You may have heard of Skype, Microsoft’s tool within Office 365 for instant messaging and conferencing. You may even use it in your business today. It is a great tool to communicate and collaborate with people inside and outside of your organization. As with all great things, they come to an end. Microsoft recently announced that Skype is being retired and replaced with Teams. Microsoft is pushing hard to get businesses to transition to Teams and as your technology partner we are here to help you make the transition.
What does this mean for you? Whether or not you are using Skype currently, Teams has a lot to offer and goes far beyond Skype from a functionality standpoint.
In addition to the Skype functions like:
- Instant Messaging
- Screen & Desktop Sharing
- Whiteboard capabilities
- Web Conferencing
Teams adds:
- Centralized managed and stored chat/collaboration
- Integration of both internal and external content and tools
- More extensive integration across the Office 365 application landscape
- Content management and integration
- and more…
Currently, there are two challenges with Teams. First, it’s a major change from Skype and there can be a learning curve for your staff to get up to speed on all the things that you want to do in Teams. Second, and no less important, is that, even though Microsoft is promoting certain functionality, that doesn’t mean it’s ready for prime time. In other words, total functionality within Teams can be a moving target.
What is the next step? As mentioned above, Teams is a complex product. If you’re already using Skype, we need to get a meeting on the calendar to discuss how to make this transition as smooth as possible, and what new functions you would like to utilize. If you’re not using currently Skype and would like to know more about how Teams can improve communications and collaboration for your business, let’s setup a call to dive a little deeper into your requirements.
Changes are coming to Office 365. The Teams/Skype transition is just one of many new or revamped systems that can impact your business this year. We will send out more updates as information becomes available.
