Skype for Business Room for Improvement

Chris Biemans - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior ICT Consultant at CGI Inc

Microsoft Teams, as I see it now, is more useful than Skype for Business. It's more integrated and it's the next step for us. We'd like Skype for Business to be better integrated with Microsoft. 

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Magdalena Teodorczuk - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior at Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartosciowych S.A.

The inability to integrate Skype with other products is an area of concern where improvements are required.

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Shilpa Patki - PeerSpot reviewer
Account Manager at Peristent Systems

When I compare Skype for business with Microsoft Teams, I feel that Microsoft Teams has picked up more in recent years since it offers end-to-end connectivity and also connects with various systems making it more than just a messaging or calling tool. Microsoft Teams offers me a repository to store data and is also connected to SharePoint. Skype is a smaller application compared to Microsoft teams, offering wider scope to its uses. Skype's overall connectivity functionality or ability is one area with room for improvement.

Our organization recommends using Microsoft Teams as much as possible since it is closely tied to our operating system, making it easy to connect or sync with our local systems. The ability to create repositories, the ease with which it can be accessed, and the ease with which we can collaborate with our peer groups to work on data make it much more advanced than Skype.

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Buyer's Guide
Skype for Business
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Skype for Business. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,246 professionals have used our research since 2012.
CM
System Administrator at Finlays

The challenge we had with Skype for Business was with the signing in when a user signed out and when signing in back in again, there was a bit of a problem. We switched from Skype for Business to Teams, and Teams never had that sign-in problem once we did the switch.

The interface of Skype for Business could be better. It was not very user-friendly.

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Saeid Hajtalebi - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Infrastructure Systems, Services and Virtualization Specialist at IRISA

I believe optimizing the solution for lighter endpoints, particularly for embedded endpoints on mobile devices, would be valuable. For instance, the features available on Android endpoints may not be as comprehensive as those on desktop. In the next release of Skype for Business, it would be beneficial to see improvements in its integration with other Microsoft solutions.

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AC
Director Of Information Technology at Multitech Soporte Profesional IT

We have several departments in our company, and we have seven lines of business. Our company always has to enhance its processes. The solution lacks to provide reporting functionality, and I would like to see the solution provide that feature. It can help me figure out what I can do. As of now, I am just investigating.

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RJ
Database Manager at Wartsila India Ltd

Sometimes Skype is slow, and we cannot use other elements of our devices while using the Skype solution. 

In addition, we would love to implement a whiteboard to the solution. It would be very helpful if you could draw a diagram while in a meeting on Skype. We do use other tools like Zoom and GoToMeeting for these types of features, but it would be nice for Skype to implement these tools, as well.

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FO
IT engineer at JCCM

The solution has very limited features. The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call.

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RR
IT architect at a university with 10,001+ employees

WebEx has a feature that allows you to zoom in when you're giving a presentation. To get the same result with Skype requires going through the host. It would be a good feature for Skype to include. There can be minor problems; a microphone that's not working or a bad network connection but it's not usually anything related to the solution. 

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GM
Systems Engineer at Advance business consulting

The video conferencing quality can be improved. The video conferencing quality can be temperamental with internet access and bandwidth availability for a geographically dispersed team environment.

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Ato Abonalla - PeerSpot reviewer
Cybersecurity Solution Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

It does everything I really need it to do. I don't recall coming across any big missing features. 

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Nivedan Kedia - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant (M&A/R) at Deloitte

Whenever someone is using a messaging platform, the messages needs to be stored. In Skype for Business, the message will not be seen later on if you're not online. It isn't useful, in my opinion.

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SR
Technology Manager at City of Markham

We are looking for a more collaborative tool, not only in terms of virtual meetings but also for teams to collaborate, share a document, work together, and all those types of things.

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WH
Owner at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

It would be ideal if the solution could make instant messages more permanent. Currently, if you close the conversation, you lose the instant messages that you shared during the meeting. If those could last beyond the meeting, that would be a great addition, due to the fact that frequently, people give each other key details, important information, or email addresses, etc., during the meeting. If you don't write it down during the meeting, after the meeting closes, it's gone forever. That can be quite frustrating.

The ability for the solution to offer a grid view, so you can see all of the people on a call at the same time, instead of just a few selected ones, would be ideal.

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Husam ALBAROUDI - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Adesso Turkey

I'm not sure if it is possible to invite customers to meetings is they are outside the company. There might be some invitation issues with Skype for Business.

Skype for Business is not as popular as Teams. Teams has a file sharing area, which is useful. That wasn't in the Skype for Business. Skype for Business is just for chatting. However, there are no rich components like in Teams. Teams have a lot of features. Skype isn't as robust. 

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Wafaa Salah - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate professor in accounting at The British University in Egypt

Skype for Business is not suitable for giving lectures. Tools more suitable for online lectures are Zoom and Microsoft Teams, because you can divide students into groups. I didn't see this feature in Skype for Business, and if it's there, I don't know that it's there.

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MS
Director Of Technology at UNCF

Going forward, I would like to see better call quality and reliability.

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RC
Works at TechnipFMC

Skype for Business is good for the PCs with higher bandwidth, but an improvement is required for low bandwidth usage.

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TC
Office Ohrid at AGENCY FOR REAL ESTATE CADASTRE

The cost of Skype for Business has room for improvement.

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VC
Principal Engineer at Dell EMC

Dynamic file updating is a feature I haven't seen on Skype for Business. It's an area for improvement, e.g. I've seen that feature on Microsoft Teams, but not on this tool. If I send one file and shared it with 10 resources, for example, those 10 resources can update that file dynamically all at once, at the same time. Being able to update a file dynamically, by more than one resource, is one of the best features that isn't available on Skype for Business.

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Ali Jafari - PeerSpot reviewer
Voip Engineer at APK

The technical support from Microsoft needs to be improved.

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LC
Procurement Manager at EXCEED IT Services

I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability.  

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MR
CEO at Norahand

The solution requires deployment on a Microsoft server and its performance is heavy because it consumes too many resources from the RAM. 

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Ankita Mandowara - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Ace Infoway Pvt. Ltd

I feel bored with the look and feel of the tool, so it should be changed.

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AM
Manager Global Business Development at Trigent Software Ltd

We have issues with the Skype bandwidth, particularly for external meetings, which is why we also use Google Meet. Also, the sound quality of Skype is not great - there is a constant background humming noise. Clarity is essential, especially in our planning meetings. We can't rely on Skype for that and that's why we sometimes use Google Meet instead. 

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JO
Principle consultant at Active Data Consulting Services Pty Ltd

I think sometimes the connectivity needs improvement. Sometimes people have connectivity issues. Once you are running, it's terrific. But, there are unexpected dropouts occasionally. The reliability is not 100%. For example, we had a call today which started great, and then suddenly there were several participants that dropped out of the call due to connectivity.

I also think that it would be great to have a drag-and-drop feature during a call. 

Additionally, the screen sharing is really good. It would be nice to draw notes for screen sharing. This would especially be nice with Touch Pros.

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AB
Manager at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees

This service could be improved by adding some missing features. It lacks integration with Teams, which is a feature I would like to see in the next release. 

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SP
Data analyst at bigcat

The stability is sometimes a bit wobbly and could be improved. 

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MF
Owner and Senior Technical Architect at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

With respect to installing it in a large multinational, I find that installing it so that it gives decent performance across the company, can be a bit of black science. The ease of configuration or the lack of decent tooling to pinpoint your problems is probably its biggest issue. That's not just an issue with Skype For Business. That's pretty much across the board with unified communication systems.

What I'd really love them to provide would be an easy method of linking or connecting to other Skype For Business personnel in other companies who are also using Skype For Business without having to set up a federation. There are lots and lots of companies now using Skype For Business with other unified communications products. You can send someone a link, and then they can come into your Skype For Business meeting. We have issues trying to do Skype For Business.

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Aliyar Balikci - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Technology Senior Administrator at Genpa

The initial setup could be simplified.

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VK
AVP - Cyber Secuirty at Cloud4C Services

There is sometimes a lag, often because this is not integrated with a few fields. We are in India, so we have some restrictions on some key integrations. For example, it cannot integrate with our internal landlines. When I was in the United States, this wasn't a problem at all.

We need some sort of functionality whereby users can use a link as browser calling. Calling only is what is available to us. That's not in every country, however, just a few. They should make it standard across the board around the world.

The solution isn't connected to Microsoft Teams, and I feel like there is better communication on that particular solution. The group capabilities are a bit less than Teams.

I have some standard meetings that happen on a regular basis, and it would be nice if I could just go directly to them from Skype instead of looking into my calendar and clicking on a link.

Group calling is not available on Skype right now.

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RS
Manager, Quality and Process Excellence at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

The quality of calls has to be improved. I don't know whether it is a server problem that is taking away from the quality, but I have found that it is sometimes poor.

We have had trouble with scalability when trying to host large meetings.

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Balbino - PeerSpot reviewer
Analyst at Leripe Construtora

The use of multiple users making calls from both audio conferencing and video conferencing requires a good connection to the internet. If one of the users has a poor internet connection, this failure will compromise the meeting, causing delays and distortions in the communications.

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RB
Computer Maintenance Technician at GTP Sistemas S.L at GTP Sistemas S.L

Specifically in the service area: Since my organization is in charge of repair and maintenance service of computer equipment, and also works internally in communication with members who bring about growth in the company, to include any functionality would be a service that transmits data stored in the cloud, in the form that can be saved, and also to send and receive useful files.

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VK
AVP - Cyber Secuirty at Cloud4C Services

We have found that there is a lag because it cannot integrate with the internal landline. It's easier to integrate in the U.S.

We use a link as a browser calling so only calling is available. 

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SS
Software Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees

Skype for Business could improve by having a document channel or repository. Microsoft Teams has a better repository place for documents that you can share with your team. You can access it anywhere from any device.

The documentation for Skype for Business could improve.

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it_user378093 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Specialist Unified Communications at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Conferencing and interoperability need to be improved.

The biggest challenge has been seen in terms of interoperability with the other vendors. Microsoft chose standards which are freely available to minimize their costs. This decision means other vendors cannot integrate with Skype because they are using licensed technologies. Conferences on Microsoft cannot be joined to conferences from other vendors; no collaboration across technologies. That means gateways that allow Skype to communicate with other conferencing systems are required. These gateways usually come with limitations on what you can/can't do during a conference. Adding gateways means spending more money without a guarantee that everything will work as intended. It, also, complicates the solution to provide all services.

Luckily, there are vendors who have risen to fill this gap, vendors such as Pexip and Acano. Fortunately or unfortunately, Acano was acquired by Cisco. These gateways allow Microsoft Skype to communicate with any conferencing systems without losing any functionality.

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SD
Automation Systems Developer at a tech consulting company with 1-10 employees

The implementation could be improved.

In my case, I don't necessarily pick up audio, so I have to dial in. I have two connections. One is a visual and one is strictly for audio calls. Some other users aren't experiencing that issue. It's inconsistent and I'm not sure why. I also can't say with certainty that this is a Skype problem or if something else is causing the discrepancy. 

There seems to be some sort of setting whereby it pretty much keeps instant messenger open all the time. I don't know what the settings are, or if this can be switched off. I believe there's an integration with that, where it assumes a certain status. I haven't had a chance to manually change it or to look into how to adjust it. 

The integration with Outlook could be improved.

There could be more opportunities for setting up your current status.

The solution feels like it's pretty bare-bones. There could be some additional features added, perhaps on the statuses or something of that nature because as it stands now, it's pretty sparse. I have heard that they're going to be introducing some features pretty soon. I hope that's the case. 

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FQ
Software architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

I would like to see an updated user interface and layout even though no functionality is missing.

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LK
Senior Channel Sales Executive at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees

I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution.

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F. Can AKTAN - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Systems Administrator at Gama Türkerler Ortaklığı

Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with.

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PT
CEO at Shivaami Cloud Services Pvt. Ltd.

Skype for Business needs to improve their support for Android cellphones. Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow.

Additionally, I think there is a need to improve the chat-for-groups feature. It is not perfected yet.

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it_user846273 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Voice and Network Manager
  • We overcame the audio quality issues by asking users to use the 'Call Me' feature with their desk phone. 
  • We would like to better customize our instructions within the Outlook plugin/invite, but we are unable to do so. 
  • Our user base has struggled for adoption, as using Skype audio is not a very consistent experience due to the diverse networks that they are on (home office, corporate office, and branch office networks).
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DJ
Global Service Leader - Unified Communications and Collaboration at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Make the Skype applications work with unified end user computing. For example, so that Apple headsets can be used. Instead of optimizing some headsets, it would be helpful to get into OS to optimize the application.

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AS
Regional Sales Director - India & Middle East at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

It needs to be easier to use. The product is very heavy. It's very unmanageable. It used to take up a lot of memory of my computer system. 

There are not many options, in terms of some other third-party integration. The adoption of Zoom primarily spiked during the pandemic and is sort of better. This solution is now being used much less.

The solution isn't scalable.

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reviewer1065756 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works

There is normal interface of software,it should be user friendly and eye catchy.Nothing esle and i cannot explain much.

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NE
Sr. IT Project Manager at a university with self employed

We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question.

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it_user353589 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Strategic Portfolio Management team at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees

Click to call: I should be able to make a desktop phone call when I click a member of my directory. There are other applications that enable making calls by clicking in the Lync directory.

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it_user4386 - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Voice telephony and video calls utilize lots of bandwidth. View full review »
it_user776832 - PeerSpot reviewer
Unified Messaging Consultant at a engineering company with 10,001+ employees

End user enhancement: There are few codes in the back-end from the vendor which need to improve, be enhanced, like application sharing for remote party to access the machine, and can be easily accessed by tools, such as CAD design. This is one of the examples.

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Buyer's Guide
Skype for Business
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Skype for Business. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
768,246 professionals have used our research since 2012.