Why is Microsoft Teams replacing Skype for Business Online?

Back in September 2019, it was announced that Skype for Business Online would be retiring on 31^st July 2021, with Microsoft already discontinuing the presence of the messaging and video conferencing service for new Office 365 subscriptions.

Whilst existing Office 365 tenancies will have been migrated to Microsoft Teams by this time, new tenancies won’t have any Skype for Business Online functionality.

The history of Skype for Business

Skype for Business, formerly known as Microsoft Lync, offers instant messaging as part of the Microsoft Office 365 subscription. Lync was replaced by Skype for Business in 2015, which was released alongside Office 2016. At Microsoft’s annual Ignite conference in September 2017, it was first confirmed that Skype for Business would be taken over by Microsoft Teams, after users began to notice a message stating “Skype for Business is now Microsoft Teams”.

What’s the difference between Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business?

First of all, it’s worth mentioning that Microsoft Teams is the fastest growing app in Microsoft history. It’s also no secret that Microsoft have heavily invested in the app and are continuing to invest in its integration with other Office 365 and third-party apps. Similarly to Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams works across multiple devices, including internal phone systems, making access on the go a seamless experience.

Whilst Skype for Business is a solution for instant messaging, being limited to voice calls, video conferencing and screen sharing, Microsoft Teams presents itself as the all-in-one collaboration and communication tool.

As part of the Microsoft 365 suite of solutions, Teams integrates with OneDrive so team members can create, upload and share files with each other. Then, they can edit them together (inside the Teams app, your browser or full Office app) with no worries about version control (6).

Using Teams means you can keep notified and up to date on projects without being cc’d into any emails. There’s no need to go back and forth in Outlook as you can share and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, files and presentations in real time, increasing productivity across the organisation.

As mentioned, it’s not only Office 365 apps that can be integrated within Microsoft Teams, therefore if your business has received any negativity on digital channels, this can be shared through Teams due to third-party app integration and resolved quickly through easy instant messaging, proving extremely efficient when a fast response time is critical.

Furthermore, gone are the days of email bounce backs due to exceeding file sizes, as there are no restrictions to sharing within Microsoft Teams. You can also separate projects by channels and categories, therefore organising your workspace.

There’s also the integration of Microsoft Planner, which means each channel can link and assign tasks to users, further increasing productivity. The status and progress of these tasks can be easily tracked in just one click.