Item: Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

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

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams, is primarily used to have online and hybrid meetings. This is used primarily to overcome the flexible working policies at my organisation. Since some people work from home for various reasons, or travel as part of the work, it is necessary to have a robust/reliable platform to conduct remote meetings. Generally, the features of Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams, are used for this purpose, although some of the collaborative features of Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams, are used to work on documents/spreadsheets remotely and in real-time.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Manage high load of participants - especially when conducting a webinar and with external parties
Allow secure meetings to prevent unauthorised attendees - this is particularly useful for sensitive discussions
Leave voice messages to colleagues who are unable to attend to a call

Cons

Consistency of experience - at times the software can bug out and input devices cannot be detected. This can be quite problematic when time is limited.
Interface and terminology. There are so many terms used and overcomplicated aspects (teams and channels etc.).
Wider control of permissions and administrative aspects (e.g. preventing others from admitting unauthorised attendees)

Return on Investment

Not sure about exact figures but we have saved hundreds of hours in faciliating online meetings
All meetings are usually hybrid as default now - thousands per month
hours gained in work through collaborative documents is significant

Alternatives Considered

Zoom Workplace

Where Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams fails, Zoom shines. Zoom is able to handle significantly higher number of participants without dropping in quality and/or issues with viewing all participants. Other aspects such as more fine-tuned control of participants is another positive. Otherwise, in my experience, Zoom struggles in areas of integration, consistency and recently AI based services have been able to 'hijack' zoom meetings, and enter/bypass lobbies which, in my opinion, poses a real security threat.

Key Insights

Do you think Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Microsoft Power Automate, Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Moodle

Likelihood to Recommend

Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams, is generally suitable for small to medium meetings, which it does well and sharing is easy. I would say very large meetings prove to be more difficult. Aspects which I think are poor is the inability to view all attendees at once in the 'gallery' mode which can be frustrating when trying to get visual feedback. Further, the inability to 'pop out' some aspects (e.g. chat; or the gallery of participant videos when recieving shared content) can be quite frustrating.

Skype for Business / Lync (discontinued) Feature Ratings

Comments

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Skype for Business, now part of Microsoft Teams: A near perfect all-in one suite for video conferencing and collaboration