How could I work without Skype/Microsoft Teams?
December 07, 2022

How could I work without Skype/Microsoft Teams?

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams

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!).

Pros

  • Instantaneous messaging.
  • Emojis
  • Video calls.
  • Activity records.
  • Notifications (email and app notifications).

Cons

  • 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.
  • Positive -> teams productivity.
  • Positive -> connection with people outside the organization.
  • Positive -> real time notifications of important matters.
  • Positive -> management of a global organization/team.
Skype/Teams is simply better. There are many more features, better design, more intuitive experience, more integration with other features/apps, and somehow a superior usage performance. I like the fact that it is connected with all other spaces that the organization uses - like Sharepoint, Yammer, Outlook, etc. - and that we can create interactions with people with that we don't have contact information; thanks to excellent search engines we can look for the right peers to start engaging with.

Do you think Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams's feature set?

Yes

Did Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams again?

Yes

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.

Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams Feature Ratings

7.8
High quality audio
8
High quality video
7
Low bandwidth requirements
8
Mobile support
8
9.0
Desktop sharing
9
Whiteboards
9
8.0
Calendar integration
7
Meeting initiation
9
Record meetings / events
8
Slideshows
8
9.3
Live chat
10
Audience polling
9
Q&A
9
8.3
User authentication
8
Participant roles & permissions
8
Confidential attendee list
9
VoIP system collaboration ()
Not Rated
Web and Video Conferencing ()
Not Rated

Evaluating Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams and Competitors

  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
It was very important to have all the main team management features included in the principal communication platform of the company and make it very accessible to different areas to use and connect with each other. The other important feature was the interactive commands available for voice and video calls as users have more necessity to actively participate of the oral discussion without actually speaking.
I would probably check more possibilities around online events inside the platform. Today, if we have a large audience, we need to transfer the event to another platform and we would prefer keeping it in Microsoft Teams. I guess this would be a very good improvement opportunity for the internal-external experience (in and out of the company audience).

Using Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams

Very easy to use. Even though Microsoft Teams has a lot of features and integrations, as a user I feel completely comfortable on finding what I need, getting information about the app extensions and using them. It's a very comprehensive tool, intuitive design and does not make me feel tired to be using it. I am glad with the current experience.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Feel confident using
None
  • Integration with Microsoft Office
  • Interactive commands during a call - like reactions, pools, whiteboard etc
  • Teams and Teams' tabs (group an audience and create different pages for engagement)
  • Gifs for chatting!
  • Calendar (scheduling a meeting)
  • Approve new people to access a call
  • Missed calls (sometimes people call but no ringing)
Yes - The mobile version is actually impressive. It is almost the desktop version and it is such a good thing! I feel very confident using it as I have all the tiles I am used to in the same design / look and feel.
The mobile version is very fast and also well integrated with the desktop version. For that reason, I started using it more frequently when I needed to step back from the PC for a very short moment - if it was not that good, I would never use it just to get a glass of water at the kitchen while in a meeting!

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