Decoding the Microsoft Teams Announcement @ MS Ignite

As a self-professed MS Collaboration Geek, here is what I took away from the MS Ignite keynote today on Microsoft Teams. As we learn more this week at Ignite, I'll be sure to update this post, so stay tuned!

1.   Microsoft Teams is being positioned as the "central hub" to simplify the user experience and provide access to the entire O365 suite of apps. It's complex to drive adoption across the entire Office 365 stack and Teams may be the missing element to simplify access and drive greater adoption. This approach makes a ton of sense and I'm excited to see Teams evolve over the next 12-24 months.

2.   Microsoft Teams is NOT replacing Skype for Business Server. Skype for Business Server is the on-premise (or dedicated cloud) deployment model deployed by enterprise clients with complex voice and collaboration requirements. Microsoft confirmed their commitment to the next release of Skype Server (currently targeting Q4 2018). This is good news for enterprise clients that rely on (or are planning to deploy) Skype for Business Server as an enterprise voice solution. Microsoft also hinted at hybrid support for a Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams deployment architecture. Definitely more to come on this topic.

3.   Microsoft Teams will provide a robust collaboration, messaging and meetings tool set. The cloud voice capabilities in Teams appear to mirror those of Skype Cloud PBX (with some potential new capabilities as well). It will be important for clients to evaluate their overall voice and collaboration requirements as they build their cloud voice transformation strategy prior to deciding on Teams, Skype for Business or a hybrid of both.

Based on my experience in this space with similar announcements in the past, there will be confusion and a lot of questions in the next 6-12 months. It's a good thing there are trusted cloud voice transformation partners (like Arkadin) here to help Microsoft enterprise clients navigate complexity and mitigate risk.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the announcement! Please reply to this thread and let's get the conversation started.