Kantar wanted to modernize communication, improve flexibility, and reduce costs by moving from legacy telephony to a cloud-based calling solution.

Kantar was keen to follow an evergreen strategy to ensure its transformation supported its roadmap, providing continuous value without costly updates. The company was going through significant changes, and it was also worried about moving from legacy telephony to the cloud due to integration complexity and possible business disruption. However, it had faith in Orange Business and its integration skills.

As a result of the transformation, the company was looking to unite communications across the organization, simplify multi-location management, reduce costs, and be able to flex when the business flexes.

The project scope included sites that required a cloud-based telephony solution, with some sites requiring local Session Border Control in highly regulated countries.

Microsoft Teams was chosen under the overarching Orange Business Talk banner, incorporating Operator Connect and Direct Routing. This enables full Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) capabilities within Microsoft Teams.

Orange Business provides Microsoft Teams tenant management for voice, ensuring a robust communication infrastructure. This includes the deployment and ongoing operational support of call flows and enterprise voice users, as well as the management of physical IP phones. Furthermore, user management, including moves, adds, and changes (MACs), is fully automated through a bespoke "Orange application" that leverages Kantar’s Active Directory (AD), streamlining administrative tasks. 

Operator Connect is a streamlined, fully managed service that enables Kantar to directly connect Teams to certified telecom operators through the Microsoft Teams Admin Center. This eliminates the need to manage complex telephony infrastructure or on-premises Session Border Controllers (SBCs). It supports automated provisioning and simplified number management via Microsoft 365.

In contrast, Business Talk solutions like Direct Routing are targeted at complex environments requiring customized configurations. They are designed to provide maximum flexibility by enabling organizations to connect to their own Session Border Controllers (SBCs) or specific carriers, for example. This allows for custom call routing and any necessary integration with legacy systems.

Direct Routing’s flexibility provides many benefits to multinationals with compliance needs where local trunking or custom dial plans are necessary, for example.  

Through this hybrid approach, Orange Business offers Kantar the ability to reduce costs while enhancing flexibility and geographic reach by using a hybrid of the two. 

The extensive integration skills that Orange Business has were instrumental in transitioning Kantar from its legacy telephony to a cloud-based Microsoft Teams solution through its Business Talk option. 

• Regulatory compliance
• Secure connectivity
• Interoperability
• Reliability and quality of service