Articles about Skype for Business

Support has ended, or is coming to an end, for a lot of Microsoft products at the moment. Perhaps the most notable or well-publicized is Windows 10, but this is far from being the end of the story.

In a move designed to push people towards Teams, killing off Skype and Skype for Business made a lot of sense. The same is true of the aging Exchange 2016 and 2019 losing support. But while this makes sense for Microsoft, it is also incredibly disruptive and expensive for businesses that rely on these tools – hence two newly announced Extended Security Update programs.

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As Microsoft continue to push Teams, the company has announced that Skype for Business Online will be retired in 2021.

While this is far from surprising, this is the first time a date has been mentioned so users can prepare to transition away. With the retirement date set at July 31, 2021, users have two years to get ready for a move to Teams.

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Microsoft has announced the upcoming release of a Skype Professional Account desktop client. Due to launch in the US as a preview very soon, this is a business-focused build of Skype that offers a host of extra features.

This includes the ability to book meeting, make notes and take payments, all from the comfort of a chat client. The aim is to reduce the number of tools and services anyone conducting a business online needs to use.

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When you buy a laptop nowadays, it will absolutely have a built-in webcam. Some desktop users may have a webcam built into their monitor too. For the most part, those integrated cameras should be passable in a pinch, but the overall performance often disappoints. It is for that reason that many consumers will still buy an external USB webcam.

Logitech has long offered well-reviewed USB webcams, and today, it is announcing what could be the best such camera ever. The BRIO 4K Pro Webcam is capable of recording or streaming 4K content. While UHD support alone makes it intriguing, it also has other notable features like HDR, USB-C connectivity and Windows Hello support. It even comes with a privacy shade in the box. If you want to mount it on a professional tripod, there is threading for that too.

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Cloud-based unified communications are an attractive option for businesses, but a lack of effective management and monitoring tools is holding back many from deploying the technology.

Managed cloud services company Unify Square is addressing this with the launch of an extended lineup of Skype for Business (SfB) cloud and hybrid services to help enterprises transition from on premise, to hybrid or full cloud deployments.

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For many people that work in the corporate world, Skype for Business (formerly Lync) is an indispensable collaboration tool. Not only does it keep employees under the same roof connected, but it keeps remote workers in the loop too. Quite frankly, working remotely without Skype for Business would be a real chore -- it is that good. It can even be quite brilliant for remote group meetings -- connecting two rooms in different buildings.

Today, Logitech announces a device called 'SmartDock', which it designed in collaboration with Microsoft. This is a hardware solution that is designed to make Skype or Business easier to use in conference and meeting rooms. It is essentially a dock that turns a Surface Pro 4 into a centralized communication hub.

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Skype for Business users have had a pretty rough time connecting with other platforms (like Cisco or Avaya), but that’s no longer the case as the Cisco Meeting Server gets released.

Cisco's new product will allow Skype for Business users to easily connect to users on other platforms by clicking a link. The company believes its product will completely reshape office collaboration, and the impact will be "huge".

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While Skype remains the most popular VoIP tool, the Skype for Business mobile client has been dogged by ongoing quality and technical issues that have slowed its rollout.

A new survey by Unify Square and Osterman Research finds that 30 percent of IT teams' total time spent troubleshooting the Skype platform is devoted to the mobile client.

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In an attempt to entice enterprise Mac users, Microsoft has just released a preview of its new Skype for Business for OS X. This new version of Skype will be business-focused and is centered around creating an experience tailored to enterprise users.

From today, you can request access to the preview from Microsoft. The company will be sending the Skype for Business Mac Preview out to IT administrators in order for them to familiarize themselves with the software before extending the preview to more users.

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Video conferencing and remote collaboration are hugely important for modern businesses. As more and more employees choose to work from home or at off-site locations, it is imperative that they can interface in a meaningful way. Conference calls and email just won't cut it.

While Microsoft's forthcoming Surface Hub looks great, let's be honest -- it will be expensive and could be a hard sell to company decision makers. Small businesses in particular could be priced-out of that hardware. Today, Microsoft announces Project Rigel -- a way to deliver a similar Skype Meeting-based experience, as shown on Surface Hub, but without the super-expensive hardware.

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In the year 2016, you would think videoconferencing would be very prevalent in business offices. Unfortunately, many solutions are expensive and confusing -- audio-based conference calls are still quite popular. In order for video conferencing to truly take off, it must be both easy to setup and use.

Today, Logitech announces the ConferenceCam Kit -- a video conferencing bundle powered by the powerful, and diminutive, Intel NUC. Will it prove popular with businesses?

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Both Skype and Skype for Business (formerly known as Lync) are good communication tools. The standard Skype is particularly great for being cross-platform. You can depend on the software being available on all major platforms such as OS X, Windows, Android, Ubuntu, iOS and Windows Phone. Skype for Business is a solid business tool, focusing on not only communication, but sharing and collaboration too.

It is imperative that Microsoft continue to improve its Skype solutions -- "evolve or dissolve", as some say. In other words, the company cannot simply rest on its laurels. Well, today, Microsoft bought a company, Talko, to bolster its famed communication solutions. Yes, Talko, a mobile communication company, is being integrated into the Skype family.

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A post has appeared on Microsoft's TechNet that suggests the company could be on the verge of combining Skype for Business and the consumer version of Skype into a single product known as Skype Central.

The move would echo that taken with OneDrive, and would help to streamline things a little for developers. The post is written by Microsoft's Tony Eversole and is designed as a placeholder so developers have a central point to exchange news and information.

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Over on the Skype community pages there are lots of disgruntled Skype users. For a number of weeks now, many users have been plagued with spoof messages from people on their contact list, telling them to visit a Russian website. Others complain that their contacts say their own account has sent out a similar message. Despite the problem having been reported nearly a month ago, Microsoft has still to address the issue.

For now, all the company has to say is "change your password", insisting that a team is working on the issue. The spoofed message includes a shortened URL, so those clicking it have no idea where it leads until it is too late. Rather than offering a full solution, all Microsoft has to suggest is to change Skype passwords -- it seems the company is too busy focusing on Windows 10 at the moment.

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Skype for Business is Microsoft's new enterprise communication tool, serving as a replacement for Lync in the software giant's business-oriented lineup. It was officially released in April, with new features and improvements coming from its predecessor, but is only now available on Windows Phone.

Windows Phone is actually the first major mobile platform which offers a Skype for Business app, with Android and iOS still having the old Lync 2013 client in their respective app stores. The transition from Lync 2013 to Skype for Business, on Windows Phone, is accompanied by new features.

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