Customers currently using Skype for Business Online will not experience any change in service until the announced retirement date and will be able to continue to add new users as needed until July 31 st, 2021. Mainstream support for Skype for Business Server 2019 does end until January 9 th, 2024. The retirement of Skype for Business Online will not affect customers who use Skype consumer nor Skype for Business Server.

To learn more about the benefits of Teams, and why it’s replacing skype, check out our blog Microsoft Teams is Replacing Skype for Business - Are you Ready? What’s the Plan? Teams is not only a great way to improve collaboration and increase productivity, but it is also giving organizations the opportunity to rethink the way they work and opens a door to an entirely new way of doing business – it is a shared workspace that brings solutions across Microsoft 365 into one focused space as well as allows for custom development and third-party application integration. Sure…it has meetings, voice, instant messaging, and all of Skype’s other capabilities…but it also has so much more. Many people look at Teams like it is just the improved version of Skype, but that’s where they’re wrong. Microsoft now feels Teams is at the point where they can confidently recommend it as their primary communication and collaboration platform. Since then, Microsoft has been working with partners and customers to improve Teams and get it to where it needs to be to take over for Skype. In 2017, Microsoft Teams was written from scratch as an all in one central hub for teamwork. Why is Skype for Business Online Retiring Now? Here’s the update on the retirement plan and the next steps to take. If you’ve been putting off the decision to migrate to Microsoft Teams – now is the time to start your planning.

After July 31 st, 2021 the service will no longer be accessible. Caption With Microsoft Teams moving in to become the core collaboration & communication client for Office 365, Skype for Business will officially retire on July 31 st, 2021.įinally! Microsoft has officially announced the retirement of Skype for Business Online.

Office 365 skype for business