An update on 3CX’s Microsoft 365 integration had been announced by their CEO, Stefan Walther this month and it makes for interesting reading. 3CX expanded the integration into Microsoft services in their latest version, version 18. This integration included Single-Sign-On via Microsoft’s identity provider, enabling seamless login flows to the Management Console and Web Client as well as integrating straight into Microsoft’s Teams via Direct Routing. Therefore, Teams users can now make and receive calls on 3CX using Teams as the client interface.
But 3CX isn’t going to stop there! They plan to increase connectivity to Microsoft services by adding features that will provide the user with native integration into daily workflows. What are these features, you may be asking? Mr Walther has shed some light on this as well so allow me to explain these planned features.
Cross-Platform Presence
A super useful update announced will be to link your 3CX profile to the Microsoft Teams presence. This will allow users who work predominantly in the Teams app to set the 3CX forwarding rules from their Teams application. The 3CX CEO went on to explain that this will additionally let 3CX know if a Teams user calls another Teams user or if they have just entered a Teams meeting. This will indicate to all 3CX users that that user is currently in a call and the correct forwarding will be applied. The same will apply in reverse. i.e., when a Teams user picks up a call from an IP phone connected to 3CX, users in Microsoft will be informed that that user is on a call. As a 3CX supplier, we’ve already seen this in action on our own systems and can personally say it’s really useful.
Meeting Scheduling 2.0
3CX is already able to control the 3CX status from Outlook calendar events. Soon, they will also be adding a more linked experience for users scheduling a conference bridge or 3CX Video Conference. Once a meeting is scheduled, the event will be created directly in your Outlook calendar. From here you will be able to take control over who to invite, move the date/time or cancel the event altogether while keeping the schedule in sync in 3CX. Furthermore, while scheduling an event the user can be assisted to display already scheduled events on that date to avoid overlapping. Streamlining video conferencing is so crucial for making remote/hybrid working successful so we’re really excited for this update for meeting scheduling.
Group Synchronisation
In order to further limit the administrative overhead of managing two systems, Microsoft Teams groups can be used to replicate user group assignments in 3CX. Teams group owners will be assigned an admin role, and members will be assigned the user role within the 3CX groups. This also allows owners of the Teams group to add and remove users from the Teams group which could have a dynamic effect if a user is to use a 3CX outbound rule or not.
Extension Number Generation
A common request was to control the assigning of a 3CX extension number from the admin portal of Microsoft. Unlike in a local Active Directory, in an Azure Active Directory (AAD), the IP phone field is no longer an easily consumable field. Therefore, to provide a solution for this request, 3CX has now provided an option will be added to use the FAX number in AAD as the 3CX extension number.
We hope you found this interesting. If you did, you might enjoy one of the other insights on the right-hand side of your screen. For regular updates on 3CX, make sure you’re following us on our socials as we always put updates on there when we post a new insight on our website. If you’re interested in talking to a telephone system expert, feel free to get in touch. One of our 3CX gurus would be happy to chat. You can get in touch via phone 0330 205 0250, by email 3CX@spiretechgroup.com or even by our live webchat you can see in the bottom right of your screen.
