When an unsupported Cisco phone system started dropping voicemails and blocking new-hire setup, a Metro Detroit family services nonprofit moved its calling into Microsoft Teams with Apex Digital. Here is what changed and how the migration worked.
| INDUSTRY | SIZE | REGION | SOLUTIONS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonprofit / family services | ~175 staff | Metro Detroit | Managed IT, Teams Phone, Operator Connect |
Overview
A Metro Detroit nonprofit that provides family and children’s services was running its phones on a failed Cisco Call Manager that had dropped to a single aging backup server, with no vendor support and no way to add or reassign phones.
Apex Digital migrated the organization’s roughly 175 staff to Microsoft Teams Phone using Sippio Operator Connect, ported every existing phone number, and rebuilt its auto attendants, call queues, overhead paging, and faxing inside Teams.
Staff now make and receive calls from a headset, desk phone, or mobile device through the Teams app they already used every day, and Apex Digital manages the environment so the nonprofit’s internal team does not have to.
A phone system that could not keep up
The nonprofit’s phones ran on Cisco Call Manager, and the primary server had failed. The organization was operating on a secondary server sitting on old hardware, out of warranty and without support. That left the team unable to make routine moves, adds, and changes. When someone new joined, there was no way to set them up with a phone. When someone left, their number could not be reassigned.
The problem became urgent when the organization lost voicemail on the Cisco system, and some numbers could no longer be forwarded to cell phones. Then the main line, the number the public uses to reach the organization, stopped receiving calls. Apex Digital put a temporary forwarding fix in place to keep that line working while the migration was planned.
Beneath the immediate failures sat structural problems.
Call handling was inconsistent across the organization’s locations, leaders had little visibility into how calls were routed, and there were communication gaps between programs, staff, and service sites. A growing share of the workforce, including case managers and staff supporting hybrid care, needed to take calls away from a desk.
Moving calling into Microsoft Teams with Operator Connect
The organization already ran on Microsoft Teams for chat and meetings, but it was not using Teams for calling. That made Teams Phone the natural home for its telephony, with staff answering calls in the same app they were in all day.
Apex Digital migrated the nonprofit to Microsoft Teams Phone using Sippio Operator Connect. Operator Connect brings public phone network calling into Teams through a certified carrier that runs the underlying voice infrastructure, so there are no session border controllers or on-premises gateways for the nonprofit to maintain. Apex Digital ported every existing phone number from the organization’s Grid4 circuit into Teams Operator Connect, so staff, auto attendants, and call queues kept the numbers callers already knew.
The build covered the full calling environment. Roughly 175 users were enabled for Teams Calling on their existing numbers. Voicemail with transcription now lands directly in each person’s Exchange mailbox. Apex Digital rebuilt the organization’s auto attendants and call queues in Teams, including auto attendants for compliance, intake, and the main line, and call queues for the main line, client records, intake, medical services, and recruitment.
To preserve how the organization worked, Apex Digital added a Teams SIP Gateway so compatible handsets could keep running and installed two Algo IP paging adapters to keep overhead paging working across buildings. The team set up number masking on the paging system so no outside caller could dial in and broadcast a message. Apex Digital also deployed the Landis attendant and receptionist console for staff who manage high call volume and transfers and moved the organization’s faxing to eFax on the Sippio platform.
Apex Digital trained staff across four sessions, three open to any team member and one focused on reception and customer care, so people were comfortable making and taking calls in Teams before go-live.
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How the migration was delivered
Kickoff to cutover ran from December 2025 through February 2026, with the schedule built around the holidays and winter campus closures so training and go-live landed at a workable time for staff.
1. Discovery
Apex Digital reviewed the current environment, mapped call flows, and inventoried numbers, devices, sites, and paging requirements.
2. Build
The team provisioned licenses, configured call routing, auto attendants, and call queues, set up the Teams SIP Gateway and the Algo paging adapters, and submitted the number porting request.
3. Cutover
Apex Digital ported the numbers and assigned them to users, common area phones, auto attendants, and call queues. Engineers were on site the day of cutover, which takes about 30 minutes, to help staff log in and resolve any issues in real time.
4. Support and training
Four end-user training sessions and cutover-week support, plus as-built documentation of the new phone system for the organization’s records.
What changed
175
staff now calling
inside Microsoft Teams
100%
of existing phone
numbers retained
0
on-premises phone
servers to maintain
The nonprofit moved off a failed, unsupported phone system and onto a cloud calling platform inside Microsoft Teams. The practical differences show up every day. Staff answer calls on a headset at their desk, on a certified Teams handset, or on their mobile device through the Teams app, which matters for case managers and hybrid care staff who are not always at a desk.
Every existing number came across, so callers reached the organization exactly as before, and voicemail works again with transcription delivered to each person’s inbox.
Administratively, the organization got back the control it had lost. New hires can be set up with a phone, departing staff can be handled cleanly, and call routing, auto attendants, and queues can change as programs shift. Because the system lives in Teams and is managed by Apex Digital, there is no aging server to keep alive and no unsupported hardware standing between the organization and its phones.
| BEFORE | AFTER |
|---|---|
| Failed Cisco Call Manager running on an unsupported backup server | Cloud calling inside Microsoft Teams, nothing on-premises to maintain |
| Difficult to add a phone for a new hire or reassign one when staff left | Users, moves, and changes handled by Apex Digital as part of managed services |
| Lost voicemail and intermittent main-line outages | Voicemail with transcription delivered to each Exchange mailbox |
| Desk-bound calling that did not fit mobile and hybrid staff | Calls from a headset, Teams handset, or mobile device, anywhere |
| Inconsistent call handling across locations | Auto attendants and call queues rebuilt and centrally managed in Teams |
MANAGED BUSINESS PHONE
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What’s next for the partnership
The organization is piloting SMS, MMS, WhatsApp, and advanced messaging inside Microsoft Teams through Clerk Chat, provided by Sippio. The third-party messaging platform extends Microsoft Teams Phone by letting clinicians use the same business phone numbers they already use for calling to send and receive business text messages directly in Teams.
This fills an important gap because Microsoft Teams Phone does not natively include enterprise-grade texting, MMS, or WhatsApp messaging. For clinicians, the added capability means they can leverage an existing business number for communication without relying on separate personal devices or disconnected texting tools. Apex Digital is also helping the organization look at moving telehealth off Zoom and into its Microsoft environment. Both efforts build on the same foundation the phone migration put in place.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. In this project every existing number was ported from the old carrier circuit into Teams Operator Connect, so staff, auto attendants, and call queues kept the numbers callers already used.
Most Teams Phone migrations run about 45 to 90 days from kickoff to cutover, and the biggest variable is number porting, which depends on the carrier releasing the numbers. Organization size, the number of sites, and extras like paging, faxing, and analog lines add time, as does scheduling around holidays or seasonal closures. The cutover itself is short, typically about 30 minutes, with engineers on hand to help staff sign in. This migration ran from a December kickoff to a February cutover.
It fits well for organizations already using Microsoft Teams for chat and meetings, since calling lives in the same app. Nonprofits also qualify for discounted Microsoft licensing.
Operator Connect brings public phone network calling into Microsoft Teams through a certified carrier that manages the voice infrastructure, so there are no on-premises phone servers or session border controllers to maintain.
Yes, they can. Ongoing management is part of Apex Digital managed business phone service. That covers new users, moves and changes, call routing, auto attendants and call queues, and call quality monitoring, so the organization’s internal team never has to own the phone system day to day.
