Microsoft Teams will evolve as the primary Office 365 Client, replacing Skype for Business Client in Office 365 – 5 Things to Know

 

So the news is out on the first day of Ignite, Microsoft has publically stated their intent that *over time* they intent for Microsoft Teams to replace Skype for Business in Office 365, not replacing Skype for Business Server/ On-premises scenarios.

You can see the official blog post here: https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2017/09/25/a-new-vision-for-intelligent-communications-in-office-365/

There is a full keynote from Microsoft Ignite 4pm local time which will be streamed, details here: http://tomtalks.blog/2017/09/ignite-microsoft-teams-skype-business-keynote-monday-25th-time-link/

 

5 things that are useful to understand:

1. This is a heads up from Microsoft that Teams is their strategic direction for Unified Communications and Collaboration in Office 365/Online. This will be a change over time. “Teams will evolve as the primary client for intelligent communications in Office 365, replacing the current Skype for Business client over time.”
2. No one is being forced to Microsoft Teams, there is a plan to continue to support Skype for Business Online and Skype for Business on Server, “We plan to continue to offer and support Skype for Business in Office 365 and Skype for Business Server on-premises.”
3. You can begin evaluating Microsoft Teams today if you like, side by side with Skype for Business. “Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business clients can be run side by side to evaluate and explore what’s best for your organization”
4. Microsoft Teams is leveraging Skype for Business as a foundational component of Teams “All of this is being built on a new, modern Skype infrastructure for enterprise-grade voice and video communications”
5. This is for Office 365 / Skype for Business Online only. There is a new version of Skype for Business Server coming, it’s being talked about at Microsoft Ignite this week in session: “. Plan your UC refresh correctly: Skype for Business on-premises vNext”  https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/53241

 

More information on Teams is available here: https://aka.ms/skypeandteams

I will be reporting from Microsoft Ignite all this week as an MVP Community reporter as more specific information gets released. Stay tuned on twitter and LinkedIn where I will be doing daily videos and key information blog posts.

Also, check out MSUC.Chat live on Thursday for a community get together and reactions.