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Avaya Spaces vs Skype for Business comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Avaya Spaces
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Social Software (14th)
Skype for Business
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. Avaya Spaces is designed for Enterprise Social Software and holds a mindshare of 1.9%, up 1.3% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 3.9% mindshare, down 10.8% since last year.
Enterprise Social Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Avaya Spaces1.9%
Slack Business - Enterprise10.5%
Microsoft Teams7.2%
Other80.4%
Enterprise Social Software
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business3.9%
Zoom Workplace Business6.6%
Webex5.0%
Other84.5%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

TM
Channel Director at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Video meetings and presentation sharing impress but user-friendliness and pricing need attention
I don't have experience with how Avaya Spaces handles integration with other software tools, but perhaps my partners have experience regarding integration with different vendors. If Avaya can integrate Spaces with other media solutions, such as WhatsApp or WeChat, it will be more friendly and useful for customers or partners.
MD
Assistant Information Technology Officer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Internal communication has become more efficient while mobile usage still needs improvement
The honest answer is that the product has not really evolved in some time. Microsoft has been pushing everyone towards Teams and Skype for Business has been in maintenance mode for a while. The mobile experience is also not great. Staff who try to use it on their phones find it less reliable than the desktop version, calls drop more, and the interface is clunky. For a modern workforce that expects everything to work on mobile, that is a gap. Despite the initial setup challenges and mobile issues, we have noticed positive outcomes for our organization since adopting Skype for Business. I rate Skype for Business seven out of ten. I think that Skype for Business has served us well for what it is. A government office has different expectations from a fast-moving private company. We value stability and security over the newest features. On those terms, Skype for Business has delivered.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Stability for Avaya Spaces is quite good, and I would rate it a 9."
"The microphone's noise cancellation and static feature that record a human's voice are some of the most valuable features."
"We use the solution for document sharing, video conferencing, instant messaging, and file sharing."
"One of the best features of Skype for Business is that you can set it up on mobile phones, and you can set it up on laptops. You can connect to the tool from anywhere."
"Video conferencing to hold virtual meetings helps to prevent employee displacement, where everyone can now enjoy the comfort of their own offices."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of organizing and setting up a meeting."
"Skype for Business optimizes our network, encourages adoption, standardizes optimized headsets, supports strong change management, and enhances mobility."
"It has benefited my organization because I can use it on the phone, I can use it on a laptop, wherever I want. The communication channel is very easy now and I can call and chat. It's experienced. Together, my team manages everything. It's very easy."
"We chose Skype for Business after other colleagues suggested that we give it a try. It has served us well."
"File sharing and email invitations for a conference. I can have a meeting with people at the opposite end of the Earth, sharing documentation; it is quite easy."
"Since introducing Microsoft Lync, our users can now call other Lync users in other organizations."
 

Cons

"The audio calling service needs to improve its quality."
"There were some additional features coming up, as they informed us through email. But we didn't get any update on them."
"The initial setup for Avaya Spaces is very good for me, but for sharing with other users, the setup is a little bit complex compared to other solutions I have used, such as Zoom or Teams, as the installation is more complex."
"The solution has been discontinued by Microsoft."
"I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability."
"The product is very heavy. It's very unmanageable."
"Your telco, in such a scenario, could be Microsoft itself but this kind of solution involves some interesting downsides."
"There have been a few issues working with vendor."
"Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow."
"The solution feels like it's pretty bare-bones."
"Skype's overall connectivity functionality or ability is one area with room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license grants you a subscription and costs about $120. I am not aware of additional costs."
"The pricing is really good. It is quite affordable because it came with our Office 365. It is on a per-user license, which is nice. I quite like that they have made it very granular with all of their licensing."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"I am using a corporate account for which I have not made any payments."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"We purchased an open license."
"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Avaya Spaces?
I don't have experience with how Avaya Spaces handles integration with other software tools, but perhaps my partners have experience regarding integration with different vendors. If Avaya can integ...
What is your primary use case for Avaya Spaces?
Most of the time, I use Avaya Spaces to hold meetings with Avaya and with partners, which fulfills our collaboration needs.
What advice do you have for others considering Avaya Spaces?
I can share my opinion about Avaya Spaces and recommend it for small or medium company users, as most of them are small users. I am currently working with Azure for our cloud needs. Overall, I woul...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skype for Business?
If I think back, my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing involves accessing it through our Microsoft Enterprise Agreement which covers the whole Office suite including Skype for Busin...
What needs improvement with Skype for Business?
The honest answer is that the product has not really evolved in some time. Microsoft has been pushing everyone towards Teams and Skype for Business has been in maintenance mode for a while. The mob...
What is your primary use case for Skype for Business?
My main use case for Skype for Business is internal communication across departments and between different government offices. We have staff spread across multiple locations in Malacca, and before ...
 

Also Known As

Avaya Cloud Application Link
Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Stop Soldier Suicide, British Columbia Ski Resort, Helse Vest, Spital Limmattal, Conduit Global
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Find out what your peers are saying about Slack, Microsoft, Atlassian and others in Enterprise Social Software. Updated: September 2026.
914,262 professionals have used our research since 2012.