Microsoft stops supporting Skype for Business Online

Two years ago, Microsoft announced that it would stop supporting Skype for Business Online. On July 31, 2021, Skype for Business Online will reach the end of its life cycle. Microsoft said that Microsoft Teams is the successor to Skype for Business Online, so companies should migrate to the Teams platform as soon as possible to continue to receive support. Microsoft also said that the discontinuation of Skype for Business Online is also an expression of its confidence in Teams, which currently has 1 billion users.

Recently, Microsoft is vigorously promoting the commercial and consumer use of Teams. For example, Teams has been integrated into Windows 11. Users only need to click the chat button on the taskbar to automatically download Teams and initiate a session. In terms of business, Microsoft has been preparing to migrate Skype for Business Online to the Teams platform since 2017 and has achieved functional equivalence in August 2018.

Microsoft stated that since the company decided to retire Skype for Business Online, it has conducted hundreds of discussions with customers and millions of migrations. Companies that have not yet migrated will receive Microsoft’s auxiliary upgrade, which will start from August 2021. Before the upgrade is complete, businesses can still use Skype for Business Online, but after the upgrade is complete, they can only use Teams.

In addition, Skype for Business Online cannot be accessed from now on, and the consumer version of Skype service and Skype for Business Server will not be affected.

Via: Neowin