Is the MS-721 Worth It?

Getting started with Microsoft Teams isn't difficult, but mastering all its collaboration features takes time and effort. The MS-721 tests your skills for handling Teams meetings, Teams Phone, and Teams Rooms features. Certifying these skills can help open new career opportunities, especially if you want to focus on Microsoft 365 collaboration tools.

If you're thinking about taking this certification, let's look at whether it's worth your time and investment.

What is the MS-721?

The MS-721 (Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer) cert shows you can plan, deploy, and configure Microsoft Teams collaboration systems and maintain them. You’ll learn how to manage Teams Phone, Teams meetings, Teams Premium features, Microsoft Copilot in Teams, and Teams Rooms devices.

As a collaboration engineer with this certification, you'll handle just about everything from setting up meeting policies to configuring phone systems. This also includes managing physical devices like conference room equipment. Earning this certification proves that you can work with all these systems together. It’s a valuable skill since most organizations use multiple Teams features in tandem.

This isn’t like some of the broader Microsoft certifications that cover topics an inch deep and a mile wide. The MS-721 zooms in (pun intended) on all of the most popular Teams collaboration tools, making it a specialized certification for anyone who works with Microsoft communication systems.

What Does the MS-721 Test?

The latest exam objectives (January 22, 2025) of the MS-721 test your practical knowledge across four main areas:

• Planning and designing collaboration communications systems (30-35%)

• Configuring and managing Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls (15-20%)

• Configuring and managing Teams Phone (25-30%)

• Configuring and managing Teams Rooms and devices (25-30%)

For planning and design, you'll need to show that you can plan Teams meetings, recommend when to use Teams Premium and Microsoft Copilot, design PSTN connectivity solutions, and choose the right Teams Rooms devices based on meeting spaces.

The Teams meetings section covers policies, audio conferencing, webinars, town halls, and newer features like Microsoft Mesh meetings and avatars for Teams.

Teams Phone questions in the exam test your skills in handling calling policies, auto attendants, call queues, emergency calling features, and Direct Routing configurations.

The Teams Rooms section looks at managing room systems through the Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Management portal, configuring Android and Windows devices, and setting up advanced features like content cameras and Direct Guest Join.

A fair amount of exam questions are scenario-based, asking you to solve real-world problems instead of just regurgitating facts. This means that you'll need both theoretical knowledge and practical experience to pass convincingly.

How Much Does the MS-721 Exam Cost?

The MS-721 exam costs $165 in the United States, which is standard for Microsoft role-based certifications like this one. If you don't pass your first try, then you'll have to pay the fee again for each retake of the exam.

To pass, you'll need a score of 700 or more out of 1,000 on the exam.

But there are more costs than just the exam fee; you also need to think about the extra preparation costs that can come up:

• Training materials and courses

• Practice labs for hands-on experience

• Study time (which usually means time away from work)

If you are lucky, your employer might cover certification costs for IT staff since the skills directly benefit their organization. Microsoft also occasionally gives exam discounts or free vouchers during special promotions, so keep an eye out for those offers.

What Experience Do You Need for the MS-721?

Before taking this exam, you should be comfortable working with Teams administration tasks and have hands-on experience with:

• Teams admin center and PowerShell management

• Network and telecommunications basics

• Audio/visual and meeting room technologies

• Identity and access management (IAM)

It's also important to note that the exam isn't designed for beginners. It tests scenarios that collaboration engineers deal with every day. Because of this, Microsoft recommends having experience working with Teams collaboration and communications systems. Ideally, you should already have experience managing a Teams environment. 

Who Should Take the MS-721?

The MS-721 is aimed at IT pros who manage Microsoft Teams collaboration systems and want to learn how to maximize Teams’ potential. Anyone can take the exam, but it's most valuable for certain roles. Below are some of the roles that would benefit the most from this cert.

MS-721 for Collaboration Engineers

It’s a good investment for collaboration engineers or anyone moving into that role. The exam covers exactly what you need to know about managing Teams meetings, phone systems, and meeting room devices.

Holding this cert shows that you can:

• Design Teams meeting solutions for different business requirements

• Implement phone system features along with PSTN connectivity features

• Configure and manage collaboration apps along with Teams Premium features

• Troubleshoot Teams quality issues like voice and connectivity

• Set up and manage Teams Rooms devices like conference phones and dedicated meeting room systems

If you handle organization-wide Teams deployments or manage enterprise meeting spaces, then you will definitely get a lot of value from the MS-721.

MS-721 for IT Administrators

If you are a system administrator who spends a lot of time managing teams, then you will get valuable information while preparing for the exam. If your daily responsibilities include things like setting up meeting rooms, managing phone systems, or handling Teams governance, then the skills tested in MS-721 will align well with what you are already doing.

With this cert, you can:

• Add specialized Teams skills to your Microsoft 365 knowledge

• Lead collaboration projects with confidence in your knowledge

• Support users with Teams meetings and calling features

• Manage the full Teams experience with new capabilities like Copilot integration

Teams skills make you more valuable as an IT admin and can make you an asset for specialized projects.

MS-721 for Microsoft 365 Professionals

If you're already working with Microsoft 365 and want to specialize in Teams, then this cert shows that you can handle complicated scenarios. It's useful if your organization is starting to rely more on Teams for meetings, phone systems, and newer features like Teams Premium.

For M365 professionals, this cert will:

• Fit in with your existing Microsoft certs

• Show that you have specialized knowledge above your general administration skills

• Stand out for Teams-focused positions

• Show that you are not afraid to expand your technical skills

Organizations are starting to rely on Teams for daily operational tasks, so having this knowledge makes you more versatile.

Is the MS-721 Worth It?

If your career goals are focused on serving the business needs of your organization, then it will definitely help if you know a lot about Teams. There are two main reasons to consider this certification: 

Using MS-721 to Learn Skills

The MS-721 cert prep teaches you more than just boring Teams admin. You'll learn how to:

• Design meeting solutions 

• Set up phone systems 

• Configure meetings, webinars, and town halls with proper policies

• Manage Teams devices 

• Use newer features like Microsoft Copilot in Teams and Teams Premium

Even if you're not aiming to get certified, the exam objectives will help you learn a lot about Teams that you might not have learned otherwise.

Using MS-721 to Validate Skills

Having the MS-721 cert shows employers you know what you're doing with Teams collaboration systems. It proves you can handle everything from basic meeting setups to complicated phone system configurations.

This is valuable when you are:

• Looking for roles that mention Microsoft Teams administration

• Moving into a collaboration engineer role

• Taking on more responsibilities for meeting room technology

• Managing company-wide Teams deployments

• Supporting new features like Teams Premium and Copilot in Teams

The cert shows employers that you've specialized in a technical area and that you have proven your skills by passing the exam. External validation gives you an edge in the job market, especially now that more companies are using Teams for their daily communications.

Conclusion

Getting certified means an investment of time and money, but the benefits are worth it if you're serious about working with Microsoft collaboration tools. The MS-721 is an important cert to hold as companies rely more on Teams for their daily operations. Want to learn more about becoming a collaboration engineer?  Check out the MS-721: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer online training with Lalo Nunez. Claim your free week of training with CBT Nuggets to get started.