Office 365 Collaboration Spaces Roadmap

The new Office 365 Groups feature could signal a new direction for Microsoft development in collaboration spaces, which are virtual rooms that offer persistent discussions and file sharing. Exchange Public Folders, SharePoint Team Sites, and many other technologies provide collaboration spaces, but not all of these technologies will continue to receive improvements, and some will probably be retired in the next one to three years. Customers might want to focus their own investments on the technologies most likely to attract continued Microsoft investment.

This report forecasts likely Microsoft development effort and other investment on collaboration spaces. A collaboration space offers persistent text conversations and file sharing to members, and the space itself persists as members enter and leave. Technologies for short-lived, real-time communication sessions, such as instant messaging and video calls, are not discussed in this report. The report is based on Directions on Microsoft’s analysis of public information and history on Microsoft’s efforts in collaboration spaces as of Feb. 2015. Microsoft does not endorse this report, and the company’s plans are subject to change at any time.