What should we plan before deploying Microsoft Teams Rooms?

Key facts

• Only certified Teams Rooms devices give the full, supported Teams Rooms experience.
• Teams Rooms on Windows and Teams Rooms on Android differ in features and management, so choose deliberately.
• Each room needs a resource account with a room mailbox and a Teams Rooms license.
• Teams Rooms Pro adds richer management, monitoring and multi-screen features over Basic.
• Shared room accounts need their own Conditional Access and device management approach.

Start with room types, not devices

List the rooms and group them by size and use. A standard design per room type keeps purchasing, setup and support simple.

Windows or Android

Teams Rooms on Windows runs on a compute unit with a touch console and typically offers the broadest feature set, including richer third-party meeting support and more flexible peripheral options. Teams Rooms on Android usually comes as an all-in-one video bar, which is simpler to install and suits small and medium rooms well.

Check the current feature comparison from Microsoft before deciding, because features move between platforms over time. Many organizations standardize on one platform per room type. Mixing too many models adds support effort.

Licensing and accounts

Each room needs a resource account with an Exchange room mailbox and a Teams Rooms license. Teams Rooms Basic is a no-cost option with core meeting features and a limit on how many rooms can use it. Teams Rooms Pro adds advanced meeting features, multi-screen experiences, and the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal for monitoring and updates. If rooms need to make or receive phone calls, plan PSTN connectivity for the room account as well.

Configure calendar processing on room mailboxes so meeting invites are auto-accepted, external meetings are handled as you want, and meeting subjects and organizers display correctly. Add rooms to room lists so users find them in Outlook and Teams.

Network and room readiness

Teams Rooms are real-time media devices. They need wired network connections, enough bandwidth for HD video, and access to Microsoft 365 endpoints without proxies or SSL inspection breaking media traffic.

• Wired Ethernet and power at the front of room and table, with PoE where devices need it.
• QoS on networks you control, and no deep packet inspection of Teams media.
• Cable routing, display mounting and acoustics checked before devices arrive.
• An emergency address and network location for rooms that can place calls.
• Room scheduling panels outside the door, if you want walk-up booking.

Security and management

Room accounts sign in without a person present, so standard user MFA policies do not fit. Exclude room accounts from user MFA policies and protect them with Conditional Access based on compliant devices or trusted locations instead. Use strong, non-expiring passwords managed by IT, and keep the accounts out of interactive use.

Enroll devices in Intune where supported so they are inventoried and configured consistently. Decide who monitors device health and applies updates, whether through the Teams admin center, the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal or a managed service. Plan a simple way for users to report a broken room.

Pilot, then roll out

Deploy one or two rooms of each type as a pilot. Hold real meetings, including meetings with external guests, and collect feedback on audio, camera framing and ease of joining. Adjust the standard kit, then roll out in batches. Short how-to cards in each room help adoption more than long training sessions.

How Accred Consulting approaches it

Accred Consulting plans Teams Rooms as part of a wider Teams deployment. In discovery we inventory rooms, sizes, current equipment, network readiness and how people book and use spaces. The proposal sets scope, fixed price and timeline. The US-based specialists assigned to your engagement design standard room kits, set up resource accounts, licenses and calendar processing, configure Conditional Access and Intune for room devices, and pilot rooms before broader rollout. Handover includes documentation and knowledge transfer, and optional support retainers can cover ongoing room monitoring and changes.

Track record: 475+ client projects, 2,000+ migration workstreams and 210,000+ users migrated by a US-based team. Company facts · Case studies

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