Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft TeamsFormerly 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Skype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.
How could I work without Skype/Microsoft Teams?
"Reliable communication application, offers seamless integrations, and has numerous features."
Skype is budget friendly, easy to use and reliable software.
"Skype for Business is a remarkable communication tool that has widespread adoption."
Skype is great for meetings
Great communication tool overall.
Skype Review
The First video conference tool I have ever used
Skype keeps employees connected!
Skype for Business - Review
"Great Communication Tool At The Click Of A Button."
Skype Business = Microsoft Teams = Power play!
Meeting and a collaborative Tool
No longer the simple team player it used to be
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
- Desktop sharing (190)8.787%
- High quality audio (189)7.979%
- High quality video (184)7.777%
- Low bandwidth requirements (181)6.565%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
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Skype for Business was an online messaging and conferencing tool, now superseded by Microsoft Teams.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
Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?
10 people also want pricing
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 TeamViewer?
TeamViewer provides software for both remote management and online collaborations. With TeamViewer, users have access to fully integrated online conference solutions for audio and video communication, including interactive screen sharing and remote access features.
Features
Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
Features related to the performance, reliability & compatibility of web conferencing and webinar (online events) software.
- 7.9High quality audio(189) Ratings
High quality audio connection is consistently available, with few or no interruptions.
- 7.7High quality video(184) Ratings
High quality video connection is consistently available, with few or no interruptions.
- 6.5Low bandwidth requirements(181) Ratings
Software is optimized so that meetings do not require a huge amount of bandwidth.
- 7.6Mobile support(145) Ratings
Attendees can access meetings/webinars from mobile devices.
Screen Sharing
Features related to remote screen sharing capabilities.
- 8.7Desktop sharing(190) Ratings
Presenters can remotely share a view of their desktop with attendees.
- 8Whiteboards(119) Ratings
Presenters or attendees can share notes or annotations they’ve made on a whiteboard/meeting space within the web conferencing UI.
Online Meetings / Events
Features related to hosting and attending meetings and events online.
- 8.1Calendar integration(173) Ratings
Scheduling capabilities integrate with users’ Calendars.
- 8.2Meeting initiation(181) Ratings
Meetings can be easily initiated, whether they are scheduled or on the fly.
- 7.3Integrates with social media(83) Ratings
Integrates with social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn to promote meetings and webinars.
- 7.4Record meetings / events(142) Ratings
Meetings and webinars can be recorded for playback.
- 7.6Slideshows(114) Ratings
Presenters can present slideshows during the meeting within the web conferencing platform.
Online Events Collaboration
Features related to collaboration between attendees during web conferences, webinars, and other online events.
- 8.8Live chat(170) Ratings
Participants can use one-on-one and group instant messaging to communicate privately or selectively during meetings.
- 8.2Audience polling(93) Ratings
Presenters can ask for audience input.
- 7.8Q&A(93) Ratings
Attendees can ask questions during the presentation.
Online Events Security
Features related to the security of meetings and other events held via web conferencing/webinar software.
- 8User authentication(141) Ratings
Administrators can require users to authenticate their identities before joining a meeting.
- 7.8Participant roles & permissions(147) Ratings
Administrators can grant users different levels of access to conferences, as moderators, presenters, attendees, or participants. Permissions can be set for individual users, or based on user role/group.
- 7.9Confidential attendee list(109) Ratings
Presenters, moderators, or admins can see a confidential list of attendees that is not visible to all attendees.
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
- FAQs
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 Systems | Unspecified |
---|---|
Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(2567)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-25 of 195)Great Software!
- The ability to update our status
- Our status automatically being updated based on our Outlook calendar
- Being able to create a group
- Conversation section should be able to be cleared out
- Chat feature needs to allow for more text
- Copy and pasting feature does not always work well
How could I work without Skype/Microsoft Teams?
- 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.
"Reliable communication application, offers seamless integrations, and has numerous features."
- It is an installation-friendly, scalable communication tool.
- It enables more accessible internal communication, safe content sharing, and collaboration.
- Very interactive, with a wide range of functions, including informal workplace instant messaging.
- The intuitiveness with which one can interact with the software has fantastic UI and video call quality.
- It cannot communicate with an offline user, and sometimes, calling lags.
- It is necessary to make improvements to the group functionality.
- The chat history is erased upon closing the chat window; it's less functional than Zoom.
- Video calls
- Perfect screen sharing
- HD voice calls
- Less data security.
- Voices can be interrupted easily.
- High internet connection required.
- Easy group formation.
- Office 365-compatible.
- Interviews are easy to start.
- Remote screen-sharing is easy.
- Excellent sound quality and user-friendly.
- Cross-platform synchronization is possible.
- Sometimes login takes too long.
- Video calls need more bandwidth.
- Screen sharing is causing the host trouble.
Skype is great for meetings
- 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.
Great communication tool overall.
- 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 Review
- set do not disturb during meeting after check the show me as do not disturb when i share my desktop it is available in Skype for business settings inside the status.
- you can record all video's chatting very easily in case you need to remember conversation than you will get it all with the help of video recorder and also you can set resolation.
- you can open easily Skype meeting calendar in your outlook directly
- we can share power point and word files for viewing your team members it is very useful feature.
- Documentation is not the best. It has t
- Messaging is not available in chronological order which is not easy to comprehend
- Sometimes users have not been able to make video calls, the need to restart the Skype app, unable to send messages. these issues have to be fixed first.
The First video conference tool I have ever used
- 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
Skype keeps employees connected!
- 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.
Skype for Business - Review
- Video conferencing
- Instant messaging
- Desktop presentation
- Integration with Exchange server
- From my experience, the offline instant messaging is not good
- Client applications on mobile devices suffer performance issues
- There are problems when the number of people in a single session goes over 300
"Great Communication Tool At The Click Of A Button."
- Sharing presentations amongst participants and integration with other Microsoft products is a great feature.
- Each team has multiple channels for different topics and excels at graphical input.
- Other apps also help improve workflow, and participants can easily add their content and comment on it.
- More emoticons for messages and faster client upgrades would be nice.
- With low bandwidth internet connections, it appears that platform integration is problematic.
- Automatic transcription of audio and presence sharing between Skype and Microsoft Teams would be nice features.
Skype Business = Microsoft Teams = Power play!
- Video playback is excellent.
- No robotic voices or disconnects with sound.
- Ease of use.
- Would like to see more gifs added as well as improved emojis.
- A place in which you could save templates within the app for ease of access.
- Voice note functionality for PC and not just mobile.
Meeting and a collaborative Tool
- One of the most powerful and useful application for online meetings and conferences.
- Skype for Business user interface is simple, clear and easy to use.
- It is easier for customers further away to use them, then this will be a better platform.
- It integrates with outlook to enable you to schedule meetings with multi participants.
- It's also fine to search for older messages.
- The most downside of Skype is that it charges for calls to other landlines and networks.
- It does not automatically update the location.
- More people can enter at times, but the voice is not always clear.
No longer the simple team player it used to be
- 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.
Your familiar Skype, optimized for business users
- Sharing presentations amongst participants
- Participants can bring in additional materials easily, comment on same
- Very good at graphical input
- To avoid multiple people speaking at once and talking over each other, it would be helpful to have a hand raise function for speakers
- Graphics can sometimes be slow in loading, so a provision for uploading presentations to each of the participants could avoid lags due to slow internet connectivity
Uniqueness goes beyond the boundaries of communication
- Organizations will appreciate the simple user interface and seamless integration with other Microsoft products with this excellent instant messaging app.
- Teams can have multiple channels for different topics and make video calls and phone calls, and all communication is well organized within each Team.
- Sharing documents is as simple as dragging and dropping them into a chat window. We can form our groups in a precise manner.
- Integration with third-party apps and the ease with which it can be escalated to higher levels of communication also aid in streamlining workflow.
- The conference call quality could be better, and it is expensive compared to other similar apps.
- There are problems with connectivity in large meetings and the number of people who can attend is restricted.
- File sharing and VoIP use a lot of bandwidth. Searching for old messages is a problem right from the start. Unfortunately, the search function is not practical.
Enterprise large scale collaboration tool - although it's slowly getting to be a dinosaur
- 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.
Stay Connected with Skype for Business
- 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
Minimal UI and easy to use application
- 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 4 life
- 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
Great option for Microsoft Office users
- 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.
- 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
Title-holding champ has lost its edge
- 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
Skype for Business Review
- 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.