86 INTERVIEW The future is calling Mike Plumer of Altigen Technologies explains how the company can help make the most of the capabilities of Teams Phone BY ALEX SMITH Many enterprises – particularly in financial services – are exploring how they can streamline operations and strengthen security by moving to Teams Phone. To ensure success, they can partner with a company such as Altigen Technologies, which specialises in Microsoft-based communications solutions, says Mike Plumer, vice president of sales. What are Altigen Technologies’ core offerings? Altigen helps organisations leverage Microsoft 365 and Teams Phone to replace outdated phone systems and contact centres. Over the years, we’ve also supported OCS, Link and Skype. With our extensive experience, we’re uniquely qualified to provide everything a company needs to migrate to Teams Phone. How would you characterise the current market for Teams Phone, particularly among organisations already using Microsoft 365? We see 2026 as an inflection point. While Microsoft 365 has seen mass adoption, thousands of those same companies are still using legacy phone systems. For example, we work extensively with banks and credit unions, and while nearly all of them use Microsoft 365, only about seven per cent have implemented Teams Phone. How is Altigen working with financial services organisations to help them better utilise Teams Phone? We serve all types of organisations, but we have a significant presence in financial services through our partnership with Fiserv, the largest technology provider to banks and credit unions. Today, 1,500 of its customers use our Microsoft-based ‘bank by phone’ solution, which has just been enhanced with Microsoft Azure AI, and they’ve begun offering our Teams Phone and Native Teams OmniChannel Contact Centre services. Surprisingly, many banks and credit unions don’t know that Teams Phone can exceed their requirements. We demonstrate how it will meet their objectives cost-effectively while reducing the number of vendors they rely on. We focus on security, business resiliency, compliance, AI and contact centre capabilities. How does Altigen enhance customer interactions within the Microsoft ecosystem? Our CoreEngage contact centre runs natively within Teams and is a certified Microsoft 365 application. It fully leverages Azure AI and supports customer interactions over voice, web chat, SMS, email and social media. Keeping everything within the Microsoft ecosystem makes it easier to maintain security and quality. Altigen is more than a technology provider – we are your partner for everything Teams Phone. Photo: AdobeStock/Danko
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