Skype For Business Online plan 2 Standalone no Longer Available

Microsoft recently announced they will stop selling Skype for Business Online Plan 2 standalone offers as they support customers to transition to Microsoft Teams. In August 2018, the publisher had already retired Skype for Business Plan 1 standalone offers.

Customers who have already purchased the Plan 2 standalone will have access to the service until the end of their contract. Those who have access to Plan 2 on one of the Office 365 suites will not be affected by this change.

Customers currently using Skype for Business Online Plan 2 standalone should consider moving to a Microsoft or Office Suite to get access to Microsoft Teams, Microsoft’s primary client for messaging, meeting and calls in Office 365.

If they want to continue using Skype for Business Plan 2, they will have access through any of the following subscriptions:

• Office 365 Business Essentials, Office 365 Business Premium
• Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3 and E5

As Microsoft Teams is also included in these subscriptions, customers using Skype for Business Online standalone today will have the opportunity to test if Microsoft Teams is already meeting their requirements.

In the long term, Microsoft will completely retire Skype for Business and replace it with Microsoft Teams. The company is offering various options to make sure that this transition proceeds smoothly. Technical implementation is just one obstacle along the way. Indeed, transition will only be successful if employees are included at the heart of the process from an early stage, e.g. through training or a clear communication strategy. This is the most surefire way the benefits of Microsoft Teams as a collaboration strategy will become clear for the entire enterprise.