Microsoft's October 2026 update brings Teams Phone Agent, an AI receptionist, into the front office. But it automates the greeting, not the receptionist, which is why an attendant console for Microsoft Teams still matters.
The October update, covered by Tom Arbuthnot on empowering.cloud, has a lot for anyone who handles calls in Teams. The headline is Teams Phone Agent, which sits in front of call queues and is rolling out to general availability from 30 September.
Alongside it come shared call history in the Queues app, a supervisor dashboard in preview, and intelligent call delegation, where a Copilot agent screens calls for individual users from November.
So if Teams can now answer the phone for you, is there still a place for an attendant console? We think so.
Phone Agent can answer questions from your knowledge base and files, book appointments, and pass calls on with AI notes attached. It works in more than 60 languages and keeps going after hours.
For a business that gets the same few questions all day, that's useful. Nobody needs a receptionist to tell them the opening times.
The Queues app improvements help too. Teams can now mark calls as Unresolved, In progress or Resolved, and see 45 days of shared history. Fewer callbacks fall through the cracks.
Phone Agent decides where a call goes. Someone still has to handle it when it gets there. That person is your receptionist, and the update gives them very little.
Callers still want a person. A new client, an upset customer or a director's urgent call shouldn't land on a bot, and customers agree.
A February 2026 study by Metrigy found that 84.7% of consumers would rather deal with a human agent than an AI agent. Even when told the AI would resolve their issue, 80.1% still chose a person. The task they rated AI most useful for was directing them to the right person.
Gartner has seen the same pattern. In its customer survey, 64% said they would prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service, and their biggest worry was that AI makes it harder to reach a person.
AI calls are billed by usage. Phone Agent is billed per use through Copilot Credits, based on call length and the features used. The article advises setting a spending policy before going live. A console licence is a fixed cost, however busy the phones get.
Delegation is for individuals, not front desks. Intelligent call delegation screens calls for one user and needs a Copilot licence on top of Teams Phone. It doesn't help someone who answers and transfers for a whole office.
Live queue visibility is shrinking. Microsoft is removing real-time statistics from one of its call queue reporting tools, so wallboards built on it will stop working. The new supervisor dashboard is still in preview and needs Teams Premium.
It's Teams only. Many businesses run more than one phone system, or are part-way through a move. Phone Agent doesn't help a team on Zoom, RingCentral, Mitel or Avaya.
An attendant console is built for the person who answers the main number. Connecsy gives them one screen to see who's available, answer calls and pass them on quickly. On Teams, that includes:
And it's not only Teams. Connecsy works with multiple platforms: Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, Zoom, Elevate, Mitel, and Avaya. The core features work the same on each, so the front desk doesn't need to change tools when the business does.
Phone Agent and Connecsy can work side by side. Let the AI handle routine questions and after-hours calls, and leave the important ones to your receptionist.
Microsoft's update makes Teams better at answering, screening and logging calls. But someone still needs to pick up, read the situation and put the caller through to the right colleague. That's the job an attendant console is built for.
Want to see how Connecsy works alongside Teams Phone Agent? Book a demo with our team.