At the beginning of the year, I brought you the exciting news that Microsoft was officially working on an upcoming integration between Microsoft Teams and the consumer version of Skype. While the option to integrate Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams has been around for a little while now, customers were still asking for a way to connect with freelancers, contractors, and other people without an official Skype license. The requests for integration even date back as far as 2016!
Although it’s taken a while for a link between consumer Skype and the state-of-the-art Microsoft Teams experience to come to fruition, a recent update from the Microsoft team suggests that the wait is almost over. On the 3rd of March, Microsoft published a “preview” of what users could expect from the new integration.
What Can You Do With Microsoft Teams and Skype?
When the new feature arrives, Teams users in an organisation will be able to call consumer Skype users directly using their email address, and vice versa. You can also start one-on-one text-only conversations on Skype from Teams or launch an audio/video call.
The connection between Microsoft Teams and consumer Skype will be available through mobile, desktop, and web applications. However, Microsoft recommends using Skype version 8.58.
Features to expect include:
- Chat with Skype users from Teams: A Microsoft Teams user can search for a Skype user with their email address, then start a chat or call with them instantly
- Chat with Teams users from Skype: Skype users can also start chat and calls with Teams users using their email address. Teams users will be notified that they have a new message from someone on Skype, and they’ll be asked to accept the message or call. Teams users can also block conversations, or view messages to decide whether to accept or reject the call
If you’ve upgraded to Teams from Skype for Business, and your employees are in Teams only mode, then chats and calls from Skype users will go straight to Teams. If you’re still using Islands mode, your Skype calls will be delivered to Skype for Business.
Opportunities and Limitations
So far, there will be no support for rich text formatting, emojis, or @mentions between Microsoft Teams and consumer Skype users. Additionally, Microsoft has revealed that group chats aren’t supported at this time. You also can’t search for Skype users using a Skype ID or phone number at the moment, only emails will work.
However, administrators can use the admin centre on Microsoft Teams to set access settings and decide whether Teams users can communicate with Skype users. This feature will be turned off by default for new users.
Despite the limitations, the good news is that the wait for Microsoft Teams and consumer Skype integration is finally almost over. Bringing your teams together with contractors, freelancers, and other consumer Skype users is about to get a whole lot easier!
