News

Microsoft Outlines Skype for Business to Teams Roadmap Plans

• By Kurt Mackie
• 10/24/2017

Microsoft today described some of its upcoming roadmap milestones for bringing Skype for Business capabilities into Microsoft Teams.

An overview of those plans for this year and into 2018 can be found in this Microsoft Tech Community post today. A specific breakdown of the coming messaging, meeting and calling capabilities can be found in this "Capabilities Roadmap" document (PDF), which provides a more nuanced list.

Microsoft's big news at its September Ignite event had been its plans to fold Skype for Business capabilities into Microsoft Teams, which is a relatively new collaboration service for Office 365 users. Microsoft had clarified back then that the Microsoft Teams client will eventually replace the Skype for Business client. Despite the pending switch, Microsoft is still planning to offer its Skype for Business Online service, as well as its Skype for Business Server product. The new server product is expected to arrive in the second half of 2018.

Microsoft also had promised that organizations would have a smooth transition to Teams. For instance, it's possible to run Teams and Skype for Business concurrently.

In general, Microsoft has been marketing the switch as a move toward so-called "intelligent communications" with Teams. For instance, users will get things like searchable transcriptions of meetings, a feature that is expected to arrive at the end of Q2 2018, according to Microsoft's announcement.

Messaging, Meetings and Call Improvements
On the messaging side, Microsoft is planning to add end user features such as screen sharing during chat sessions to Microsoft Teams, as well as "federation between companies," by the end of Q2 2018. IT pros will get some messaging control capabilities as well. At the end of 1Q 2018, IT pros will see "messaging policies," "message retention policies" and "messaging interop IT policies," per Microsoft's "Capabilities Roadmap" document.

In terms of meetings, Microsoft Teams will be getting Skype Room Systems support and video interoperability via third-party room devices by the end of Q2 2018. Likely more in that regard will be discussed in a series of upcoming half-day events hosted by Logitech, Pexip and Microsoft, as described in this Microsoft Tech Community announcement. IT pros will be getting the ability to "enable call quality analytics" for messaging, which will be arriving at the end of this year. IT pros also will have the ability to set "user-level meeting policy," plus they'll get e-discovery improvements, which are capabilities expected to arrive at the end of Q2 2018.

On the calling side, Microsoft plans to bring voicemail to Microsoft Teams "later this quarter." By the end of Q2 2018, Microsoft expects to activate calling services for existing phone connections. IT pros also will be getting calling perks. At the end of this year, they'll see Skype for Business-Microsoft Teams interop policies, as well as a "call quality diagnostic portal." By the end of Q2 2018, IT pros will get e-discovery improvements for calling.

Microsoft seems to never miss an opportunity to rename its products and features, and the Skype for Business transition seems to be no exception. Some Skype for Business terms have changed. The PSTN Calling feature is now "Calling Plan." PSTN Conferencing is "Audio Conferencing." Cloud PBX is named "Phone System."

Resources
Organizations with questions about the switch to Teams can participate in a Microsoft Teams "Ask Microsoft Anything" session. The session will start at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Oct. 25. There's also a Teams on Air broadcast happening at the same hour on Oct. 27.

Microsoft wants organizations to plan a transition to Teams, and has set up this portal page with documentation and guidance. A useful summary of those resources can be found in this TechNet announcement by Matt Soseman, a Microsoft 365 architect.