Teams Premium licensing. It provides a dedicated workspace for agents and supervisors inside Teams. The core utility is moving call management out of hidden settings and into a managed workflow.
What it brings to the table:
1. Unified agent experience & call control
The goal is to stop the frustrating "app switching". Agents handle inbound calls within the same Teams client they use for chat and meetings. They get clear controls for:
- Opt-in/Opt-out: Agents can easily toggle their availability to receive calls from specific queues.
- Presence-based routing: Calls are intelligently routed based on the agent's current Teams presence (e.g., Available, Busy). This feature ensures calls are distributed effectively and prevents ringing agents who are already in a meeting or on a different call.
- Outbound calling with queue identity: Agents can make outbound calls that display the queue's phone number rather than their personal DID, ensuring consistent customer recognition.
2. Tools for supervisors
With the Queues App, supervisors finally get a window into the live queue activity. Previously, getting real-time visibility into queue volume meant building custom reports on Graph APIs. Now, supervisors get live metrics on service levels and agent availability.
Crucially, it introduces standard coaching features:
- Monitor: Listen silently to the agent’s conversation.
- Whisper: Coach the agent privately without the caller hearing.
- Barge-in/Takeover: Join the conversation to help the agent or assume control of the call entirely.
3. Delegated administration
You can let authorized team leads manage their own queues (adding/removing members, changing greetings, updating auto attendant schedules) without giving them the keys to the entire IT Admin Center. This is a significant efficiency gain, shifting routine tasks away from core IT staff.
Queues app dashboard 🔽
What the Queues App doesn’t do
Microsoft’s positioning of this tool as a "light" contact center means there are critical missing pieces that eliminate it for complex or mission-critical operations.
It's voice only, period.
There is no omnichannel support. If your support strategy involves chat, email, SMS, or social media handled alongside calls, the Queues App won't help you unify them. Your agents will still need separate, third-party software for non-voice channels.
Advanced routing logic
The routing is simple: essentially, calls go to whoever is available, leveraging presence. There is no skills-based routing (matching a customer to an agent based on language or product expertise), no VIP priority queuing based on customer value, and no AI determining which agent is best suited for a specific customer.
CRM and integration limitations
The integration capabilities are minimal. You may achieve a basic record view for incoming PSTN calls if an admin configures it, but you will not get deep, bidirectional integrations. This means:
- No screen pops showing the customer's purchase history upon answer.
- No automatic ticket creation based on call status.
- No data sync with major platforms like Salesforce or Dynamics 365 without custom development.
Reporting is short term
The historical reporting feature is limited to 27 days of data retention. This is the single biggest limitation for any organization required to track trends over quarters or comply with regulations requiring long-term data storage. The lack of "cradle-to-grave" visibility is also a major gap compared to full contact center solutions.
If you need longer retention, you must plan an immediate strategy to pull and store data externally using Graph API or build Power BI reports from day one.
No policy-based compliance recording
You can manually record calls, but there is no native automatic, policy-based recording. If you are in a regulated industry where every call must be recorded and archived, you are required to purchase a certified, third-party compliance recorder that integrates with Teams.
Comparing Queues App vs. Native Teams Call Queues
If you are currently using standard Teams Call Queues, you know the pain points:
- Agents toggling "Do Not Disturb" to hide from calls.
- Supervisors having zero idea why hold times are high.
- Reporting that requires digging through admin logs.
The Queues App fixes the experience layer. The underlying plumbing (Teams Phone) is the same, but the interface changes from "just another phone call" to a managed workflow. Agents can opt-in/out easily, and supervisors can actually supervise.
Licensing and cost considerations
The value proposition here is simple integration, not guaranteed cost savings.
Every agent and supervisor requires three core components:
- A Teams Phone license (so you have voice enabled in Teams).
- A Teams Premium license assigned to the user.
- Voice must be enabled for the user (i.e. the user must be “voice enabled” in Teams admin settings).
For a 50-person team, the Premium add-on alone could add hundreds of dollars per month to your bill. While this is certainly cheaper than the typical $100–$200 per-agent, per-month cost of a full CCaaS seat, it is not a "free" upgrade.
The value exchange is paying a smaller fee for simplicity and single-vendor billing, rather than paying a large fee for maximum features.
Real-world deployment and best practices
Before you roll out the Queues App, consider a few operational warnings:
- Data strategy: Do not wait to implement a long-term data retention strategy. Set up automated exports or API collection from day one, or you will lose valuable historical metrics within the 27-day window.
- Supported devices: The full agent dashboard experience is only available on Teams desktop (Windows/Mac), VDI, and certified Teams phones. There is currently no web or mobile client support for agents to access the full Queues App dashboard.
- Scalability limits: Be mindful of the maximum limits - 200 agents per queue and 200 queues per tenant. Large organizations may need to architect multiple queues and use auto attendants for load balancing to comply with these caps.
- Pilot program: Start small. Pilot the Queues App with one non-critical queue first. Test the supervisor tools and the reporting exports with real call volume to find edge cases specific to your organization before committing the entire help desk.
For full guidance on Contact Center in Teams, read our guide here >>
Making the decision
The Queues App won't transform your contact center but it does corrects a critical limitation in Teams Phone. It is not built to replace enterprise-grade CCaaS solutions like Genesys, Five9, or NICE.
You are not choosing between "Queues App" or "Nothing." The actual choice is:
- Spend less for essential structure: ~$10/user/month for the Queues App inside Teams, handling phone-only, straightforward support.
- Spend more for full complexity: $100+/user/month for a full contact center platform, providing omnichannel, AI routing, deep CRM integrations, and guaranteed compliance recording.
If your call center operations are straightforward - mostly internal or low-complexity external support - this is likely the exact tool you've been waiting for. If customer support is your product, you need to look at a dedicated third-party solution.
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