Get prepared to transition to Microsoft Teams, as the end of Skype for Business looms near.
For over a year now there’s been significant reporting and discussions on the phasing out of Skype for Business. In its place will be Microsoft Teams.
Although the exact date for when Microsoft will fully phase out Skype has not been formally announced, we can assure you that the end is near. Strong signals of this include you can’t get Skype for Business with new small business licenses.
The intent of this news update isn’t to show how close Microsoft Teams is to matching feature parity with Skype (it’s very close, especially when you consider third party apps).
Instead, we want to highlight one specific constraint for some customers that will begin on April 1, 2019: “The End of life program for the integration of Skype for Business with third-party audio conferencing providers (ACP).”
According to Microsoft, on April 1st:
- Participants who attempt to join any Skype meeting via dial-in numbers provided by a third-party ACP service will no longer be connected to the Skype meeting.
- Users enabled for a third-party ACP service will no longer have their dial-in information automatically included in any new Skype meeting invites.
Additionally, the following changes have taken effect and will continue to be in place until the conclusion of the end of life program:
- Customers with no Skype users configured to use a third-party ACP service will not be able to configure any users to use a third-party ACP service.
“After April 1st, 2019, users can continue to use Skype for Business with no interruption to their online meetings; however, organizations will need to enable their users for Audio Conferencing provided by Microsoft if they require dial-in audio conferencing with Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams.”
Obviously, these changes will have significant operational impacts on organizations who are heavily dependent on Skype using third-party ACP services.
We’ve already had a couple clients who are being directly affected, putting a strain on their resources to make some rapid changes.
If you are in the same boat, reach out to us – we can help you get past this immediate hurdle and discuss the benefits of a deliberate approach to transitioning from Skype to Microsoft Teams as your primary audio conferencing, meetings, and collaboration hub.
Remember, it’s not a matter of “if” Skype for Business is going away, but more a matter of “when.”