Microsoft Skype for Business Online retired

Effective August 2, 2021, Microsoft Skype for Business Online is retired and is being replaced by Microsoft Teams.

This retirement does not affect the Skype consumer service or Skype for Business Server products.

Organizations who haven’t made a full transition from Skype for Business Online will be scheduled for a Microsoft-assisted upgrade to help with the last-mile technical steps getting to “Teams Only”. Scheduling notifications are sent to tenant admins within the Microsoft 365 Message Center and Teams admin center 90 days before the date of the assisted upgrade. Even after scheduling, customers may self-upgrade prior to the assisted upgrade date to better control the timing of their upgrade experience.

Assisted upgrades begin in August 2021, with tenant-specific dates shared in the scheduling notifications mentioned above. Organizations scheduled for assisted upgrades after July 31, 2021 will be able to use Skype for Business Online until their upgrade is complete.

The assisted upgrade experience will differ slightly depending on the organization’s environment:

  • Skype for Business Online-only: The assisted upgrade process will apply the TeamsUpgradeOverridePolicy policy to the tenant. When this policy is applied, all Skype for Business Online users will be placed in Teams Only mode.
  • Skype for Business Online users in hybrid environment: The assisted upgrade will only switch Skype for Business Online users to Teams Only mode if they’re not already in that mode. Skype for Business Server users won’t be impacted by the assisted upgrade process and will remain on-premises.

The duration of the upgrade will vary by volume of users and the characteristics of the deployment. In most cases, users within a tenant will be upgraded within 24 hours of the start of the upgrade. During this time, users will still have access to Skype for Business Online. Once the upgrade has completed and users sign out of Skype for Business Online, they’ll start using Teams for messaging, meetings, and calling. Post-upgrade, all new online users will be added in Teams Only mode.

For the announcement and further specifics, please visit: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/the-skype-for-business-online-service-has-retired/ba-p/2596601.

For more information on the Microsoft-assisted upgrade, please visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/upgrade-assisted.

Please contact us for more information and to request a quote.

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