ACS Vancouver: Enhancing Digital Communication Inside and Out

Communication is an integral part of any business. But in the diversified landscape that is today’s marketplace – where there’s a vertical for anything and everything – both businesses’ and customers’ communication needs are becoming increasingly precise.

Navigating this terrain can be tough. Luckily, the Microsoft Azure Communication Services team are seasoned pathfinders.

We sat down with a few folks from ACS Vancouver to learn how they’re enhancing digital communication and collaboration, inside and out.

“ACS stands for Azure Communication Services,” started off Anjul, Senior Software Engineering Manager on ACS’ Data Engineering team. “It’s a communication platform – as a service – and it’s built on the same backend that powers Microsoft Teams.”

ACS functions like a toolset, offering customers an array of different communications services – from calling, to video, to chat and more – that can be embedded in their own unique digital environments.

“Say you’re a doctor,” posited Harman, ACS Software Engineer 2. “By embedding our product in your website, you can enable your patients to connect with you over a video call without having to leave the site.” Healthcare providers are some of ACS’ core users. For this demographic, ACS’ plug and play functionalities help to reduce clicks and confusion thereby bolstering doctor-patient relationships.

The ACS team understands that customization is key to empowering a diversity of industries.

“We [also] offer modern communication solutions like chat, programmable voice, video, SMS, emails… pretty much anything you can think of in terms of communication, ACS offers it,” elaborated Anjul.

“We leverage technologies available in Microsoft Teams to create an accessible package of building blocks for businesses to develop bespoke communications solutions for their own scenarios,” added Allison, Software Engineer with ACS in Vancouver.

“Overall, ACS users are mostly businesses who want to build custom applications for their end users,” shared Ruchita Venugopal, who, like Anjul, is a Senior Software Engineering Manager on ACS’ Data Engineering team. The prevalence of remote work and collaboration has increased demand for these kinds of solutions, but their customers continue to share one key desire. “They use ACS because our product provides Teams interoperability as a feature.”

At Microsoft, scale is the rule, not the exception. And the team is grateful for the opportunity to build on a such robust base.

“Microsoft Teams has been perfecting their platform for many years now,” reflected Anjul. “We have such a solid foundation. We build off of that foundation and we take inspiration from it. We try to incorporate as many Teams features as possible into ACS, because it’s a tried and tested product that’s delivering a lot of happiness for our customers.”

“We want to build a reliable product,” stated Harman. Talking with the team, you can see that everyone is focused on building trust, and not just within the service. It’s the first ingredient in healthy collaboration and has been embedded in their team culture from day one.

“ACS is a horizontal team,” explained Ruchita. This means collaboration is the first step in every task.

Harman and Allison both work on Feature Teams – Harman on the Calling Web SDK Team, and Allison on the Rooms Team. For each of them, a typical day involves connecting with a rotating cast of collaborators.

“When I work with my PM (Product Manager), he pulls me into meetings with customers and [us engineers] get to learn more about their experience,” highlighted Allison. “For example, if they’re adopting a communication service for the first time and they pick ACS, we gain the context needed to onboard them as fast as possible.”

But every day is different. “With my EM (Engineering Manager) … we work together to create a package that’s really robust and is an easy experience for that customer to get started with technically,” she further shared.

Ruchita and Anjul – both of whom have been with Microsoft for four years – manage teams within ACS’ Data Engineering Group. They’re focused on informing future work, laying a roadmap for teams like Harman’s and Allison’s.

“We are responsible for ingesting all the telemetry generated by every other team in ACS,” explained Anjul.

“We collaborate a lot with Feature Teams within ACS to understand the data requirements for different features they are building,” added Ruchita.

The ACS org spans multiple countries, with team members all around the world. “There’s an obvious need for effective collaboration to ensure work is happening seamlessly,” stated Anjul. “Something that really helps with that is Microsoft culture, where open communication is promoted, we are encouraged to learn at all times, and everyone is enabled to bring their ideas to the table.”

Anjul, Ruchita, and their fellow managers lead by example, building on this culture. “We have regular learning opportunities, knowledge sharing sessions, and demos every week.”

What’s even more amazing – they use ACS to connect with each other.

“ACS is actually helping us collaborate internally,” shared Anjul, the rest of the team smiling as he recounted. “We built our own internal web app using ACS. Whenever we have meetings, we join them through this app. So, we are our own first customers, we are the QA for ACS… and we get to enjoy all ACS’ features!”

Harman, like his colleagues, makes the most of the opportunity to collaborate on a global scale. His direct teammates are mostly based in Europe, but they recently made the trip to Vancouver to spend time connecting as a team in person.

And even when his direct team isn’t in town, Harman comes into the office on most days to connect with the broader team in person. “I enjoy having sister teams in Vancouver, because you can just walk up to someone and say, ‘hey, Alison – I need help with this,’ you know, with just a tap on the shoulder.”

And the feeling is mutual. “When he said he comes over and taps me on the shoulder, it’s actually the other way around,” added Allision, mentioning she was in the process of working on a feature built on Harman’s team’s infrastructure. “I’m always like, ‘Hey, can you help me figure out why this build isn’t working’?”

Allison called out how ACS’ horizontal org structure opens doors for her to experience deeper peer learning. “It means I can dabble in a bunch of different repositories, a bunch of different languages, and have really robust learning as a software engineer.”

For Allision, the connection goes even deeper. Her learning journey with ACS actually started several years ago, when she was studying computer science at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

“ACS had a collaboration with the UBC student community a couple years ago, supporting their student hackathon,” she recalled. Allison was one of the event’s student organizers, and remembered hacking on the ACS toolset, exploring the product team’s UI libraries and SDKs.

“I actually conducted that hackathon,” offered Anjul. “And that’s where I met Alison for the first time. It was great seeing all the students build products on top of ACS. Participating in events like that enable us to bring on fresh talent from local universities into Microsoft Vancouver.”

The ACS teammates also leverage Microsoft Vancouver’s site events to come together across verticals, including a recent Open House.

“There were so many activities,” shared Allison, recalling touring her friends around the site. “I introduced them to my teammates, and they were like, “Wow, you work here!”

“These events are really fostering that learning and the innovation culture that Microsoft is a big proponent of” added Ruchita, who recently took part in a peer session designed to connect managers in Vancouver.  “I had some great learning and insights from that.”

Anjul agrees. “If ever I’m feeling low, I make sure I come to the office and work with my team members. Then, when I go back home, I have some new ideas I want to focus on.”

“The people I work with aren’t just co-workers anymore,” stated Harman. “We’re friends now.”

As we wrapped up our interview, the team members couldn’t help but vocalize their praise for each other, for all their collaborators, and most importantly, for their product.

Microsoft’s mission is a constant source of motivation. They’re committed to equipping their customers – and each other – with the communication tools they need to steer their businesses success.