Microsoft Teams SmartCommunicator™ Quick Start Guide

This guide describes how to set up and use the SmartCommunicator app. Learn more about:

 

 

Overview

Super-charge your Microsoft Teams experience with SmartCommunicator. This app allows you to streamline communications by combining two tools your team is already using: Microsoft Teams and IntelePeer.

Use SmartCommunicator to simplify your team’s communication workflow, increasing efficiency and productivity. For example, if your team is already using Microsoft Teams but using personal mobile devices to carry out business functions, SmartCommunicator provides key voice, SMS, and MMS features within Teams, centralizing communications with other apps they're already using.

 

Getting Started with SmartCommunicator

Before You Begin

You'll need to have a few elements in place prior to setting up the SmartCommunicator app:

  • An IntelePeer Account: Your team must have direct routing or Operator Connect through IntelePeer and all numbers used with the app must be 10DLC registered.

  • A Microsoft Teams Account: Your team should already have the Microsoft Teams desktop or mobile app (iOS or Android) installed.

    Note: We support Microsoft Direct Routing and Microsoft Operator Connect customers.

  • Administrator access to your Microsoft Teams Account: The Teams Administrator is responsible for assigning phone numbers within Teams, adding the SmartCommunicator app, and granting access for team members to use it.

 

Set Up SmartCommunicator

  1. Complete the SmartCommunicator Onboarding process.

  2. The Teams Administrator adds the SmartCommunicator app, and manages access to it, within the Microsoft Teams admin center:

    1. Log into the Microsoft Teams admin center.

    2. Add the SmartCommunicator app.

    3. Grant permissions to the app.

    4. Update the Permission policies to grant team members access to SmartCommunicator.

      • Use Global permission to give everyone access or create a new policy group to give access to a subset of members.

    5. Pin the app (optional but recommended).

    • Check out this page for more information about adding an app to Microsoft Teams, and check out this page for more information about managing team accesses via policies.

  3. When each employee accesses the app for the first time, they will undergo two step verification.

    • The user is prompted to enter the phone number associated with their Teams account and will receive a phone call with an input code. Once their code is confirmed, the user's information is automatically captured in the system.

And you're done! SmartCommunicator setup is complete and you can start using the app right away.

 

Using SmartCommunicator

Launch the App

Select the SmartCommunicator icon from the app bar on the far left.

The Smart Communicator app bar icon and the landing page when no previous conversations have happened yet

Any previous conversations appear on the left, and you can toggle between text messages, calls, and contacts.

A diagram of the Smart Communicator Text Messages page

 

Send and Receive Texts

To start a new conversation:

  1. From the Text Messages menu, click the chat icon.

    The chat icon on the Text Messages page

  2. From the New Message menu you can find a contact by name or number:

    The magnifying glass icon on the New SMS page

    • Type a contact name or phone number in the text box, or use the dial pad to enter a new phone number, and click the chat icon.

      The dial pad icon on the New SMS page

    • You can also use the magnifying glass icon to search your saved contacts.

      SmartCommunicator Text Messages search field

  3. The new blank chat box opens.

    A new blank SMS chat box

  4. Type your message in the text box and click the plus sign button to add a multimedia element, then click the send icon or hit the enter key.

    A sample message in the text box with the send icon highlighted

    Note: You can send and receive text, emojis, photos, PDFs, and gifs.

 

To continue a previous conversation:

  1. From the Text Messages menu, scroll through your previous conversations, or click the magnifying glass icon to search for the contact's name or a key word in a message.

  2. Click on the previous conversation to open the chat box with that contact.

    A prior SMS chat box conversation is open on the right and the conversation is highlighted in blue on the left

  3. Type your message in the text box and click the plus sign button to add a multimedia element, then click the send icon or hit the enter key.

 

When you receive messages, you'll see a red notification on the far left and the conversation will be outlined in blue. An additional pop-up notification will appear on the bottom right corner of your screen.

One notification appears on the Text Messges page and the conversation with the new message is highlighted in blue

The notification number represents how many new messages you've received from a given contact. Click on the conversation to view the new message(s) and respond.

Note: When you receive a multimedia message, click on the file to download it to the appropriate location on your device. Once the file is downloaded and initially opened, a preview of the file will appear in the chat box.

 

SmartCommunicator notifications also appear in the Microsoft Teams Activity feed.

SmartCommunicator notifications in the Activity Feed

From the Activity feed you can open new messages and reply to messages.

 

Send and Receive Calls

To initiate a phone call:

  1. Select the Calls menu option.

    The Call menu option is highlighted on the Text Messages page

    Your Recent Calls history appears on the left and the dial pad on the right.

    The Recent Calls page displays previous calls on the left and the dial pad on the right

  2. You have three options:

    • Click the blue phone icon to the right of any recent contacts to initiate a new call.

      The phone icon to the right of a recent call recipient

    • Use the search bar (above the dial pad) to find the contact's name or phone number.

      The dial pad

    • Or, use the dial pad to enter a new phone number.

  3. Click the blue phone icon, and then click Start Call.

    The dial pad with the phone icon highlighted and the Start call pop-up with the Start Call button highlighted

 

When you receive a call, a pop-up notification appears in the corner of your screen.

Sample incoming call notification

Click the Accept Call button, on the left, to open the call window.

 

 

SmartCommunicator Contacts

The Contacts menu option is where you can manage all of the folks you communicate with.

SmartCommunicator Contacts tab

Here you can search or scroll to find a contact and start a new conversation. You can also add, edit, and delete contacts from this page.

 

SmartCommunicator contacts are also automatically in sync with your Microsoft Outlook contacts. When you create a new contact in SmartCommunicator, it will automatically appear in your Outlook contacts and vice versa.

 

Create a New Contact

You can create a new SmartCommunicator contact via the Contacts, Text Messages, or Recent Calls menu.

Note: New Microsoft Outlook contacts will also automatically appear in SmartCommunicator.

Contacts

  1. Select the Contacts menu option. A table of all of your existing contacts appears.

  2. Click Add Contact.

    SmartCommunicator Contacts ta, Add Contact button

  3. The Create Contact pop-up appears. Fill in the contact details:

    • The Name and Phone Number fields are required.

    • The Phone Number field must contain 10 digits.

    • You must include at least three characters in the Name, Title, and Company fields.

    • An Email Address cannot be saved in all capital letters.

    SmartCommunicator Create Contact pop-up

  4. Click Confirm. Your new contact will appear in the table (and within your Outlook contacts).

 

Text Messages

  1. Click the chat icon.

  2. From the New Message menu, click the dial pad icon. The dial pad appears.

    The New SMS dial pad with the plus sign button highlighted

  3. Click the plus sign button.

    The Create Contact form appears.

    The New Contact form

  4. Fill in the contact details.

    • The Name and Phone Number fields are required.

    • The Phone Number field must contain 10 digits.

    • You must include at least three characters in the Name, Title, and Company fields.

    • An Email Address cannot be saved in all capital letters.

  5. Click Confirm. Your new contact appears in the table on the Contacts page (and within your Outlook contacts).

 

Recent Calls

  1. From the dial pad on the right, click the plus sign button.

    The Recent Calls dial pad with the blue plus sign button highlighted

    The Create Contact form appears.

    The New Contact form

  2. Fill in the contact details.

    • The Name and Phone Number fields are required.

    • The Phone Number field must contain 10 digits.

    • You must include at least three characters in the Name, Title, and Company fields.

    • An Email Address cannot be saved in all capital letters.

  3. Click Confirm. Your new contact appears in the table on the Contacts page (and within your Outlook contacts).

 

Errors

For more information, check out the Error Codes page.

 

Tips

  • If you run into any issues during onboarding or using the app, email support@intelepeer.com.

  • If you run into any issues while using the app, you may need to clear your cache and restart Microsoft Teams. Check out this page for more information.

  • By default, new Teams apps are added to the bottom of the app bar (the menu on the far left). We recommend pinning the SmartCommunicator app to the top of the app bar so your team members can easily find it. Check out this page for more detailed information.

    Note: After you change the default app order, it will take a few minutes to propagate to all accounts.

  • When using the app with custom display or magnification settings turned on, some SmartCommunicator features might not be visible. You may need to scroll to view all buttons, or revert to your device's default zoom configuration settings to view all screen elements.

 

For more information about Microsoft Teams, check out: