Microsoft retires Skype for Business Online service

Two years ago, Microsoft announced that Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. As expected, Microsoft retired the service over the last weekend for most users. Over the past year or so, Microsoft has been helping organizations to migrate from Skype for Business Online to Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft-assisted upgrades to Teams:

• Organizations who haven’t made a full transition from Skype for Business Online will be scheduled for a Microsoft-assisted upgrade to help with the last-mile technical steps getting to “Teams Only”.
• Scheduling notifications are sent to tenant admins within the Microsoft 365 Message Center and Teams admin center 90 days before the date of the assisted upgrade.
• Even after scheduling, customers may self-upgrade prior to the assisted upgrade date to better control the timing of their upgrade experience.

Microsoft assisted upgrades begin this month. Microsoft also mentioned that organizations that are scheduled for assisted upgrades after July 31, 2021 will be able to use Skype for Business Online until their upgrade is complete.

Note: The retirement of Skype for Business Online service will not impact the Skype consumer service.

Source: Microsoft