So what is it and what does it replace?
Well the new Cloud PBX system is there to replace your current physical phone system, the overall theory is that you can now manage your phone system, E-mail and other services from the 365 Admin Panel and have users calling off the SFB application with out a physical phone on there desk or using a 3rd party supplier to provide the PBX part of the phone system. And actually in theory it sounds brilliant. I've spent many times as an Help Desk Engineer trying to strangle myself with a phone cord whilst on the telephone to a 3rd party PBX supplier just trying to get them to change a password. The potential to be able to manage all your services from a single control panel is music to any Network Administrators ears, especially if they've already invested in the 365 family of products.
Is it easy to set up?
Well that depends on where your migrating from and what kind of system you already have. If you have users with an E3 subscription or above its two additional licenses and finding the time to port your phone numbers over and that pretty much it, having said that if you live in the UK or other parts of Western Europe the porting form leaves much to be desired and can be a tad confusing if you've never done a number port before, but it can be done. Once you have everything in place it runs smoothly and fits in nicely with the rest of your MS products
Where will it work?
If you live in North America, The UK or most of the rest of Europe then yay for you! At the time of writing this most of the countries listed have all of the options available to them. Because this is a cloud based solution I would suggest reading the MS website as the can change quite rapidly. You can find all the information here: https://products.office.com/en-us/skype-for-business/cloud-pbx
Will it actually replace my phone system?
Short answer, yes!
Long answer, yes but only if your invested into 365 and cloud based solutions. If your still hanging about in a server room with a 2003 exchange complaining about the fact that all the new MS GUI's are now all colourful and its not all grey "Like back in the good ol' days" them I'm afraid this isn't for you. Once you have your licenses and phone numbers, that it. Your good to go. No additional hardware needs to be brought. Its even a synch to role out to users, just make sure they've got their SFB app installed on their computers and even mobiles if you want to be that connected and tell them to log in with their domain credentials (Someone will still say the password that they've been using for the past 6 months won't work suddenly because its new and different but I suppose we can't win at everything).
Are there any downsides?
Again if your using 365 already, then not really for a small to medium business. The only problem that I've come across was the fact that one of my number ports got rejected because I used the wrong font. No, seriously. That actually happened.
Overall Summary:
If you are a small to medium sized business who has or are looking to heavily invest in 365 Cloud based IT Solutions then this product is for you, but only if you live in the Western Hemisphere. I imagine Microsoft will up its availability at some point, when you ask? How long is a piece of string, they seem to busy taking on Facebook with Delve and Yammer, yeah good luck with that one lads.
In all fairness its a decent bit of kit which will replace your phone system, its still new-ish with room for improvement but hey don't listen to this idiot. Try its out for yourself, you can get a 30 day trial to try this. I'd recommend giving it the time of day though.
