Set Up Click-to-Call in Dynamics 365 Sales with Microsoft Teams
Introduction
Incoming call alert in Dynamics 365 Sales
One of the many reasons I work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform is how easily it integrates with other Microsoft products. Products that many businesses already utilise: Outlook, SharePoint, Power BI and OneNote to name a few. These integrations often only require some basic configuration changes to get up and running as opposed to timely and costly technical integrations. As a result, return on investment can be greatly accelerated compared to rival platforms. In this post we'll look at the easiest way to configure Teams calling within Dynamics 365 Sales which allows users to click to dial external numbers (ie, landlines and mobiles) from both records and views. After the call ends a phone call activity is automatically created and displayed on the timeline of the related record. In addition, if a call is received whilst using Dynamics 365 Sales, the dialler is automatically displayed on screen and, if the phone number is associated to a record within the system (ie, Lead, Account, Contact), the records are displayed in the dialler allowing users to navigate to the appropriate record before or whilst answering the call.
Prerequisites
This functionality is only available to organisations and users with one of the following licenses:
Dynamics 365 Sales Professional
Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise
Dynamics 365 Sales Premium
In addition, users will also require a Teams license and a suitable Teams Calling Plan.
Microsoft Teams Phone & Calling Plan Options
In order for users to call external numbers in Teams, users must have a Teams Calling Plan and a telephone number assigned to them.
Whilst it is possible to connect an existing telephone system to Teams from an external provider, which allows users to utilise existing telephone numbers and tariffs, this post will focus on a Microsoft-only approach. The Microsoft Teams Phone Standard listed below is for businesses with an existing telephone system they wish to integrate. This won't be covered in this post. The pay-as-you-go plan requires you to buy calling credits and then you only pay for calls you make. The domestic calling plan is inclusive of domestic calls, and finally international calling which, as the name suggests, is inclusive of both domestic and international calling.
Microsoft Teams Calling Plan Options (accurate October 2024).
Calling plans can be purchased from the Microsoft 365 admin center. Head over to there and select Marketplace from the menu. In the Marketplace use the search box to search for Microsoft Teams Phone. Click Details to go through to the available plans.
Browsing Marketplace for Microsoft Teams Calling Plans
In this example I have selected Teams Phone with domestic calling (country zone 1 - UK/Canada). Note: Monthly subscription lengths result in a slightly higher amount compared to yearly subscriptions.
Selecting an appropriate Microsoft Teams Phone Calling Plan
Assign Calling Plan to Users
Once the appropriate number of licenses have been purchased, these can then be assigned to users. You can do this within the Microsoft 365 admin center by navigating to the user and then selecting the license. Alternatively this license may be assigned to an Microsoft Entra Group and then users who require a license can be added to the group.
Assigning Teams Phone license to user.
Get phone numbers
Next, you'll need to get a landline number for each user, which is included in the calling plan. To do this head over to the Teams admin centre. Select Phone numbers from the Voice menu and then click add.
Adding Telephone numbers in Microsoft Teams Admin Center.
Clicking Add will guide you through a process where you can select the country, region and quantity of numbers to request. Numbers may be generated for any region. For example, if you wanted a central London number it would be possible to generate a number with the London area code, even if you reside in Cornwall. Once done you'll have 10 minutes to confirm that you're happy with the generated phone numbers. After this the numbers will be ordered by the system and within a minute or so will be available to assign to users.
Assign Numbers to Users
Once the numbers have been ordered they will appear in the phone numbers list in Teams admin center. Select a phone number and then click on Edit. This will allow you to assign that number to a particular user.
Assigning Telephone Numbers to Users
Once numbers are assigned to users ask them to log out of Teams and then sign back in. If all is configured correctly you should see the dialler when Calls is selected from the menu.
Dialler within Microsoft Teams
Enable Teams Calling in Dynamics 365 Sales
Now head over to the Sales Hub in Dynamics 365. Change the area to App Settings and select Teams calls from the menu. On the right-hand side select to enable Teams calls, as shown below. Check the other options below this and enable those required. Of particular note is enabling to Call from views. This may be handy if you have a list of records you wish to call, such as for a telemarketing activities.
Enabling Teams calls in Dynamics 365 Sales Hub
Once all desired settings have been selected click Publish at the bottom.
Call from dialler
Once published any logged in users will need to do a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5) of their browser window to see the Teams dialler appear on the menu on the right-hand side. Clicking this will open the dialler pane. From here you can search directly for contacts to call in the search box.
Teams Dialler now visible within Dynamics 365 Sales
Call from records
Clicking the phone icon next to any telephone number will automatically open the Teams dialler and call the displayed number.
Click to call Action Button
Call from views
Providing this option was enabled in Sales Hub App Settings, it is also possible to dial a number directly by clicking on a telephone number within a view.
Clicking to dial from views
Viewing call notes
You'll note that when the call has been answered the notes section below the dialler becomes editable. Here users can add any notes regarding the phone call. Ie, what they discussed, any follow-up actions, etc.
Once the call has been completed the phone call activity will automatically appear in the record’s timeline.
Phone Call Activity displayed in timeline. Click the highlighted icon to see more details.
Clicking open record will open the phone call activity and then clicking the Notes tab will display any notes entered on the call. These notes can be made available for all other users to see.
Viewing Telephone Call Notes
Receiving incoming calls
When receiving incoming calls from a number that is stored against a record, the dialler will display the first five records that the number is matched to. Users may then click on the record link in the pop-up to open the record, giving the user context on the caller before they've even answered.
Receiving incoming call dialog within Dynamics 365 Sales
Note: When receiving an incoming call with both Teams Desktop and Dynamics 365 running, an incoming call dialog is displayed for both. In such a scenario the call should be answered from the Dynamics pop-up.
Conclusion
In this post we looked at the easiest way of integrating Teams Calling with Dynamics 365 Sales to enable external dialling and the automatic creation of phone call activity records. This can be set up in as little as 15 minutes and is suited for new or smaller businesses with limited existing telephone infrastructure.
In a future post we’ll look at how recording with real-time transcription and insights may also be enabled for calls. This feature provides users with AI-powered insights, action lists and call summaries during and after the call.
Further Reading
Configure Microsoft Teams dialer in Dynamics 365 Sales | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft Teams Calling Plans - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
Plan your voice solution in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
