Microsoft Teams has become the default workplace for internal communication across Irish businesses of almost every size. Chat, video meetings, file sharing, project collaboration — most teams are already in Teams for most of their working day.
The logical next step is adding business calling to it. Instead of switching between Teams for internal communication and a separate phone app for external calls, your team handles everything — internal and external — from a single application.
This guide explains your options for adding a phone system to Microsoft Teams, what each costs, and why most Irish SMBs are better served by connecting an existing phone system to Teams rather than buying Microsoft’s own calling solution.
Why Not Just Use Microsoft’s Native Calling?
Microsoft offers its own calling solution for Teams — Teams Phone with Calling Plans. On the surface, it seems like the obvious choice: you’re already paying for Microsoft 365, so adding calling natively feels like the simplest path.
In practice, it has significant limitations:
It’s expensive per user. Microsoft’s Calling Plans require a Teams Phone licence plus a Calling Plan on top of your existing Microsoft 365 subscription. For a team of 20, this adds up quickly — and every user who needs to make or receive external calls needs a full licence, regardless of how many calls they actually make.
The PBX features are basic. Microsoft’s native calling offers simple IVR menus and basic call queues. Advanced features — multi-level IVR, round-robin and longest-idle call distribution, visual call flow designer, time-based routing with holiday schedules, call recording without additional licences — either aren’t available or require expensive add-ons.
No resilience when Teams goes down. If Microsoft has an outage — which happens — your entire communications capability goes with it. There’s no failover to a desk phone or mobile.
Hardware restrictions. Microsoft’s native calling only works with Teams-certified hardware. If you have existing SIP desk phones (Yealink, Cisco, Poly), they won’t work without replacement.
You’re locked into Microsoft’s calling rates. International calling in particular is expensive through Microsoft’s own plans, with high per-minute rates that don’t reflect competitive VoIP market pricing.
For a 20-person team, adding Teams Phone licences and Calling Plans to an existing Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription can cost significantly more per user per month than connecting an existing VoIP system to Teams — while getting fewer PBX features in return.
The Better Approach: Connect Your Phone System to Teams
Rather than replacing your phone system with Microsoft’s calling solution, you connect your existing — or new — VoIP phone system to Teams. Your team makes and receives business calls directly inside the Teams interface, but the call infrastructure, phone numbers, routing logic, and PBX features all live in your phone system, not in Microsoft.
This approach gives you:
- Full Teams calling experience — your team never needs to leave Teams to handle a call
- Advanced PBX features that Microsoft’s native calling doesn’t support
- Your existing business numbers, kept without any changes
- Competitive calling rates through your VoIP provider, not Microsoft’s margins
- Resilience — if Teams goes down, calls failover to the Dromlik app or a desk phone automatically
- Freedom to use any SIP-compatible hardware, not just Teams-certified devices
Two Ways Dromlik Connects to Microsoft Teams
Option 1: Direct Integration
The simplest method. Each team member installs the Dromlik for Teams app directly inside their Microsoft Teams client. This embeds the Dromlik web client as a tab within Teams — no middleware required, and critically, no Teams Phone licence or Calling Plan is needed.
Users log in with their Dromlik extension credentials (or their Microsoft account via single sign-on) and can immediately make and receive calls, view call history, play voicemails, and access call recordings — all without leaving Teams.
Requirements: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, or Business Premium (or E1/E3/E5). No additional Microsoft calling licences required.
Best for: Teams that want calling inside Teams with minimal licensing cost and no Microsoft calling infrastructure.
Option 2: Integration via Call2Teams
A deeper integration that makes Dromlik numbers appear as native Teams phone numbers — calls ring directly in the Teams dialler rather than in an embedded tab. This requires a Call2Teams licence per user, plus either an Office 365 Phone System add-on or an E5 licence.
This method is more seamless from a UX perspective — the Teams dialler is the native phone experience — but the additional licensing requirements make it more expensive and more complex to set up.
Best for: Larger organisations that want a fully native Teams phone experience and already hold E5 licences or are willing to add Phone System add-ons.
For most Irish SMBs, the direct integration is the right choice — it requires no additional Microsoft licences, is fast to deploy, and gives your team full calling capability inside Teams. Call2Teams makes sense if you’re already on E5 or need the native Teams dialler experience specifically.
What You Get in Teams With Dromlik
Regardless of which integration method you use, Dromlik’s phone system features are all available to your team inside Teams:
Make and receive external calls directly from the Teams interface — desktop, mobile, or browser.
View full call history within Teams, including inbound, outbound, and missed calls.
Access voicemails and call recordings — play and download directly from within Teams without switching to another app.
Advanced call routing — multi-level IVR, time-based routing, ring groups, call queues with round-robin and longest-idle distribution. Features that Microsoft’s native calling doesn’t support at this level.
Call recording — built-in on Dromlik, included without additional licences. Particularly relevant for financial services firms with Central Bank of Ireland obligations, and any business using calls for training or compliance purposes.
Internal calls between Teams and non-Teams users — a team member on the Teams app can call a colleague on a SIP desk phone for free internally, without either party needing a Microsoft calling licence.
Automatic failover — if Microsoft Teams has an outage or your internet connection drops, inbound calls automatically reroute to the Dromlik mobile app or a desk phone. Your number never goes dark.
Dromlik vs Microsoft Native Calling: A Direct Comparison
| Microsoft Teams Phone + Calling Plan | Dromlik + Teams Integration | |
|---|---|---|
| External calling licence | Required per user | Not required (direct integration) |
| Advanced IVR | Basic only | Multi-level, visual drag-and-drop |
| Call queues | Basic | Advanced (round-robin, longest idle) |
| Call recording | Requires additional licence | Built-in on all plans |
| Time-based routing | Limited | Full, with holiday schedules |
| Hardware | Teams-certified only | Any SIP phone (Yealink, Cisco, Poly) |
| Teams outage resilience | Full communications blackout | Automatic failover to app or desk phone |
| Internet outage resilience | None | Reroutes to mobile/GSM |
| Calling rates | Microsoft’s rates | Competitive VoIP rates |
| Support | Microsoft global ticket queue | Dromlik team, Irish business hours |
How Teams and Non-Teams Users Work Together
A common scenario in Irish businesses: some staff — office-based, customer-facing — are heavy Teams users. Others — on-site workers, warehouse staff, field teams — have a SIP desk phone or use the Dromlik mobile app without needing a full Microsoft 365 licence.
With Dromlik, both groups work on the same phone system. A Teams user can transfer a call to a non-Teams colleague’s desk phone. A non-Teams user can call a Teams user internally for free. Routing logic treats both groups the same way — calls go to whoever is available, regardless of which device they’re using.
This avoids the cost of giving every employee a Microsoft 365 licence and Teams Phone add-on just to participate in the phone system.
Getting Set Up
Setting up Dromlik’s Teams integration is straightforward:
- Dromlik configures your cloud phone system and connects it to your Microsoft Teams environment
- Each team member installs the Dromlik for Teams app from the Microsoft Teams app store
- Users log in with their Dromlik extension or Microsoft account
- Calls, voicemails, and call history are immediately accessible inside Teams
The Dromlik team handles the configuration end-to-end. Most businesses are live within a few days.
Note that Teams integration setup carries a one-time professional services fee, quoted based on your team size and environment complexity. This is discussed and agreed before any work begins — see the pricing section below for more detail.
What It Costs
Teams integration is included on both Dromlik plans:
| Plan | Price | What’s Included |
|---|---|---|
| Nucleus | €12/user/month | Calling, IVR, routing, voicemail, call recording, Teams integration, mobile and desktop apps |
| Orbit | €22/user/month | Everything in Nucleus plus omnichannel messaging, CRM integrations, call centre queues, AI transcription |
| AI Receptionist | +€100/month | 24/7 AI call answering, 200 minutes included |
Local Irish numbers from €5/month. Free number porting. Annual billing saves around 20%.
One thing worth knowing upfront: Teams integration setup involves a one-time professional services fee, quoted on a case-by-case basis depending on the size of your team and the complexity of your existing Microsoft 365 environment. This covers the full configuration of the integration, call routing setup, and user onboarding — handled by the Dromlik team. The fee is discussed and agreed before any work begins, so there are no surprises.
See the full pricing breakdown.
Add business calling to Microsoft Teams
See how Dromlik connects to your Teams environment — with advanced IVR, call recording, and Irish local numbers. Free 7-day trial, no setup fees, no Microsoft calling licences required.
