It’s a perfect time to start making the transition to Microsoft Teams! And Microsoft has just given you a nudge to hopefully make it happen.

Microsoft Teams includes all the Skype for Business capabilities that we need and much more! This includes chat, video, calling, and document collaboration into a single, integrated app and can change the way you work in your organization by giving you a central “hub” for all of your Corporate teamwork collaboration activities.

Microsoft has just announced that Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. After this date, this service will not be accessible. Note: This does not affect Skype for Business server customers …. yet.

Here is the official Major Change Update Notification that was pushed to the Office 365 Message Center:

As Teams has become the core communications client for Office 365, we are announcing that Skype for Business Online will retire on July 31, 2021.
 
Note: Neither Skype consumer nor Skype for Business Server will be affected by the retirement of the Skype for Business Online service. Current Skype for Business Online customers will experience no change in the service up to the retirement date.

To align with this schedule, support for the integration of third-party party Audio Conferencing Providers (ACP) into Skype for Business Online has been extended to July 31, 2021, with limited support for remaining active tenants to allow additional time for transition.

This is an update in the ACP timeline that was originally announced back in April of 2018.

[How does this affect me?]

You are receiving this message because one or more users in your organization may be using Skype for Business Online. Your organization will no longer be able to use Skype for Business Online once the service is retired on July 31, 2021.

[What do I need to do to prepare for this change?]

We actively encourage all customers to plan and execute their upgrade to Teams today.

To enable customers to plan and implement a successful upgrade from Skype for Business Online to Teams, Microsoft offers
comprehensive guidance and resources, including a proven success framework, best practices, downloadable assets, free instructor-led training, and FastTrack onboarding assistance for eligible subscriptions.  

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