This is really part 1 in a 4-part series on how to move from Skype for business to Teams
Part 1: BRK3141 - Designing your path from Skype for Business to Teams: Start Here!
Part 2: BRK3142 - Planning a seamless migration from SfB to Teams for IT Admins
Part 3: BRK2190 - Delighting your End Users: A smooth transition from SfB to Teams
Part 4: BRK3124 - How Skype for Business on-premises customers can take advantage of Microsoft Teams meetings
Do not compare apples to pears by just comparing Skype for business with Teams. If were to just take all the features and move them from point A to B what would we have gained? Teams is much more than Skype for business.
In an environment with both Skype for business and Teams both clients will now be displaying coachmarks and icons to keep users informed about which client the other party is using. (Coachmarks are the little texts with an arrow pointing to some detail in the GUI to explain it.)
Teams is more than a technical migration
Before a migration make sure your users get to see Teams in action, use Teams and show others why to use Teams. It more successful to use "the carrot" over "the stick." Attach your Teams project to broader plans around digital transformation. Are parts of the business currently in digital transformation projects? Are groups moving offices? Revitalizing work spaces? Are groups changing how they do work?
Use product champions - why is this so important for Teams? Because it is a collaboration product - you do not use Teams alone as you could use Outlook, Visio or Solitaire. You get the benefit of Teams by working with others.
The customer ICA - the largest foodstore chain in Sweden where I am a customer - told about their journey to Microsoft Teams. ICA found themselves in a situation where their market was changing (to online), they switched offices and felt a need for better collaboration tools. Also, they went through a cultural change redrawing the entire organization scheme. Now the organizational chart looks more like a molecule with informal connections rather than a pyramid with formal manager / directs relationships.
A democratic peer-to-peer organization
In the Swedish society everyone walks around with a smartphone - full of processing power and apps much better than the ones used in a normal enterprise. We have all become digital producers thanks to Facebook and Instagram. This puts new demands on a hiring organization.
We're all digital producers
A no-email challenge was used at ICA - stop using email for 2 weeks (could you do it?), but no one were forced to use Teams. Teams communication is more informal than emails, and this is really the way the new generations communicate with each other. ICA used big room sessions, smaller sessions and even drop-by-during-lunch sessions to help the users with Teams. Some users were die-hard Slack fans, but after the pilot even some of them have been convinced to stop using Slack and even stop using Outlook.
Questions
Is there an end-of-life date communicated for Skype for business Online?
No, but Microsoft is currently doing all they can to make everyone want to be in Teams rather than in Skype for business. (Carrot, not Stick.)
How about federation in Teams?
Today it depends on the underlying Skype for business infrastructure, and the messages exchanged are called interoperability messages. Eventually there will be Peer-to-peer Teams to Teams federation.
What kind of support calls did ICA get during the rollout?
How do I create a group? What's happening in Teams? My meeting did start? My network is bad. Gradually users started helping each other with questions and answers right in Teams. Many "how do I..." questions get answered this way.
ReplyDeleteInformative post. Thanks for sharing
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