Microsoft Teams is getting closer to replace Skype for Business as the new communication hub in Office 365. Today, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business interoperability is coming to Microsoft Teams, with support for unified presence and persistent chat between the two apps.
If you’re ready to make the transition from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams, you’ll be able to import all contacts from your organization along the way (federated contacts will come soon according to Microsoft). Teams users will be able to communicate with Skype for Business users with access to the full interop chat history. “For this functionality, the underlying Skype for Business account that is connected to the Teams user needs to be hosted in Skype for Business online,” Microsoft said today.
In addition to chat interop, out of office messages and presence state will also be synchronised between the two apps, letting Office 365 customers use both apps pretty much interchangeably. Skype for Business interoperability is also rolling out to mobile clients as well, Microsoft said today.
The Redmond giant also announced a new Microsoft Teams & Skype for Business Admin center for Office 365 admins today. The new destination will give admins a unified interface to manage both services, as well as some new features including end-to-end insights and the ability to manage Teams settings on a user level. You can learn more about this new Admin Center on the Microsoft Teams blog.
