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Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams

Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams
Formerly Lync

Overview

What is Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams?

Skype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.

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Recent Reviews

Beyond expectation

9 out of 10
January 17, 2024
Limited features for business collaboration find it lacking in terms of advanced features.Business depend heavily on communication tools …
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Great Software!

9 out of 10
December 16, 2022
We use Skype for Business to work with employees all across the country. The instant chat feature allows our staff to ask a quick question …
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Skype Review

6 out of 10
March 21, 2022
Skype for Business had an excellent use case. since we were using Microsoft products for Collaboration, the integration was seamless. the …
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Skype keeps employees connected!

8 out of 10
February 16, 2022
I use Skype for Business daily. It is very easy to use and allows me to easily and effectively communicate with other employees across the …
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Skype for Business - Review

7 out of 10
January 26, 2022
Microsoft Skype for Business has solved instant messaging and video conferencing challenges, specifically throughout the pandemic. The …
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Meeting and a collaborative Tool

9 out of 10
December 25, 2021
Have a quick video conversation with colleagues for project coordination that the market is solving problems. Thanks to Skype for …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 17 features
  • Desktop sharing (190)
    8.8
    88%
  • High quality audio (189)
    8.0
    80%
  • High quality video (184)
    7.7
    77%
  • Low bandwidth requirements (181)
    6.6
    66%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Unavailable

What is Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams?

Skype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

What is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams combines video conferencing software with team collaboration tools. The communications platform allows MS Office users to conduct conference calls and share files via SharePoint, and join or initiate a group chat.

What is GoTo Connect?

GoToConnect, from GoTo, is a cloud-based business phone system with built-in web-based video conferencing solutions. It includes features such as call analytics, call recording, softphone, fax to email, voicemail to email, and desktop integration.

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Features

Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software

Features related to the performance, reliability & compatibility of web conferencing and webinar (online events) software.

7.5
Avg 8.0

Screen Sharing

Features related to remote screen sharing capabilities.

8.5
Avg 8.0

Online Meetings / Events

Features related to hosting and attending meetings and events online.

7.8
Avg 8.2

Online Events Collaboration

Features related to collaboration between attendees during web conferences, webinars, and other online events.

8.6
Avg 8.4

Online Events Security

Features related to the security of meetings and other events held via web conferencing/webinar software.

8
Avg 8.4
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Product Details

What is Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams?

Skype for Business was a unified communications tool superseded by Microsoft Teams.

For personal use, Skype Desktop and Mobile apps are still available for download, but for business functionality the vendor now fully supports Microsoft Teams as the replacement for Skype for Business.

Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Skype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.

Reviewers rate Live chat highest, with a score of 9.1.

The most common users of Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(2587)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 96)
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January 17, 2024

Beyond expectation

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Limited features for business collaboration find it lacking in terms of advanced features.Business depend heavily on communication tools and any technical issues often lead to disruption in productivity targets.Need to follow regulatory compliance before using the product and ensure the procedure needs to follow without breaking any Compliance. Sometimes the usage may also depend on Internet connectivity.
  • Communication is free of cost
  • File and screen sharing facilities
  • Video conferencing
  • Skype for business
  • Translator
  • Security and privacy concerns
  • Depends on internet connection
  • Lack of advanced features
  • Large meeting may sometimes disrupt based on connectivity
  • Missing of end to end encryption
It allows everyone to make calls using Internet. Screen sharing is very easy during calls without any difficulty. Setting up a meeting is done in fraction of seconds.Allows additional features for businesses and advanced technology capabilities. Compatibility feature is available to ensure communication regardless of the usage during meetings.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We used to have Skype as the main internal chat tool at the company. I remember liking it since the beginning - it is very easy to use, and I had complete familiarity with my personal account for many, many years. The fact that it is integrated with all the other Microsoft applications makes it very useful; I am always connected to the people in my organization. We use it internally for daily chatting, file exchange, and virtual meetings. The only "problem" I could see is the interface - compared to Microsoft Teams' look and feel, Skype is not really nice (but we could just only notice later!).
  • Instantaneous messaging.
  • Emojis
  • Video calls.
  • Activity records.
  • Notifications (email and app notifications).
  • Customization of user's display (colors, photo, quick links etc).
  • Export chat records.
  • No video recording expiration.
  • Voice -to-text for chat messages.
  • Better meeting/call schedule experience.
Skype for Business is absolutely useful - I wouldn't know how to work with a team without it. Simply essential for reaching out to people in your organization, having a voice and video calls, exchange files. One of the best scenarios I can pick to describe how important this tool is for the organization is the records we have of all communications - all users have a full history of their chats and interactions that have many benefits, but peace of mind is my favorite. Honestly, the only scenario I can think that Skype/Teams are not very much appropriate is when the communication is more email-like. In this case, an email will always be email - people tend to be more concise, and there's no explicit pressure on the reply.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business helps us to drive technical calls by screen sharing with the whole team, and for communication within the team by means of chat, file sharing, voice calls, etc.
  • Screen sharing.
  • Chat function.
  • File sharing.
  • Status setting.
  • Offline email messages.
  • Launch time of desktop application.
  • It displays one user name multiple times with all the conversations, I would like to see it as one chat window.
  • Overall performance should be made fast.
Skype for Business is well-suited for technical calls that require screen sharing and providing demos to clients.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In my role, Skype has been useful for team meetings and gatherings. During the work from home part of my employment, it was a necessary tool, as my role included skype calls in order to help internal employees with general tech issues.
  • Easy Communication.
  • Simple to use when set up.
  • Good user interface.
  • Good integration with other Microsoft product like Outlook.
  • Connection issues can be hard to diagnose when they come up(as some knowledge of server information may be needed to reestablish as the connection troubleshooting options on the sky are not as user-friendly as the rest of the platform.
  • Some issues setting up camera/sound could use more info on troubleshooting options with playback sound, video, etc.
  • Statuses sometimes are unreliable and do not display correctly .
Skype is useful for collaborations across distances, including work from home, as well as a more convenient way to communicate with a large group of people. Skype is also useful to communicate with specific parties quickly, rather than relying on cellular service in areas where not as available. Skype is less useful if the team does not use computers , tablets, smartphones, etc in daily workflow as it would rarely be used.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Skype for business for almost all business meetings, being an international organization and having to work with colleagues mostly outside of the country skype for business is one of the tools which is part of the startup list in our desktops, workstations, and laptops some of us use it even in our handheld devices. The only feature which was missing in the version which our company was using is the ability to transfer files this is one of the most used tools/software for most of us.
  • conference calls
  • messaging with notification
  • syncing with outlook calendar
  • status settings
  • organization of contacts
  • conversation history
  • connection to corporate directory
  • organization charts
  • file sharing
  • task tracking as a group
  • multi screen sharing
  • Multiple presenters
  • connection with other productivity applications
Organization of meetings were a cakewalk when I started using Skype for business back in 2014, I was able to check the calendars of colleagues when I try to schedule a meeting, this was so easy and precise, there was no need to check back with each of them for their availability and so on. Proposing a new time by tentatively accepting the meeting invite is something which I first learned on Skype for business we have always felt that the file transfer option could have been added for better track of conversations and the related documents which are shared over one platform itself.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use Skype for Business daily. It is very easy to use and allows me to easily and effectively communicate with other employees across the organization. Skype also allows me to connect with coworkers via voice and video calls and also provides the capability of sharing my desktop for enhanced efficiency.
  • Communication with coworkers.
  • Multiple channels of communication.
  • Ability to see coworkers status easily.
  • Chat rooms could be better integrated.
  • Sending attachments could be more seamless.
  • Integrate better with email systems.
I would highly recommend Skype for Business for other business users. It has great benefits in helping users in an organization stay connected while still providing the ability to multitask. It also is nice to have the ability to turn any conversation into a group chat if there are other people that need to be included in a discussion. It is extremely helpful that conversation history is saved for users to refer to.
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I was a Lync user for many years and loved it. I made the switch to Skype for Business with no difficulty because they were very similar. When Lync was no longer supported, training people on the switch was not difficult because of so many similarities. Going to Skype for Business (formerly Lync), now part of Microsoft Teams, is a whole different story. My IT networking staff doesn't like it either. If a user wants to use Teams only for chatting, it doesn't make since to open Teams for only that purpose. Because Microsoft Teams has channels, this adds confusion for chatting. More features add more complexity, which can be more difficult to understand. Teams stills allows our organization to talk amongst departments as Skype did, which addresses our scope of need.
  • Keeping Teams Chat front and center helps with workflow--especially the one-and-done answer or even chatting back and forth if necessary
  • Power users can use Teams in Chats and Channels; Channels are especially good for group projects
  • Teams Chat saves your chat history in the event you need to view the conversation in the future to refresh your memory
  • It requires more memory because of all the other features in Teams, so it takes a little more time to load than Skype did.
  • The layout of the new Teams chat is not as user friendly as Skype was. More features are not always better for simple use.
Our users say it takes too long to open and start using. The layout makes it more difficult to tell if there are multiple people on the strand. Having multiple conversations using Teams Chat is not as smooth as Skype. Skype and Lync were much easier to use than the Teams version. You could easily see favorites and groups but don't find them in Teams. We use Microsoft Teams for conferences and the chat inside the conferences are good but not if you just want to chat without using all of the Teams features, it not as user friendly as Skype.
Dushyant Pathak (DKP) | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Skype for [Business] is the default communication tool used across our organization for all parallels - Tech, Finance, HR. Even interviews for our firm are done via the platform. A major part of our office infrastructure depends on Office 365 suite and [using] Outlook for mails and calendars. Thus, the need was for an instant communication platform, customizable for enterprise, that could integrate well with these, and what better option than another Microsoft product. Skype makes it easy to reach out to any person within the firm via just her/his name or email ID, start instant chats, retrieve them via outlook, share screens, video calls, and voice calls - all of which are used roughly 20-30 times a day on average by an average employee. For an organization with over 90000 employees, a tool that could integrate well with the existing Outlook infrastructure, and provide a means for communication, voice and video calls, screen sharing, and office status (Available/Busy/OOO etc), Skype was the best possible option. Noteworthy that Skype for [Business] was started being used at a time when MS Teams was not launched yet.
  • Instant messaging to anyone who we know only by name/email. Even if they're offline, they get the message in missed convos and a notification automatically goes to them via Outlook mail. All conversations are saved and accessible via Outlook.
  • Video and voice calls are a norm in the WFH scenario, and an average employee has around 4-5 calls a day. Skype gives notifications for upcoming meetings, allows easy scheduling via outlook calendar, and its audio/video quality [is] reasonably good compared to the amount of data it consumes.
  • Status availabilities - in the WFH scenario, you could be off for lunch, out of office, busy, sharing screens - and might not want to be disturbed. Skype allows you to do that, and in case you're off, ensures that you know that you have missed messages.
  • Screen sharing - we have to share screens at least once or twice a day with a coworker when working on some issues/features, and Skype easily lets us do that. One of the best things about Skype is that the screen can be shared without being on a video/voice call - which is of immense advantage because oftentimes, you could prefer sharing the screen, while it [is] too noisy to talk.
  • Skype's UI leaves a lot to be desired, especially considering newer platforms like Zoom, Teams, Slack, Meet, and so on. It's slow and lacks many features that are now de facto in the newer communication apps.
  • Skype calendar also is often buggy - meeting times do not get updated on the calendar even if the correct time does come up on the Outlook calendar.
  • It does not give you the option to mute chats - oftentimes, you want to keep some group chats on mute without leaving them entirely.
  • Closing off a chat before it's saved will remove it from Skype history. You'd need to go search for it on Outlook mail.
Appropriate: Firms using Microsoft suite of products. Large enterprise organizations. Orgs where ease of use is more important than more features. Where sharing a screen without video calling is often required. Less appropriate: Startups and small companies that can experiment with newer age tools, and especially those working with the much more popular Google workspace had better stick to Meet/Slack.
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business makes it easy for us to connect and collaborate with coworkers and vendors: via message conversations and voice or video calls. We can also use SFB to exchange files quickly. The good thing about skype for business is that you can install it on a variety of platforms e.g. IOS/Android/Windows
  • The application on windows 10 is lightweight. No CPU/Memory hogging
  • Simple and easy to use interface
  • Can be deployed in Cloud/Hybrid/on-prem
  • Skype for business messages on Apple watch
  • ability to mask/disable sending sensitive messages containing credit card numbers.
  • Would be nice to get the option of using WebUI
Organizations needing VoIP/Video/IM/Collaboration tool from Microsoft that are unable to use a cloud product due to compliance. SFP is perfect as you can deploy it in onprem/hybrid setup.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for business used to be our sole communication tool within our organization. It offers the best video calling and conferences experience. We use this extensive company-wide. It is easily integrated with outlook and other office apps. It has a simple UI with a minimalistic feel to it. It lacks many features that are being offered in most of the communication tools these days. It has quite a classic appeal to it.
  • Integration with outlook
  • Alerts and missed conversation notification
  • Saves conversation in mail
  • Ability to configure time for online availablity
  • Great for video calls
  • No dark mode
  • Updates are not regular
  • No noise cancellation feature in calls
  • Cluttered chat windows
  • Cant send large files
  • No stickers or GIFs support in chat
Skype for business can be best suited for video calls. It has a very simple UI. However, it lacks many basic features such as noise cancellation, live captions, recalling a sent message. Search within the chat is very bad and not at all optimized. None the less it works smoothly on any device.
July 29, 2021

Skype 4 life

Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[Skype for Business (formerly Lync) is] used for messaging between users where users can see each others status and understand how likely your message will be answered. We escalate calls to full two way voice from messages, we also conference other people in with a drag and drop action that is very easy. We can escalate the call to full video conferencing with multiple users. We can also share our screens and uses can control each others desktops.
  • See users status before contacting them
  • Have a good idea that the will respond before you reach out to them
  • Good quality of voice
  • Easy to use
  • Easy to escalate to higher forms of communication
  • Integration to other platforms
  • Presence shared between Skype and ms teams
  • Faster upgrades to clients
[With Skype for Business (formerly Lync)] contacting team members is easy so you can get help at the click of a button. You can escalate that message to a voice call easily. You can then share your screen to users again at the touch of a button. You can drag and drop other users into calls and conferences when you need further input getting the tasks completed quickly and efficiently.
Firaz Peer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use this tool across the entire organization as it integrates well with other Microsoft products that we use. This integration is great as it allows information (like availability, contact details, etc) to be shared across platforms. One can join a meeting in Teams or chat with someone with just a click rather than going through multiple steps of opening a new app, looking for the person, and then calling/messaging them.
  • Integration across other Microsoft products is great feature.
  • All communication is well organized within individual Teams and each team can have multiple channels for different topics.
  • Integration with third party apps also helps improve workflow.
  • Doesn't seem to work well with low bandwidth internet connections.
  • Automatic transcription of audio would be a nice feature to have.
  • More emoticons to react to messages would be nice.
This tool is really well suited for businesses and organizations that are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. While the quality of voice calling isn't the best for low bandwidth internet connections, this tool offers a great alternative to email, where messages and action items can easily get lost.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business is the only and primary tool for communication amongst team
members and with the clients. It is used for having quick chats and long meetings.
Sharing the contents while the meeting is going is an effortless and a very useful feature.
So basically it is used for communicating across an organization. Just search a name and you are right away connected to the colleague.
  • Meeting scheduling
  • Calendar integration helps in looking at schedules of team members
  • Screen sharing, Desktop sharing helps quickly share the work we are working on
  • Integration with Other market tools helps SHARE work being done on them
  • [I feel it] Must have feature to grab the screen shot and share right away while meeting is in progress
  • More stability on low bandwidth connections
  • An appstore to connect with market tools such as DevOps etc
Skype for Business gives confidence that all business-related communications are safe and delivered to exact and intended persons.
We were looking for a conference feature for connecting with colleagues or adding additional colleagues while we are on call with one colleague. Earlier this was not possible. Skype's update helped us a lot in this.
Earlier there was no feature of sharing specific screen due to which entire desktop were shared and hence compromised privacy. But Skype update added that great feature.
Gavin Scott-Miller | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Communication is a hard problem to solve. Everyone communicates, but everyone also does it differently.

We used to utilize Skype for Business (formerly Lync) before making a switch to Microsoft Teams. Skype for Business (formerly Lync) allows teams of people to video conference, chat, and keep in touch. Its methodologies are rapidly becoming out of date as the service declines in users as more and more people make the switch.
  • Video conferencing (very few connection problems)
  • Chat has historical data
  • Signed in users tracking
  • Chats are broken into several threads instead of one persistent thread
  • Link sharing and document sharing are a major problem
  • Groups and collaboration need improvement
If you just want a reliable video conferencing software, Skype for Business (formerly Lync) is good. They have multi-platform support and very seldom did I experience any drop outs or major issues.

However this software is aging and Microsoft has moved all focus onto Microsoft Teams, which has 95% of Skype's old features and is gaining new features every week. If you are looking for a full-featured communication platform, Skype for Business (formerly Lync) is not it. You might try looking at some other software.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[My company] has been using Skype for Business for all the conversation, meetings, video conferencing, internal chit-chat etc. [It] is one of the best web and video conferencing software I have [ever] used. [...]
  • Best tool for conversation within the whole organization.
  • Video conferencing is very amazing.
  • Very very user-friendly.
  • Sharing documents over chat is very simple.
  • You can create your groups in a very proper way.
  • Very simple to use.
  • No additional training is required to use this tool.
  • You can show your status as available, busy, away, do not disturb, In [the] meeting, etc as your convenient and work.
  • We can share our screen and can take control as well of others.
  • We can show only one window to the others and can do our other works in other windows at the same time.
  • Sometimes if [...] you have another window, like watching any video [and] you don't touch the mouse, [...] Skype will show your status as away[...].
  • Sometimes it takes [a] little more time to log in.
  • Meeting creation and sending [invitations are a] little tough.
  • Your status will show [as] 'away' just after 4-5 minutes if you don't touch the mouse, no matter your window is open and watching something else. It is its biggest con.
I [have been] using Skype for Business [for the] last 2 years [at] my current company. This is one of the best chit-chat and video conferencing software where you can talk within the whole organization. [...] Since my profile is 'Technical Associate" I used to get all the critical requests on Skype for Business. This tool is very simple and user-friendly. Sharing documents are very easy. We can show of status as available, busy, in meeting, do not disturb, away as per your [convenience]. [The] color feature is also available as per the status. Sharing [the] screen with others and taking command is one of the best and easiest features in Skype for Business.
June 13, 2021

Okay app for IM

Sushant goyal | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for business was the foremost used instant messaging and video calling software used in my organization.
Previously it was used by whole organization but now it is limited to various teams in the organization, as another software are being used now.
Skype is used to share messages between colleagues, teammates any internal team messages. It is very easy to install and use.
  • Very good instant messaging app f[o]r organi[z]ations with minimal UI.
  • Easy to make video calls, phone calls.
  • One can share screen with everyone you are calling, helpful in case of showing presentation or giving lectures.
  • We can even make calls to particular phone number through Skype for Business.
  • Can share documents and files over Skype for Business app.
  • In todays scenario it is bit costly compared to other similar apps available in market.
  • UI is way too old. It needs redevelopment.
  • Searching old messages is problematic from [the] start of using this app. Search doesn't work good.
  • Number of person able to attend meeting is limited.
It is well suited for every organization either it be small, medium or large who ever can afford it. Overall it is good app to start with but [a] little bit expensive.
Organization which just started functioning or are new comers which doesn't have big funding or budget can avoid Skype for Business as their instant messaging app and can opt for any other cheap apps.
May 19, 2021

The Hype of Skype

Heather Hicks | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype [for Business (formerly Lync)] was used in my organization for secure state employee messaging and videos calls. It addressed the need for live instant communication between employees for collaboration and discussion.
  • Skype is a great widely used platform quick message platform.
  • Office 365 Connected
  • Allows Screen Sharing
  • Connectivity issues. Frequent Freezing,
  • It seems to require a lot of bandwidth. Our computers don't have a lot of RAM.
  • Large Files take a very long time to share.
[Skype for Business (formerly Lync) is well suited for] quick messages to ask a colleague a question, collaboration on a project, meetings, Screen Sharing, simple presentations It covers quite a lot of needed communication.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our organization used Skype as the main messaging application across the entire organization globally for all employees. They are installed by default on all user machines and used as the primary instant messaging software for communication between teams and employees.
  • Established name
  • Simple and easy to use
  • Call quality is good
  • Not as many features as some other software
For simple communication via instant messaging and audio calls, Skype is more than adequate and does the job well. There are also integration options for other Microsoft products that will be useful. If the environment requires more collaboration tools aside from chat and calls, there may be other more suitable options to consider.
Mohammad Aminul Islam | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have a large group, and during the COVID pandemic, Skype for Business has been a great help to connect with all group members. We use Skype for Business for our group meetings and if we are arranging a seminar from our group. We use it to share documents and live chat during work hours as well.
  • Great video quality.
  • Excellent audio quality.
  • Easy to use; great for small file sharing.
  • Great chat service during live meeting.
  • Large files take a longer time to share.
  • Have connection issues in large group meetings.
  • Interactive service (emoji, history) needs improvement.
It is well suited to have a large group meeting, arranging seminars, and webinars. It is great for working on a collaboration project and sharing small files. Screen sharing enables individuals to work interactively with each other. Our lab works in the modeling aspect and it's great for debugging the code. But we face issues when we wish to share large files and arranging. And it requires high-speed internet to have great service.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business is used across the organisation for VOIP telephony, instant messaging, screen sharing and video. As a collaboration tool it has been used for meetings, one to one calls and quick messaging.
  • Instant messaging is clear, quick, and easy to use.
  • Internal telephony call quality on Skype for Business is generally quite good.
  • Screen sharing is easy to do including selecting specific monitors if you happen to be using more than one.
  • Probably the biggest area is the video element as it has historically struggled in this area.
  • The need to be forced to federate with another organisation by providing yours and enabling the other organisation settings is a bit tedious but once done, allows for simple collaboration between third-parties.
  • Functionality wise, as it's an older product and being superseded by MS Teams, it feels as if it's run its course but was very good for what it does/did at the time.
For instant messaging without going into depth it's very quick and simple and the CPU footprint is quite low and therefore easily able to run on older hardware. The audio only capability has always been very good, but the video aspect where you have more than one person on video does seem to struggle. It's understandable given the codec has been in operation for a number of years but for basic collaboration it has served the purpose pretty well and until forced to migrate, most companies will happily continue to use it.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Skype for Business is used in Orange Business Services across all Russian offices. This is one of primary collaboration tools and it enables voice and video calls, messaging with attachments, meetings and screen sharing for workers. It also contains corporate directory to find the right person to communicate with. It is configured to allow both PSTN and office calls as well as voice calls to our business partners with federation installed.
  • Messaging is ok.
  • Voice calls of good quality.
  • Meetings work fine .
  • Excellent corporate directory.
  • Messaging has a poor history.
  • We have troubles with meetings with great number of participants.
  • Sometimes communication is not stable enough but it might be network issues.
Good solution when budget is not very large. It covers all basic business collaboration needs can be deployed for large organization when meetings don't require a great number of participants and video requirements are not so strong. Can be easily integrated with Microsoft Outlook/Exchange and with MS Active directory to enable corporate directory navigation.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business was heavily used by my organization until Teams reached (mostly) feature parity. We still have some users that haven't completed the migration to Teams - this will be complete by the end of the month as Skype for Business Online is being phase[d] out for Microsoft Teams effective July 31, 2021. It is impossible to recommend a product that is going end of life in less than two months.
  • Included with most Microsoft 365 packages.
  • Integrates with Outlook and other Microsoft apps.
  • Integration with Skype (consumer) is terrible.
  • Interface is very old - not intuitive.
  • Doesn't support advanced call handling like Teams.
Skype for Business is no longer well suited for anyone. As it will reach End of Life by July 31, 2021 there is no scenario that I can think of where it is appropriate to install.
Stephanie Chapman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We currently use Skype for Business to correspond with each other. I use it to communicate with my reps and they use it to ask me questions. It has solved a lot of issues especially now that we are working from home and cannot see each other or talk to each other in person.
  • Shows when you are online or busy
  • Has emojis to make chatting fun
  • Has the ability to change you status
  • the only thing is maybe register when we are on a call
It is well suited for people who are in a large company and work from home as well. It works because there may be a time when I need an answer quickly and chatting someone is way faster than sending an email. I can't think of any scenario where it is less appropriate.
Tigran Petrosyan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business is used by our entire organization. The main purpose for using Skype for Business are video calls, although it is used as a messenger as well. As pandemic starts and some workers started to work remotely it is used more and more often. Skype for Business is also used when there are large meetings, in which representatives from different divisions discuss the strategy and challenges of our company.
  • It is very easy and intuitive to use.
  • You can have calls or video calls using Skype for business. Also you can share your screen which is really important for my work.
  • It is integrated with other programs. For example if you have a missed call, you receive a message in outlook and you know that someone called you.
  • You can change your status in Skype for Business. For example if you have a very important work to do, you can change your status to "busy," or to "not disturb". If someone is in a call you can also see that and wait till that person ends the call if you want to discuss something with him.
  • You can transfer contacts that you call most to favorites, so it would be faster and easier to contact them.
  • You can share your screen and give control to another person, if that person wants to add or show you something in a file that you shared.
  • The quality of audio is good, but noise cancelling is not the best in Skype for Business.
  • When you share your screen in a video call, your computer starts lagging and sometimes large files stop responding.
If you have a large firm, with lots of employees and you have a lot of calls, in which more than 2 people should be included I think Skype for Business is the right choice for you. Otherwise I will simply recommend Skype or other programs that are free to download and use. Also if you are working in a place, where there is a lot of noise, maybe Skype for Business would not be the best choice for you as its noise cancelling features are not best.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Skype for Business is used for internal communications. It can be easily integrated with Microsoft Outlook which helps it easier to set up meetings. Sending invitations outside the business is also possible by sharing a single conference line. Screen share and video conferencing is also possible. Dial in through laptop and phone is also available and makes it easier to access.
  • Collaboration
  • Seamless integration with Outlook
  • Phone and laptop support
  • Audio quality is sometimes poor
  • Application takes longer to start
  • Sometimes the application consumes too much memory allowing it to crash
It's suited for collaboration and organizing meetings within and outside the organization. The screen share quality is great but needs improvement. The application takes time to load and consumes lot of memory which causes the application to crash. Integrating the application with Outlook is seamless and requires little time to set it up.
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