Last month at the Ignite conference, Microsoft announced Teams would replace Skype for Business as the core communications client in Office 365. No dates were announced at the time for the migration to happen, but details have emerged this week of the roadmap. A large bulk of functionality will be moved across or added during Q2 2018.
Microsoft will supplement the private and group chat messaging capabilities already in Teams with additional capabilities by the end of Q2 2018. New features will include screen sharing during chat between companies.
Teams already offers screen sharing, meeting chats captured after the meeting and a preview of audio conferencing. Microsoft plans to add meeting room support with Skype Room Systems and cloud video interoperability, allowing third-party meeting room devices to connect to Team meetings by the end of Q2 2018.
More calling capabilities are coming to Teams by the end of Q2 2018, including the ability to use existing telco voice lines to activate calling services in Office 365.
Microsoft also announced it is simplifying the naming of its premium communication offerings so both IT and end users can understand them. PSTN Conferencing is becoming Audio Conferencing, Cloud PBX will be simply Phone System, and PSTN Calling will now be known as Calling Plan.