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Microsoft Teams was one of the biggest successes to come out of the pandemic. It brought about a rapid change in how we communicate and collaborate right across the globe and now has 270 million users worldwide.
In June 2020, the NHS struck a deal with Microsoft to provide 1.2 million users, across 450 organisations, with access to the Microsoft 365 stack including Microsoft Teams. A study completed by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust back in October 2021, found that the rollout of Teams has saved NHS users over 2.9million hours of NHS time. They went on to say that, in the space of six months, it replaced 14.5 million phone calls, and hosted more than 32 million virtual meetings. One thing is for sure, Microsoft Teams is here to stay.
Since the pandemic, NHS resources are continually being put under immense demand. The shift to longer-term flexible workstyles, combined with the NHS’s goal of a joined-up integrated care system, adds even more complexity for those having to manage a more remote and distributed workforce.
Now more than ever before, collaboration technology is playing a key role in how healthcare organisations manage workflows, connect with each other, and deliver their services to patients. However, with over one million NHS users provisioned on Microsoft Teams as part of the N365 licensing agreement, a lack of integration with existing communication assets could have led to existing investments being underutilised and a disjointed user experience.
This is largely due to the fact SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and H.323 are the two standards-based video protocols used by traditional hardware video devices to communicate with other devices. Microsoft Teams, however, takes a slightly different version of SIP, this means that traditional SIP endpoints cannot talk to Microsoft Teams without a CVI.
To give NHS organisations the ability to use legacy video conferencing solutions with complex video switching matrixes, and multiple screens to facilitate Teams rooms meetings, a CVI service was provided by NHS Digital – this service is now being terminated as of today. This means that as of 19:00 on 28 October 2022 video conferencing devices that utilise the Pexip CVI Service through the NHS Digital Service will no longer be able to connect to Teams meetings.
Without a quick resolution to this switch-off, NHS meeting rooms are likely to have an extended period of downtime, especially in MDT rooms. The knock-on effect from this will be felt greatly across the NHS. Without access to Teams Rooms, which as we’ve highlighted have become a key function in the delivery of patient care, healthcare organisations face the possibility of racking up more patient backlogs at a time when they’re already at their largest ever recorded.
There is a solution though, and it’s not as daunting as you might think. In partnership with Lenovo, we’re offering all NHS organisations an exclusive promotion on all Microsoft Teams Certified ThinkSmart devices that is only available through IDNS. With these plug-and-play devices, you can simply ‘swap-out’ your existing legacy device, while continuing to use and utilise all other legacy equipment in the room such as displays, and switching matrixes for example.
The other option is to implement a bring your own device (BYOD) scheme. Users would join a meeting on their own laptop or compatible device as they would any other Teams meeting utilise the in-room camera, microphones and speakers as external devices.
Our team of Microsoft Certified Technology Consultants can support your transition from the CVI switch-off. They are experts in providing Teams for a variety of seminar, MDT, simulation and meeting room settings. Whether it’s converting existing equipment or advising on the latest trends in meeting spaces, we’re here to help. Click here to find out more.
