
The whiteboard is a standout feature of Skype for Business not yet available in Microsoft Teams. This might be sufficient for very small businesses and freelancers, but small to midsize businesses need more virtual space.Ī Skype for Business account allows users to meet with up to 250 people at once or transmit a one-way broadcast to an audience of up to 10,000 viewers. Have bigger meetingsĪ garden variety Skype account lets you collaborate with up to ten people at once for the first 60 days, then three people at once. Five ways to maximize your Skype Business account 1. I checked in with the Skype team over at Microsoft to get their input on making the most of your Skype for Business account, and they gave me five strategies to share. So what makes Skype for Business different from regular Skype? And if your company already uses Skype for Business, what features should you be taking advantage of that you might not know about?
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In November 2017, Gartner released a complimentary report on the transition, suggesting that the "Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams convergence positions Microsoft Teams as a multipurpose 'activity hub' for Office 365 users."Ī more recent Gartner report ( full report available to Gartner clients) estimates that "By 2020, one in 12 Office365 users will leverage Microsoft Teams as their primary enterprise voice solution, up from roughly one in 100 in 2017."īut until that happens, Skype for Business is still the king of workplace web conferencing. Here's a complete list of Microsoft Team's current capabilities, along with a timeline for when various Skype for Business features are expected to be implemented in Teams.

In an FAQ on the transition, Microsoft said, "We are now aiming to bring the capabilities of Skype for Business in the cloud into Teams to deliver a single hub for teamwork, with built-in, fully integrated voice and video."
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In September 2017, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business will eventually be replaced by web conferencing/chat/meeting software Microsoft Teams-similar to the way that Microsoft To-Do is replacing Wunderlist-as part of the Office 365 service. Screenshot of my home status screen on Skype for Business

How can you make the most of this tool as a project manager? Read on for some tips straight from the source (Microsoft)! Skype for Business: what is it?įollowing its merger with Microsoft, Skype essentially became two products: good old Skype for video chatting with friends and family (free across all computers) and Skype for Business ($2/month per user) for video chatting with colleagues. In 2015, Microsoft launched Skype for Business, a dedicated business tool with functions including chat and calendar integration to supplement its flagship video conferencing feature. It's available on virtually all app-capable devices, including Xbox One consoles. Skype is one of the most popular web conferencing tools on the market (especially following its 2011 $8.5 billion acquisition by Microsoft). When you consider that video conferencing saves the economy billions of dollars per year in travel costs, it positions the technology as an indispensable resource for your (and every) organization. A well known PM statistic shows that poor communication is the leading cause of more than a third of project failures. Web conferencing is an invaluable project management tool that connects remote teams, fostering communication.

Below, we'll look at why web conferencing is vital to project management, what's new with Skype for Business (arguably the most popular web conferencing software in the world), and some tips from Microsoft on how project managers can make the most of their Skype for Business account.
