What TopSpin Tech Wants You to Know About Microsoft Teams Licensing Changes

As of September 30, 2025, Microsoft is enforcing important changes to Microsoft Teams licensing that will directly affect organizations relying on bot-initiated call transfers, embedded telephony, and automated workflows. At TopSpin Tech, we help our clients understand these changes, assess their current environments, and adjust their licensing strategy to avoid disruption.

What Microsoft Is Changing With Teams Licensing

Microsoft is tightening rules around how Teams handles certain PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) call routing. Starting on the effective date, bot-initiated PSTN transfers and “add participant” actions (for example, automated conferencing or adding users to a live call) will require the user initiating them to have a Phone System license and be Enterprise Voice enabled. Manual transfers (where a live user transfers a call without a bot or automated action) will still be allowed without this extra license. Microsoft is also aligning its Graph API enforcement so that applications using those APIs will need to respect the same licensing requirements.

What These Licensing Changes Mean in Practice

These changes tighten what was previously more loosely governed or bypassed by some embedded solutions. If your organization uses embedded telephony apps or workflows that rely on bots or automation to transfer or route calls (for example through auto-attendants, IVRs, or contact center workflows), you may face service disruptions unless your licensing is in full compliance by the deadline.

Specific risks include:

• Bot-initiated or automated transfers being blocked if the associated users lack the proper Phone System license.
  
  
• Graph API-based applications or integrations failing or being restricted.
  
  
• Embedded telephony providers who had avoided requiring added licenses may lose their compliance, meaning their “Teams-integrated” offerings may no longer function as expected.
  
  

Industries with heavy reliance on contact centers, IVRs, retail or logistics call routing, health care, finance, etc., are likely to feel the strongest impact if they do not act ahead of time.

Which Providers & Solutions Will Be Impacted

Some providers have announced they will sunset their Teams-embedded telephony solutions because those solutions do not comply under the new licensing model (for example, providers that had allowed bot-initiated call routing without requiring a Phone System license). Other providers, such as RingCentral, have proactively developed compliant embedded solutions and will not be affected in the same way. If your provider is one that is transitioning out of compliance, you may need to migrate or adopt alternate solutions before the enforcement date.

What You Should Do Now

To avoid any interruption in service, we recommend taking the following steps:

• Do a full audit of your Teams call flows: Identify where bot-initiated transfers, add-participant actions, or Graph API-driven workflows are in use.
  
  
• Review all applications (internal or third party) that use Microsoft Graph API for call routing or participant addition, to determine whether they will continue to function once the new rules are enforced.
  
  
• Map which users or roles currently perform or are enabled for the features now requiring Phone System licensing — determine where upgrades are needed.
  
  
• Assess whether your telephony/communications partner is compliant under the new model. If not, plan for a transition.
  
  
• Begin putting a readiness plan in place now — don’t wait until just before September 30.
  
  

How TopSpin Tech Helps You Navigate These Changes

At TopSpin Tech, our goal is to make sure your Microsoft Teams communication infrastructure stays reliable, compliant, and cost-efficient. We offer services specifically designed to address these kinds of licensing shifts:

• Discovery & Assessment: We deeply analyze your current Teams deployment, call routing flows, telephony integrations, and automation to identify where licensing compliance gaps exist.
  
  
• Licensing Strategy & Optimization: We help you determine which users need which kinds of licenses (Phone System, Enterprise Voice, etc.), ensuring you are compliant without over-paying for unused or unnecessary licenses.
  
  
• Vendor & Solution Evaluation: If your current provider’s embedded solution is going to be non-compliant, we can help you evaluate and migrate to alternative compliant platforms, or work with your provider to ensure their offering meets Microsoft’s requirements.
  
  
• Technical Remediation: We coordinate updates and configurations to workflows, APIs, and embedded apps so they conform to Microsoft’s Graph API enforcement rules and licensing requirements.
  
  
• Transition & Change Management: If there is a shift required — either in technology, vendor, or licensing — we manage the project, support training, mitigate risk, and help maintain continuity of service.
  
  
• Cost Control & Forecasting: We help you model the licensing cost-impact, budget for what changes are required, and often help you uncover savings by right-sizing your licenses, retiring unused ones, or leveraging newer, more efficient solutions.
  
  

This licensing enforcement is not just a technical update; it’s a compliance, operations, and cost issue. If your organization relies on Teams telephony, especially for automated or bot-initiated tasks, you need to review and adapt now. TopSpin Tech is ready to help you do that, so your operations remain smooth and interruptions are avoided when the change goes live.

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