Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Microsoft Teams to Replace Skype for Business Client Application

    By
    Pedro Hernandez
    -
    September 26, 2017
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      1088_MicrosoftTeams

      Microsoft Teams is growing up fast.

      The chat-based group collaboration app that was released in March 2017 will soon replace the Skype of Business client, Microsoft announced during its Ignite conference in Orlando, Fla. Sept.25-29. Skype for Business, itself a successor to Lync, is Microsoft’s unified communications software platform for enterprises.

      Like the consumer Skype app, the software offers voice and video calling, group calls and a host of other ways to connect, but with team-oriented functionality and management capabilities catered to the needs of businesses. Now those features are trickling into Teams.

      “To achieve our vision for intelligent communications, we are bringing comprehensive calling and meetings capabilities into Teams, along with data and insights from the Microsoft Graph, and a strong roadmap of innovation to empower teams to achieve more,” said Lori Wright, general manager of product marketing at Microsoft Teams and Skype, in a Sept. 25 announcement. Microsoft Graph is a collection of APIs (application programming interfaces) that can be used to build intelligent apps using data from Office 365 and various other cloud-enabled business software and service offerings from the company.

      “All of this is being built on a new, modern Skype infrastructure for enterprise-grade voice and video communications,” continued Wright. Although all this means that Teams will replace the Skype for Business client software, Microsoft doesn’t plan on leaving existing customers in the lurch.

      Microsoft plans to continue supporting Skype for Business on both cloud-based Office 365 plans and on-premises deployments for an unspecified time. The company is readying a new Skype for Business Server release for some time in the second half of 2018 to support customers that aren’t ready to migrate their PBX (private branch exchange) environments to the cloud, said Wright.

      In the meantime, Microsoft Teams is gaining momentum in the marketplace. Six months after its official release (Microsoft issued a preview release in November 2016), the Slack competitor is being used by more than 125,000 organizations, according to company estimates, and has gathered the support of an increasing number of third-party developers.

      Among them is SurveyMonkey, which introduced a new integration at Ignite that will allow customers to conduct surveys using Teams chat channels. “SurveyMonkey powers conversations with customers, employees, and potential buyers at scale,” said Steve Norall, chief product officer at SurveyMonkey.

      The deep integration will offer “Microsoft users a simple way to create, share and collaborate on survey projects for fast feedback and insights. You can now send a quick poll to take the pulse of any Microsoft Teams channel, collaborate on survey design and keep your team up to date with notifications,” he added.

      Users can instantly create and distribute one-question surveys to Teams channels, which fellow colleagues can vote on with a single click. Results are tallied in real-time, along with information on how users voted. Alternately, pollsters can make their surveys anonymous or hide the results from a channel’s participants. For more involved surveys, users can build polls in SurveyMonkey and send them to Microsoft Teams.

      Pedro Hernandez
      Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to eWEEK and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×