Contacts-App for Microsoft Teams
C4B is going new ways. In addition to its UC complete solution XPhone, the communications specialist now has a native app for Microsoft Teams in its portfolio. With "Contacts by XPhone", C4B is capitalising on its core competence: the integration of third-party applications for contact search and caller ID in Microsoft Teams.
Germering, 11 June 2024. The Microsoft Teams app store has a new addition: with "Contacts by XPhone", a solution is now available that allows Teams users to access all of their company's contact data. The contacts are not only available via free text search in compliance with data protection regulations, but are also used to identify incoming calls. The annoyance of "unknown callers" that Teams users often have to deal with these days is now a thing of the past. All Contacts functions can be used both on desktop and on a smartphone.
The creator of the Contacts by XPhone app is the Germering-based UC specialist C4B Com For Business. To date, C4B has been known in the communications market primarily for its UC complete solution XPhone Connect. With the Teams app, the software manufacturer is now going new ways and at the same time capitalising on its core competence of connecting and integrating a wide range of data sources into communication.
"Microsoft Teams is meanwhile a very good product. A product we are now making even better," explains Oliver Ciupke, who has headed the business at C4B since the beginning of the year.
No more unknown callers
With the new Contacts app, C4B wants to significantly increase the usefulness of Teams and improve the daily work routine of Teams users. "Who answers the phone these days when an unknown number calls?" asks Ciupke, and immediately answers his own question: "Nobody." But in the business environment, missed calls are often missed opportunities, if not lost leads. C4B wants to put an end to this with its app.
The Contacts app itself is hosted in Microsoft Azure. The data connector, on the other hand, which can be used to connect various applications or data formats such as CSV, TXT or LDAP, is installed on-premises. This way, data protection is assured.
"The key thing for us was to provide a native Teams app," reports Ciupke. "For large companies and corporations in particular, anything else would be a no-go, because only certified apps are permitted here."
This is also where C4B sees its market. Contacts by XPhone is scalable and can therefore be used in companies of any size. Billing is based on a subscription model that is scaled according to the number of users and data sources.
Positive response from the channel
What does the channel think of C4B's new plans? "This was an exciting and important question for us," reports C4B Sales Manager Anna Schleipfer-Chakhchouk. In recent months, her team has been on tour across Germany to present the new product to focus partners. "The response has significantly exceeded our expectations. Both our sales partners and our distributors are very interested in adding Contacts to their portfolios."
C4B has always seen itself as a manufacturer-independent provider that gives system houses the flexibility they need. In the current volatile situation, this is a strong argument for ICT partners, says Schleipfer-Chakhchouk: "With the Contacts app, our partners can address customers who are pursuing an MS Teams strategy but do not want to forego extensive contact data integration. Or companies that in parallel to Teams need a solution for telephone-intensive departments for which the Teams features are not enough."
Integrated telephony without PSTN costs
Another advantage is that employees can use the Contacts app to make calls directly in MS Teams with a third-party application such as XPhone. Companies would thus save on licences for PSTN telephony and still have a fully integrated telephony solution.
"With Contacts by XPhone, our sales partners can position themselves even more broadly," Oliver Ciupke is certain. "We are very much looking forward to working with the channel to address a completely new market segment."