Story by David Maldow, Guest Blogger for Zoom
As an analyst in the business video space I am getting a recurring trend of questions from enterprise Skype for Business video customers in the wake of the big Microsoft Teams announcement. Here are some of the more common areas of concern/confusion and what I’ve been hearing from users.
- What’s the deal with Microsoft Teams anyway?
- What makes Teams so great that Microsoft is going to shift its S4B users over to it?
- I’m used to doing video on S4B, will the workflow be different on Teams?
- Will Teams video have all the same features and functions that I want/need/expect?
- Should I be using S4B in the first place? It came with Office 365 and it’s good enough, right?
- MS’s vision of business communications just changed. It may change again. How can I get a consistent video experience if/when they do?
Before answering these questions, let me share the bottom line for current Office 365 users relying on Zoom and its Skype integration for the video aspect of their UC experience. The news is good, as you are in a great position regarding the upcoming Microsoft switch to Teams. Short version of the story, Zoom integrates with Teams much in the way it integrates with similar services such as Slack, allowing users to easily escalate from chat messaging to a Zoom video call. This means Zoom users will not have to change their video workflow or expectations, they simply continue to use Zoom as they always have. In other words, the shift from Skype to Teams could be less disruptive for Microsoft users leveraging Zoom for video, than for those who are using Skype for video. Zoom becomes your “stable video experience” or your “stable video partner” regardless of where Microsoft may take us next.
