October 27, 2017, Norway – So, you’ve finally aligned video conferencing and telecom across your organization, and have seen great adoption rates and results in improved business operations…. then Microsoft goes ahead & announces the fundamental platform of your telecom is being phased out. *facepalm*
Don’t panic – Microsoft Teams is an impressive step in the right direction for collaboration, and Skype for Business isn’t dead (yet). The good news is Videonor will support both Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams interoperability for our customers.
What is Microsoft Teams?
During Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, FL September 2017, Microsoft announced it’s new vision for intelligent communications; Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams have been available in beta for about a year but the big news is that it will eventually phase out Skype for Business.
Microsoft Teams is a full collaborative platform for enterprise organizations. S4B supports; video, chat, and content sharing, Teams supports; video, chat, content sharing, and collaboration. Similar to Slack, Teams can be built out as their own channel, but Teams includes a designated email address for each team to loop in important emails, as well as provide contact cards for each user with organizational charts. Additional apps, bots, and plugins can be added to individual Team channels to further customize your workflow.
Our organization just standardized on Skype for Business, now what??
Microsoft is releasing new on-premise Skype for Business servers in the second half of 2018, so Skype for Business is far from EOL.
If you are already on Office 365, Teams is included in the package. Your directory is available to build out Teams (similar to Slack). If you are using Teams on 365 and are trying to call a colleague on Skype for Business, the platform will automatically bump you back to Skype for a seamless call. Users are prompted continuously to either join Teams or invite others to. Overall the move to Teams is quite painless, and you have all your important information in one spot.
Does this replace a need for Slack, HipChat, or other chat groups?
Yes. While Microsoft Teams doesn’t have a freemium model like many other chat apps, but it does bring all your collaboration to one place. Many of the fun features of slack are included – gifs, @callouts, emojis, and customizable memes.
Videonor supports the Microsoft Teams platform in products.
The bottom line for our customers, is that we will continue to support Skype for Business & Microsoft Teams on our platform.
Videonor’s mission is to make video as easy as using the phone – and with that comes keeping up with the most current unified communications platforms. “Microsoft is moving forward with their unified communications – and so are we”, says Videonor CEO Oyvind Reed.
Videonor has two products that support Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams interoperability to physical endpoints and/ or external participants – the Skype for Business Gateway and Personal Meeting Rooms.
For more information, please reach out to our team: mail@videonor.com
