Resource Accounts

Overview

Resource Accounts are specialized non-user accounts that facilitate Auto Attendants and Call Queues.

• Auto Attendants act as a digital receptionist, providing a menu system that routes callers to the appropriate person, department, Call Queue, or other destination. For example, a caller can press “1” to reach the Customer Services team
• Call Queues route incoming calls to a group of call agents, distributing calls according to configured rules. For example, you can customize greeting messages, hold music, and overflow handling for calls to the Customer Services team

Licensing

A Resource Account is licensed for Teams Phone with a $0 SKU Teams Phone Resource Account license. You create the Resource Account in the Teams Admin Center and assign the Teams Phone Resource Account license to it within the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

If you want to make use of features such as transferring calls to an external PSTN number or using callbacks for callers in a Call Queue then you also need to make sure that a mechanism is in place for PSTN calling. Thus, you would assign a Microsoft Calling Plan or use Operator Connect or Direct Routing options.

Phone numbers

Phone numbers are optional for Resource Accounts but if you want an Auto Attendant or Call Queue to be reachable directly by a phone number, you must have a Resource Account with an associated phone number. You place an order for phone numbers in the Teams Admin Center, as shown below:

You can see that there are toll or toll-free numbers available. If you want to acquire a toll-free number then you need to make sure that overage is enabled. This means that anyone using the toll-free number won’t be charged, but the organization that owns the number will be charged on a Pay-As-You-Go basis. A toll number is a standard phone number where the caller is responsible for the calling charges.

History

Resource Accounts were once known as Virtual Users. At that time, you were allocated a specific number of Phone System Virtual User licenses. As long as you’d purchased at least one Phone System license, you were allocated 25 Virtual User licenses. Then, for every additional Phone System license, one more Virtual User license became available. Today there are no limits on the number of the $0 Teams Phone Resource Account licenses available to an organization.