Microsoft will retire Skype for Business Online by July 31, 2021. They intend to move all Skype customers over to Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams is an online collaboration workspace application and service that includes chat, file-sharing, video conferencing and more.
There are several benefits for businesses using Microsoft Teams instead of Skype. The platform manages to bring together files, chats, and apps, all the while providing functionality that allows for faster and seamless collaboration. Thanks to these features, Teams is a better communication tool than Skype as the core communications client for Office 365.
Plus, it integrates across the entire productivity suite of Microsoft 365 apps and hundreds of third-party integrations, making it your one-stop shop for communication and collaboration.
Granted, there are numerous benefits of moving your communications from Skype to Teams, but this doesn't mean that migration won't require some time and effort. For this reason, Microsoft has taken several steps to ensure that the transition process will be as easy as possible.
A successful transition from Skype for Business Online to Microsoft Teams will require some degree of planning. Microsoft suggests that you start using Teams as soon as possible. This way, you will allow yourself ample time to complete the transition before Skype's retirement date. Keep in mind that after July 31, 2021, Skype for Business will no longer be accessible or supported.
In terms of actual planning, every organization will have to design their own transition journey, which is no small feat, especially for larger organizations with many users.
Let's see how Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business compare.
Both tools allow for individual and group chats, as well as turning chats into calls. However, while you can send emojis via both, only Teams allows for memes and gifs, which in a remote workforce can make staying connected easier. Plus, unlike Skype, Teams stores your conversation history so if you need to go back and reference something, you can easily scroll up or use the search function to find it.
Teams' biggest advantage is its file-sharing capabilities, making it more than just a communication platform. Now, users (both internally and externally, with the right permissions) can share files and collaborate on documents in real-time. Gone are the days of finding the most recent version of something - the latest and greatest will be up to date and synced in real-time in your Teams app.
When it comes to meetings, Teams also has some new and unique features, too. Just like Skype, you can schedule a meeting via Outlook and use the Scheduling Assistant to find the best time for all attendees. Where it differs, though, is that you can have persistent chat before, during and after the meeting. Meaning, you can continue to use that group chat as long as you see fit - this is especially beneficially for recurring meetings with multiple people. You can also tag people in the group meeting chat and 'like' messages to acknowledge you've seen them. Lastly, you can add notes to your meetings and easily send them out afterwards for review, which also stay in the meeting history.
Overall, if you're feeling overwhelmed about the transition, try to get excited - there are so many cool and new things you are going to be able to do! And if you need help, Teams is kind of our thing.
We'll provide a fake environment so you can login and get a true to life experience guided by one of our Microsoft Certified CIE Facilitators - all free of charge. Learn more.
By Jaci Bitner
As we all know, a meeting can go sideways very quickly.
The mute button has moved on Fred again, and we can all hear his three-year-old screaming in the background.
Renee keeps trying to say good morning, but all we can see is her mouthing the words “can anyone hear me”? But the mute button just won’t unmute.
Karl is always eating on camera, no matter what time of day.
Becky’s wifi is “iffy” and no matter how many different places she moves to in the house while we all get motion sickness watching her traipse about, she still cannot locate the right signal.
Roger gets excited for his announcement and completely derails the meeting. Yes, Roger, there is actually a placeholder for announcements at the END of the meeting which you would know about if you had only read the agenda I sent this morning. However, I completely forgot to email the agenda to @All Teams and ended up just sending to my direct reports. Three people are now the only ones who know why this meeting is happening.
What a headache!
The pandemic has changed how we interact, and virtual meetings are now a big part of all of our lives. Thankfully, they don’t have to be a constant headache. With a few tips and tricks, the whole team can feel the joy in their hearts that I feel after a productive virtual meeting.
Pros: My personal favorite because it’s incredibly user-friendly. I love the different options of viewing all the participants. There are also many backgrounds included to choose from as well. Most importantly, Teams integrates all my tools in one space. Simply put, life is easier with Teams.
Cons: I’ve found that sometimes the videos do lag a little and once in a while my status in Teams (available, busy, away, etc..) does not automatically flow from my Outlook calendar as desired. This seems to be getting better though!
Pros: User friendly and good quality on the camera.
Cons: Zoom isn’t as organized as Teams, especially when sharing files It doesn’t feel very safe and secure after all the Zoom bomber incidents I’ve seen reported.
Pros: Slack is simple to use in a way that makes it easy for everyone to use. I also like how it pairs easily with the Google platform.
Cons: Slack is disorganized and is easy to lose track of conversations. Conversations also get deleted after a period of time, so being able to search old threads is almost impossible. Emojis are not easy to find and I love a good emoji.
Now that we’ve chosen a platform, productivity here we come!
This allows everyone on the team to know exactly what will be discussed and how we are moving through the meeting. You may have heard this somewhere: Time is money. Some of these meetings are VERY expensive depending on the participants. With an agenda, you can get right to the point instead of wasting valuable time and money on figuring out what the meeting is trying to accomplish.
When should you send an agenda? No less than 24 hours in advance! This gives people ample time to prepare for whatever the topic is at hand. The agenda should include:
Practice before the meeting with a trusted colleague who is able to assist if you are feeling uncomfortable. Find the mute button. Learn to raise your hand. Find out how to post a chat to someone directly (and not to the entire group). I am personally a huge fan of Teams but it took me a little while to get used to when I was only familiar with Zoom and Slack prior to working at Managed Solution. I took the time to use it and research it before I went to my important meeting. I love that I can easily change the background whenever I am somewhere that may be distracting to the team. Which leads into the next point…
Yes, we all have to eat.
Yes, we all love your pets and want to know their names.
Yes, we want to know about the artwork hanging on your wall.
Yes, that child playing in the background is the cutest thing I have ever seen.
However, in order to have a productive meeting, we need to limit distractions. All of them. Eat before or after, not on camera during the meeting. If you are going to eat, mute yourself and turn the camera off. We know Fido may jump up and say hi, but if everyone focuses on your dog instead of the topic, we may never get back on track in order to end the meeting on time. Fido is welcome before or after any business meeting but distracts us from getting to all the points of making our meeting productive. This is not the time to multi-task. Stay present in the meeting for optimal productivity. So, for you in the back, just in case you missed it, just one more time: Please turn off the camera if you are not fully engaged.
Everyone, and I mean even the CEO (yes, you), needs to mute when they are not speaking.
Don’t forget that your virtual team is now living all over the world! Time zone synchronization is of utmost importance. Also, if someone can’t attend, you can easily record the session. I tell the team beforehand while we are in our Microsoft Teams meeting that I am going to record. If they don’t want to be on camera, this is the time to go off screen. From there, I hit the record button and send it to all those who could not be in attendance after we finish the meeting
My favorite part of Microsoft Teams is how it pairs so perfectly with Outlook and One Note. I create a Teams meeting via Outlook. I send the invite with an agenda in the email. I enjoy taking notes for the team and sending them out after the meeting. One Note is perfect for that! I just select Meeting Details and the participants list and agenda show up right in the notes. It's just so easy. After the meeting is over, I select Email Page and the participants are automatically in the addresses ready to go. It’s as easy as one click. At this point the joy is overflowing in my heart.
This has been a challenging year. We are all in this together. We can allow ourselves to enjoy the simple pleasures in life.
I find the greatest joy in virtual meetings that:
It is my hope that by using these simple guidelines, you, too, will be able to find great joy in your hearts the same way I do after virtual meetings.
Click here to learn more about our Teams migration services. Already on Teams? Contact us for an analysis of your Teams environment and see where you might be able to get more organized and improve your security posture!
By Patrick Laffey
Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration hub for your team to chat and communicate instantly via IM, voice, and video, as well as share files. Leveraging the power of Microsoft 365, it integrates your people, files, and applications in order to stay connected and be productive. So, how do you create a meeting in Microsoft Teams? In this guide, we'll give you step by step directions on how to create a meeting, whether in the office or remote.
You can create and schedule a Teams meeting from Outlook directly. To do this, open Outlook and look in the bottom left corner. You should see a calendar icon. Click it to access your calendar.
If you do not see these icons, you will need to change your “Folder Pane” view to “Normal (see image below). Go to “View” at the top of Outlook, then under “Folder Pane” switch to “Normal”. You should now see the calendar icon in the bottom left part of your screen.
Once you have clicked on the calendar icon, your calendar should appear. If you are in your “Home” menu at the top, you will see a button that says, “New Teams Meeting”. Click on that option and Outlook will open a window that resembles an email.
Fill out the prompts with the appropriate information for your meeting. You should create a title which makes it clear to other attendees what the meeting is about. Below the title field, you enter the attendees. It works like an Outlook email where you can start typing their name, and you will see your contact pop up. Click on the contact to add them to the Teams meeting.
Once you’re done with the title and attendees, you’ll set the meeting time and location. If this is a reoccurring meeting, you can select the “Make Recurring” text and icon next to the meeting date which will open an options window.
In the “Appointment Recurrence” window you will be able to select options for your recurring meetings. For example, if you have a weekly meeting on Mondays at 5:30 you will set up the fields as shown in the image below. You can also tell Teams what day you want the recurring meetings to start and what day you want them to end. When done, select “OK” to save your settings.
When you’re done filling out all the required fields, click the “Send” button. Clicking send will schedule a meeting, put the meeting in everyone’s calendar, and send everyone a link to join the meeting. People can join the meeting by clicking the link in their email or they can join the Teams meeting by clicking the meeting in their calendar.
How to Create a Meeting in TeamsCreating a meeting in Teams is very simple! Make sure you are viewing your calendar in Teams by clicking the “Calendar” icon on the left-hand side of the Teams window (see image below).
Once in your calendar, you can click “Meet Now” or you can click “New meeting” on the top right section of the Teams window (see image below).
“Meet Now” allows you to instantly start an ad hoc meeting. When you click the “Meet Now” button, you will be taken to a meeting settings screen. In the picture below, you can see the different options for your meeting. Make sure you change the title of the meeting at the top, check your audio, video and any other settings that may apply. When ready, click “Join Now” which will take you into a meeting.
Once in the new meeting, you will notice you are the only participant. Invite others to join by typing in a name or number on the right-hand side of the screen under the “People” heading. Notice that you can add people directly from Teams here or you can have someone join in via telephone. If you type in a team member’s number, they will receive a phone call and be able to participate as if it were a conference call.
In the “Calendar” tab, you will the “New Meeting” button in the top right of the window. From here you have the option to create a live event or schedule a meeting.
When you select “Schedule Meeting,” you will be prompted to set up the meeting details. Here you will need to add a meeting title, add attendees, schedule the time, specify if you want the meetings to repeat, add a channel, add a location, and add meeting details.
If you want to invite several people from your team into a meeting, but do not want to add them individually, you can save time by adding a channel in Teams. When you are creating a new meeting, you will see a field that says, “Add channel.” Click in the field and select the channel you want to add. Everyone who is in that channel will be invited to the meeting, plus a post will be sent out to the channel. This is a great way to save time and know you invited everyone who needs to be invited!
Notice when you add attendees to your meeting, some people’s names might light up with colors indicating that they are not available. To check availability between all attendees, click the “Scheduling Assistant” tab at the top of the window (see below). Once inside the Scheduling Assistant, you can easily see who is free and when. This makes scheduling a breeze and will help you avoid schedule conflicts!
Once you have created a meeting, it will be visible in your Calendar tab in teams. If you click on the meeting you will have additional options to further enhance meeting productivity. A great feature is being able to attach documents which other attendees can download. This is useful if you need to attach PowerPoint slide shows, business documents, Excel spreadsheets, or just about anything that may be useful to the attendees.
To add a file, click on the meeting in your Calendar tab, then click “Files” at the top of the window. Once in Files, you can share by clicking the “Share” button. You can upload files from your computer or straight from your OneDrive cloud storage (see image below). Once you select a file, it will be available to all attendees by accessing the Files tab.
Download our Getting Started with Teams Guide that goes over all the basics in Teams
Visit our Teams Migration Services page to see how we can help support your business with Teams
Microsoft Power Business Intelligence (BI) is a tool specifically designed to drive digital transformation for increased profitability and growth. The primary opportunity of using this tool lies in its ability to transform data gathered from various sources into actionable insights for more informed business decisions down the line.
Today, there is a large volume of information being generated and accumulated in multiple data silos. This makes it increasingly difficult to properly manage, process, and visualize the information. Over time, this will lead to stagnant data that won't provide any real strategic benefit to the organization.
When correctly implemented, Microsoft Power BI is able to convert this data and provide enhanced organizational performance, competitiveness, agility, and overall effectiveness. So, how does it work, exactly?
Power BI is a cloud-based business analytics solution that provides several tools necessary to access and turn vast amounts of siloed data into accessible and relevant information. The data can be used to understand the various industry and business-specific trends, outline patterns, and bring new business insights into the spotlight. With the interactive dashboards provided by Power BI, decision-makers can filter and explore previously unknown opportunities that go beyond simple reporting.
The platform requires no capital expense investment or additional infrastructure support. This is regardless of the size of the organization. It's also free from any legacy software restrictions, and users don't require any specialized training to start using it. Power BI can be broken down into three main components:
That said, here are the platform's top features and benefits.
By Bryan Timm
While Skype is putting people in touch with their loved ones in a socially distant world; Skype for Business is saying goodbye to companies across the globe. It was announced last summer that Skype for Business Online would be retired on July 31, 2021. This leaves less than a year for companies still utilizing Skype for Business (SFBO) to transition to Microsoft Teams; the replacement product launched in 2017. It is much more than a replacement though, as Microsoft Teams brings together chat, meetings, calling, coloration, app integration, and file storage into a singular product; with an easy to navigate interface.
A Forrester Consulting survey done in 2019 shows us that utilizing Teams has so many benefits including:
The countdown has begun to start thinking about your business’ shift to Microsoft Teams. A true Teams deployment is more than just downloading the application, however. You’ll need to review your current configuration, and ensure that all appropriate pieces are moved over to Microsoft Teams. And if you need help, you can rely on technical experts like us!
One of the biggest questions asked: What’s the difference between Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams? Microsoft breaks this down:
Channels.
Channels allow your departments, teams, or sometimes your whole organization a single place to communicate, store files, and integrate apps; without cluttering up the view of other departments or teams who do not necessarily need it (ie: the Marketing team vs the Finance team).
You'll still be able to communicate 1:1 or in any sized group with chats as well. You can A Forrester Consulting survey done in 2019 and take the conversation wherever you go!
Microsoft Teams is in use at one of the most recognizable names in the sky, Air France. Prior to utilizing Teams, frontline employees struggled to communicate effectively with each other. After its implementation, it allowed them to utilize Teams to collaborate in real-time on a OneNote; to share a summary of daily activities, schedules, and notes that are shared effectively through the cloud.
CenturyLink, a telecommunications company, is going through a strategic growth into a technology leader. Microsoft Teams is helping the company fit it’s new vision “One Company, One Culture” by helping employees stay connected. Cristi Robb, Manager of Information Technology, states that everyone now “works together on one platform to solve corporate problems and achieve our goal to serve customers better”.
Li & Fung, a global supply chain orchestrator, has leveraged Microsoft products & services, including Microsoft Teams, to help serve as a communication platform for their digital product development (DPD) solution. This DPD has helped saved them thousands of dollars and weeks of design time; keeping their business efficient and lean.
Here at Managed Solution, we use Microsoft Teams for nearly everything. It allows us to call and stay connected through 1:1 calls, group calls, meetings, and Live Events; as well as serving as a document management solution that is accessible by only members of that Channel. Our team is located across North America and by utilizing Microsoft Teams we stay connected to each other 24/7 (when we aren’t out volunteering our time in the community).
The most important question is: Are you ready for Teams?
Jessica recaps some of the new and exciting updates from Microsoft Inspire as well as some fun facts she learned by attending the virtual Microsoft Inspire conference this year.
Microsoft Inspire is an annual event for Microsoft partners to introduce and announce new innovations surrounding Microsoft products. As a Tier 1 Gold Partner that specializes in Azure and Office 365, Managed Solution attends every year, and more of us got to attend this year with it being online.
Here are the first top 5 takeaways from this year's event:
1. VPNs are designed for 20% company workload. If your company is using a VPN and experiencing downtime or slowness, it's because these legacy VPNs weren't built to support an entire workforce. That's what the cloud is for!
2. If you have compliance reasons or other reasons where you need an on-prem infrastructure, you'll be excited about this update. Now in public preview is Microsoft Azure Stack HCI (Hyper-Converged Infrastructure). This offers secure virtualization of Windows or Linux systems. This is designed specifically for a hybrid environment and is designed for any workload.
3. Microsoft Lists: If you are familiar with SharePoint lists, those are considered now classic lists and you can refer to these as modern lists. It's an integration of Outlook, Teams and SharePoint and acts as a project management tool and keeps track of all your conversations, emails, decisions, tasks, etc. It's great for your hiring process, event planning or any projects you collaborate with others on.
4. Fun fact: using single sign-on saves a person 10 minutes a day which equals about a whole week of time over a year! Think about everything you could do in that extra week. More productivity + better user experience = happiness.
5. With Microsoft Universal Print you can now print from anywhere in the world to your company printers! Whether you're on vacation or traveling, you can still print to your headquarters.
Watch the video that discusses the first 5 in more detail:
6. Azure Active Directory is now offering external identities. Azure AD is where all your group policies and permissions exist. This is where it's determined what you have access to. You can now do this for people outside of your organization!
7. Endpoint Data Loss Protection is now available. This is specific to Office 365 and protects us when we're on our devices while we're remote.
8. Communication compliance is now available, which scans chats, emails, etc to detect any bullying or harassment. Anything that you determine violates your code of conduct.
9. New Security Integrations are available! No more time-consuming workarounds as Microsoft now integrates with Okta SSO, Symantec, VMware and Carbon Black.
10. Double key encryption for Microsoft 365 which means that Microsoft doesn't even have access to your data that is stored with them. You now control the second key which means you fully control your data.
Watch part 2:
Businesses are leveraging video conferencing tools more than ever before and therefore Microsoft Teams and Zoom are making headlines daily. We'll compare Microsoft Teams vs Zoom here so that you can make the decision on what's best for your business,
In this article, we'll look at the most popular software for video conferencing on the market today: Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Both have been making headlines since the world went remote, and we're going to compare them to let you know their similarities and their differences so you can make a better decision on what's best for your business.
These two tools have a lot of similar functions, but the details are where they differ. At a high level, some of the similarities include:
While both have some of the same main features, they do differ a lot when you dive into the details. Let's take a look at what makes these two tools different.
Teams and Zoom both offer video conferencing either 1:1 or large groups as well as chat/instant messaging. Teams allows for 250 users to join where Zoom's plan starts at 100 and you have a choice to upgrade your plan or add additional licensing to include up to 500 users.
Teams also has the ability for more customization within your communication options. In Teams you can create different Teams and Channels to organize your different groups. For example, you could have a Sales & Marketing Team with Channels like "Marketing Collateral" and "Sales Training & Resources." Zoom only allows you to create Channels without subgroups. Within each, you can choose to add who you wish and make these Channels private or public. In Teams, you can also @ mention different groups and subgroups for specific messages to notify the people within those groups. Both tools feature both group chats or one to one chats, and they allow you to set a status of whether you're available, offline, or away and customize an away message. You can also schedule meetings both out of the native application or within an integrated calendar like Outlook.
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For virtual events like webinars, both have the ability to deliver. Teams webinars are included in its paid plans, whereas Zoom requires additional licensing for this. When creating a webinar in Teams, it's similar to creating a meeting and you invite people the same way. Zoom creates a registration page for your webinar where people can sign up and automatically get emailed their unique attendee link. Teams allows for up to 10,000 attendees and Zoom's starting plan allows for 100 attendees and goes up as you get a higher tiered plan.
You can store and share files within both applications, however Teams, again, is much more customizable and much more organized when it comes to storing and sharing files. Teams allows you to edit documents (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc) directly within the application itself. Zoom does have a place for shared files, but you can really just store and access them while Teams acts as a collaboration hub for all users. Because Teams natively integrates with the rest of the Office 365 applications, it increases the ease of use of your tech stack and makes it the ultimate collaborative workplace. Both have search functionality to find previous chats or files, but Teams is second to none and can search content within files as well as the file name, making it a much quicker process to find what you're looking for. In the end, Zoom's file sharing is comparable to sending a file via email, whereas Teams' major functionality is file-storing and file-sharing as it sits on top of SharePoint.
Microsoft natively bakes in security to all its application so naturally, Microsoft Teams is going to be hard to compete with at the security level. That said, while Zoom's security features aren't as robust, both tools provide security layers. Zoom offers SSL and advanced encryption and has enabled features like blocking or removing participants and restricts certain users from being able to share screens or rename themselves. Zoom, like Teams, also has waiting rooms or "lobbies" to approve people to be let in and you can also enable passwords for meetings.
Teams absolutely has an edge here, though, largely due to its integration with the Microsoft Admin Center, allowing for Microsoft admins to control security and compliance policies across all applications within their suite of products. Teams offers features like two-factor authentication, channel controls, and data loss prevention. Additionally, Microsoft has Advanced Threat Protection, communication compliance, secure guest access, cloud app security, sensitivity labels and more. If you’re in a highly-regulated industry or are concerned about compliance and security (as all businesses should be), then Teams without a doubt has the advantage here.
Both tools have a few different pricing plans and have freemium versions available. Teams freemium includes video and audio conferencing, scheduled meetings, 1 to 1 chat, file sharing, screen sharing, and data encryption. Zoom's free version allows for video and audio conferencing (only up to 40 minutes), scheduled meetings, screen sharing, and chat.
Teams pricing plans range from $0 to 12.50/user/month whereas Zoom ranges from $0 to $19.99/mo/host
In the end, Zoom is a great tool if all you're looking for is video conferencing or webinar delivery. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, brings all business applications and tools of a workplace together and allows for ultimate collaboration -- and video conferencing is just one feature benefit of its all-encompassing solution. However, if you do need just a conferencing tool, Teams does deliver that, so it really is up to what your business is looking for. In the end, when all things considered, especially (and most importantly) security and productivity, Teams takes the cake.
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