Migration from Skype to Teams

Yes. Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021, at which point it will no longer be accessible or supported. We encourage Skype for Business customers to start using Teams and begin planning their upgrades now to allow ample time to complete upgrade prior to the retirement date.

Your organization's journey from Skype for Business to Teams can be defined by you. To assist in your planning and execution, we've developed comprehensive upgrade guidance based upon a proven framework designed to help you navigate the technical and organizational elements of change.

We encourage you to plan the journey from Skype for Business to Teams as soon as possible. Depending on your technical and organizational elements and Microsoft best practices we help you to define the upgrade path that best meets the needs of your organization.

Within the Microsoft Teams admin center, you'll notice options for coexistence modes, enabling your organization to manage the Skype for Business to Teams journey that's right for your organization. Learn more about coexistence and upgrade modes.

A successful upgrade will include validating technical readiness in addition to user acceptance readiness. Even if you determine your organization isn't quite ready to upgrade to Teams, you can begin the planning process today. Further, you can start realizing the value of Teams by enabling Teams alongside Skype for Business. MachCloud offers best practices and resources designed to kick start upgrade planning and implementation.

No, you'll want to switch users to Teams Only mode to complete the upgrade to Teams. If your organization is ready to upgrade to Teams, take time to communicate to users to let them know what's happening and allow them to acclimate to Teams. This will help ensure they have a positive upgrade experience and help alleviate calls to your helpdesk.

After your users are upgraded to Teams (Teams Only mode):

• Their Skype for Business client will be disabled for use as all chat and calls will go to Teams. This client will continue to be used for previously scheduled Skype for Business meetings. If this desktop client is uninstalled, users will be redirected to access previously scheduled Skype for Business meetings via the Skype for Business web app.
• Any Skype for Business meetings scheduled before the upgrade will work as designed, but all new meetings will be scheduled in Teams. If users attempt to sign-in to Skype for Business, they'll get a notification from their client that they've been upgraded to Teams. Users will need to manually uninstall the Skype for Business client on their mobile device.