O However, Copilot requires a separate license starting at $30 per month in addition to the qualifying Microsoft 365 and Teams license. Zoom, Dialpad, and other vendors are including many of the same features in existing subscriptions; still, tracking Copilot’s feature developments will be a big topic for UCaaS vendors in the months to come 8 With the rapid-fire changes coming in AI alone, selecting the right UCaaS vendor is a challenge. Decision makers could choose to go to a vendor like Microsoft with its Teams offering — most companies have licenses to an array of Microsoft products. The company can put a lot of money into R&D, too. Its investments in AI companies like OpenAI and Mistral top the $14 billion mark. Plus, it is investing further in infrastructure such as data centers and the incorporation of generative AI into its Office products. So, is Microsoft the way to go for UCaaS? Vendor Selection: Choices and Challenges O In the UCaaS market, customers hear about Microsoft Teams and are frequently asking Trusted Advisors about using Teams for voice service (PSTN). Microsoft’s dominant position in the PC market means Teams is nearly omnipresent. Using it for voice communications outside the enterprise WAN seems like a natural fit — or is it?¡ O O The truth is that Microsoft’s position in the UCaaS market, while significant, is not as unassailable as it might seem. Teams was launched by Microsoft in 2017 and added PTSN calling just a few months after its initial launch. FIGURE 5 Only 6% of Teams users Estimated Teams Monthly Active Users are PSTN-enabled Source: Microsoft Public Data 400,000,000 320 M 300,000,000 300 M 275 M 200,000,000 200 M 110 M 100,000,000 25 M 0 2019 2020 2021 2024 2022 2023 Copyright © 2025 AVANT Communications, Inc. 8