Microsoft Teams Essentials: An Overview

With HelloTeams, your existing Teams account becomes a fully functional business phone system, without the complexity of separate tools or carriers.

Meetings And Calling​

For meetings and calls, Teams Essentials comes standard with the same functionalities as Teams Business Standard – unlimited calls, screen sharing, custom backgrounds, transcription, meeting invites, and other table stakes features.

With the option for group meetings with up to 300 participants for up to 30 hours, it’s designed for everything from all-hands operational meetings to live conference events. Brainstorm collaboratively using Microsoft Whiteboard, or split off into smaller groups by creating up to 50 breakout rooms per call.

Taking calls with clients, partners or teams who speak different languages? Teams Essentials makes communicating easy with real-time translation and live closed captions. You can even record meetings and auto-generate transcripts – perfect for analysing sales calls or confirming post-meeting action items.

Of course, Teams Essentials also allows you to purchase a Teams Phone Standard licence, enabling you to use Teams Calling. If you want Teams Calling, make sure you purchase Teams Essentials (AAD Identity).

How Teams Calling Works with HelloTeams

Microsoft Teams Essentials helps teams connect through chat, meetings, and internal calls.
But to make and receive calls from external numbers, like customers, suppliers, or partners, you need to enable Teams Phone.

That’s where HelloTeams comes in. As a Microsoft-certified Operator Connect provider, HelloTeams extends your existing Teams setup so you can call landlines and mobiles directly inside Teams, without switching platforms or hardware.

Whether you’re a small business or an enterprise, HelloTeams makes it easy to turn Microsoft Teams into a complete business phone system, with flexible plans, local and international numbers, and deployment in minutes.

Want to keep your existing Microsoft setup but unlock full calling? Discover Teams Phone with HelloTeams

Chat And Collaboration​

Teams Essentials shares chat and collaboration features with the free version of Teams – but also comes packed with a host of new functions.

Unlimited chat and message searches within Teams make it great for rapid intra-team communication. Hold one-on-one conversations, create public chat channels available to all users, or collaborate on specific projects with private channels – and, with up to 2 GB per user of in-chat file attachments, it’s easy to keep tasks flowing smoothly. You can even collaborate live within Teams on Office mobile apps (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).

Teams Essentials also gives you a total of 10 GB of file storage per user and 1 TB across your whole team, up from 5 GB per user under the free version.

Productivity​

If you’re already using free non-Microsoft productivity apps, Teams Essentials might win you over with included access to the web versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, along with 10 GB per user of storage in OneDrive.

Outlook and Skype contact import is also included.  Keep in mind, though, that Teams Essentials lets you keep your existing business or consumer email system – you don’t need to switch to Outlook, and your Teams calendar can be configured to sync with, for example, your Gmail account.

Security And Compliance​

Teams Essentials includes at-rest and in-transit data encryption for all video and voice calls; it also includes single sign-on for all services, improving your organisation’s security and reducing the number of login credentials your employees need to remember.

Outlook and Skype contact import is also included.  Keep in mind, though, that Teams Essentials lets you keep your existing business or consumer email system – you don’t need to switch to Outlook, and your Teams calendar can be configured to sync with, for example, your Gmail account.

Admin And Support​

Because Teams Essentials is made for businesses of all sizes, it comes with several handy admin features: organisation-level admin settings for managing users, tools and policies, the ability to migrate data and users directly to Microsoft 365, and the ability to add on services like audio conferencing and Teams Phone.  You also get 24/7 phone and web support – everything you need to keep your calls and meetings running smoothly. 

Outlook and Skype contact import is also included.  Keep in mind, though, that Teams Essentials lets you keep your existing business or consumer email system – you don’t need to switch to Outlook, and your Teams calendar can be configured to sync with, for example, your Gmail account.

Who Is Teams Essentials Designed For?​

Teams Essentials is designed as an easy way for small and medium businesses to access the benefits of Teams Calling – especially those who are already using non-Microsoft productivity tools.

As work becomes increasingly hybridised, having a secure way to easily collaborate with your staff and partners is critical. Teams’ intuitive chat and video conferencing features are the perfect way to communicate and file-share (the live file collaboration is a particularly useful function that cuts out back-and-forth version exchanges). 

If you purchase Teams Phone as an add-on licence, you’ll also get access to the full benefits of cloud voice – a VoIP PBX system that lets you make and take calls anywhere in the world from any phone, computer or laptop.  You can import old numbers or purchase new ones, as well as do things like set up auto-attendants and delegate calls to assistants or admin staff.

What Are The Benefits Of Teams Essentials?​

Because Teams Essentials doesn’t come with productivity add-ons, you won’t be spending money on duplicate functionalities. 

The main benefit of Teams Essentials, though, is that it doesn’t require your organisation’s software stack to move to Microsoft.  Previous Microsoft plans that permitted Teams Phone licence add-ons (the Microsoft 365 Business suitesor plans that came with a Teams Phone licence included, like Office 365 E5, meant that data had to be migrated to your Microsoft subscription.

Simply put, Teams Essentials is an excellent middle ground in the world of Microsoft subscriptions.  It gives you access to Teams Calling (with a few extra services thrown in for good effect) and means you can enjoy the benefits of cloud voice without transitioning to an entirely new software stack.

FAQs

Can I make external calls with Teams Essentials?

Not by default. You can chat and hold internal meetings, but external calling requires Teams Phone, which HelloTeams can enable in minutes.

Do I need a Microsoft 365 Business Standard licence for Teams Calling?

No. Teams Essentials with HelloTeams works independently of Microsoft 365 Business Standard. You only need Teams Essentials and a Teams Phone plan.

Can I keep my current business number?

Yes. HelloTeams can port your existing numbers into Teams, so you can keep your main business lines while managing everything in one place.

Is Teams Phone available in my country?

HelloTeams provides Teams Phone numbers and calling coverage across 35+ regions worldwide, including Australia, the US, the UK, and New Zealand.

You can view our full coverage map and country list on the Pricing page

How long does setup take?

Most businesses are up and running within 15 minutes. No hardware, no IT setup, just calling from Teams.