The end of life date of Skype for Business Online is just around the corner. With the deadline approaching fast, the future of Microsoft Teams in business communication and collaboration looks too bright. Though Skype was a pioneer in business video conferencing, Microsoft Teams, the latter has been the most favorite communication tool for businesses across all industries. Microsoft has been constantly upgrading Teams with great features to make it future-ready.
Skype to Teams Migration Roadmap
Once you decide to migrate to Microsoft Teams, the first to have a clear deployment plan and roadmap. Up-front understanding of the roadmap and vision is key to a successful migration.
Are you still using Skype for Business Online and not sure where to start to have a successful migration to Teams? Here's a quick guide for you:
https://solutions.pyramidci.com/blog/posts/2021/may/migration-quick-guide/
Common Challenges with Teams Migration
Deploying without adopting
Enterprises are often keen to deploy Teams in full-blown mode and get their employees using it just after the deployment. But if it is deployed as an application alone, rather than integrated as a new way of working and collaborating, it will be difficult for the end users to adopt it and exploit its full potential.
Dealing with non-cooperative carriers
Whatever you plan to deploy UCaaS solutions with Microsoft Teams, replacing Skype as your UC client, or moving your integrated systems from Skype into Teams, the carrier you use might make mistakes. The issue could be a complicated number routing you might be unaware of or simply non-cooperation from your carrier.
Lack of compliance planning
Having strong knowledge of the compliance issues is the key. It might be enticing to deploy Teams directly and launch all features in island mode. However, if you deploy without planning the compliance, you could disrupt your users by taking away important features during the deployment phase.
Issues in integrating with legacy tech
The major challenge organizations face is integrating legacy technology and tools with Microsoft Teams without affecting other systems. If the internal team isn’t experienced enough, it'll be very difficult to effectively integrate modern solutions with the legacy systems.
Moving before you’re ready
Yes, the retirement date of Skype for Business Online is coming closer. But that doesn’t mean you have to switch to Microsoft Teams next week. Doing this can lead to unpleasant consequences including employee unacceptability and issues with integration with existing systems.
Best practices to ensure a successful and seamless Teams migration
- Identify the things you are trying to achieve with the migration - cost savings, changing workplace culture, enabling hybrid work model, increasing collaboration capabilities etc.
- Prepare a clear migration roadmap/plan and assign Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and Key Success Indicators (KSIs) to the scope of the plan
- Identify the business scenarios that you can improve by migrating to Microsoft Teams
- Determine which strategic initiatives or transformation projects could be improved by integrating Microsoft Teams into your existing systems
- Understand the coexistence and interoperability between Microsoft Teams and your existing platforms
- Conduct a pilot to determine your organization's and employee's readiness for Microsoft Teams - identify pilot users, create a pilot test plan, enable pilot users, run a pilot feedback survey etc.
- Identify risks and establish mitigation plans
- Partner with expert solution integrators who can help your business to transform. They make the adoption successful by mapping the distinct personas of your end users, determining your business’ terminology and how your teams use the platform
Wrap up
If you haven’t yet begun planning for migrating to Microsoft Teams for Skype for Business Online, it's high time you think about it. Pyramid Consulting has been helping businesses across the globe in ensuring a smooth transition from Skype to Teams. Our team of experts analyze factors such as how many users you have, the technical complexity of your set-up, end-user adaptability rate, and the core goals of your organization before making the move. Connect with our experts today!
About the author
Nick currently serves as part of the leadership team at Pyramid Consulting where he is responsible for developing the company's overall GTM product, commercial and corporate strategy for IoT, Network, and Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) Solutions.
Nick has 20+ years of functional and leadership experience in transformational, high growth environments, ranging from start-ups to large cap public companies, spanning the entire communications technology ecosystem including UCC, cloud, data, networking, mobility, AI, and IoT.