Business users want to message to consumer platforms, but what about compliance?
In many cases, business users want to message customers or partners on consumer platforms like WhatsApp, Apple iMessage and WeChat.
If the business user uses those platforms natively using their personal phone number or business mobile number (as we all know they frequently do), it creates a compliance gap. The business has no record of these conversations. In some verticals, such as Finance, this can lead to hefty fines.
LeapXpert aims to enable business users to message users on these consumer platforms in a secure, compliant way and natively in Microsoft Teams.
How does LeapXpert work with Microsoft Teams?
When I first heard of LeapXpert having a Teams solution, I assumed they would have an app that integrated their platform into Microsoft Teams, maybe an app in a tab, which would essentially be an interface to message users on platforms such as WhatsApp with a dedicated number provided by LeapXpert.
This is an approach I have seen from many vendors for SMS integration to Microsoft Teams. The user experience is “integrated” into Teams in that the app is in Teams, but it’s not using Teams chat or your Teams Phone number. It’s a new dedicated phone number for messaging.
Indeed, LeapXpert has an option for non-Teams users where they provide the platform and the phone number, but their Teams solution, “LeapXpert Single Professional Identity for Microsoft Teams”, is quite different.
With the Teams integration, LeapXpert provides no PSTN number; you bring your existing Operator Connect, Direct Routing or even Microsoft Calling Plan number, and they enable messaging to WhatsApp, iMessage, WeChat, and Telegram for that number, via Teams Chat.
Activate your existing Teams Phone number for consumer messaging services
LeapXpert offers Microsoft Teams users what they call a “Single Professional Identity”. In this case, the single Identity is your business phone number.
When you install LeapXpert into Microsoft Teams (From the Microsoft app store, and with a cloud backend running on Azure), via LeapXpert’s platform, you can enroll/activate your existing Teams Phone number for WhatsApp, iMessage etc.
From there, you can message to and from those platforms from within Teams via Teams Chat to the LeapXpert bot.
LeapXpert is associating your existing phone number with a new WhatsApp/iMessage account. On these services your existing Teams phone number will show up as a user, just like any other user, to the consumer side it’s all native.
On the Teams side, for each conversation, you are technically talking back and forth with the LeapXpert bot, which sends/receives messages from the consumer platform back to back. On a Teams chat per conversation with a user on WhatsApp/iMessage/WeChat.
Since all messaging happens via Teams Chat, you inherit the benefits of Teams compliance/records recording, etc. In addition, LeapXpert offers some compliance options and features on its platform.
Phone calls remain, as before, routing via your existing PSTN operator.
The business user gets the convenience of native messaging in Teams (desktop, web and mobile), being able to communicate to those consumer platforms, and the organisation controls the identity and compliance.
The LeapXpert Communications Platform, with a native Microsoft Teams integration, is available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Existing customers include financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies across 45 countries.
I want to thank LeapXpert for being a community supporter of Empowering.Cloud. If you have any questions about their solution, be sure to get in touch or ask below, and I will find out the answer.
https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/WA200004422?tab=Overview
https://www.leapxpert.com/leapxpert-for-microsoft-teams/
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