Teams Expands Messaging and Integration Capabilities

• Improved messaging connectivity between Teams and Skype for Business Online will smooth migration to Teams.
• New features and integrations point to Teams’ future role as a collaboration hub for other Office 365 services.
• A growing developer platform could expand Teams’ role as a hub to include custom line-of-business applications.

The Microsoft Teams chat and communication platform has improved messaging interoperation with Skype for Business Online, which Teams will eventually replace. Other recent changes improve access to SharePoint and Planner from within Teams and could make it easier to develop and distribute custom Teams apps.

Messaging with Skype for Business

Recent messaging improvements deliver on Microsoft’s published timeline for the Skype for Business to Teams transition. Updates focus on interoperation with Skype for Business to make it easier for customers using both apps during a migration. However, most improvements only work with users hosted in Skype for Business Online.