Skype for Business will be withdrawn on 27 July 2020

Skype for Business will stop working at Kent from Monday 27 July when it will be decommissioned. Microsoft Teams replaces Skype for Business as our virtual meetings and chat tool.

Installing Teams and disabling Skype for Business (S4B)

If you’re not already using Teams, we recommend you install Teams before 27 July so that you’re already familiar with it
Switching off S4B: on Staff Managed Desktops, it will be disabled automatically on 27 July. Advice for disabling it on other devices

External contacts

If you use Skype for Business with outside contacts, please do the following by 27 July:

Move their contact details into Outlook: this will make them available within Teams and Outlook
Install Teams so that any external messages sent to you via Skype for Business can be routed to you in Teams.
Make sure you’ve set up alternative contact methods (such as Teams) before the switch off

If you have any issues working with external contacts in Teams after Monday 27 July, please tell us. Email helpdesk@kent.ac.uk and include the email address of the person you’re trying to connect with.

Tier 4 interviews unaffected

Skype (Skype.com) will still work for Tier 4 interviews.
Why this is happening
To address some technical issues related to running both Skype for Business and Teams side by side.

Help and support
If you have any questions about Teams or any of the Microsoft 365 tools:

Join a drop in session (via Teams): Wednesdays 10.00-11.00: weekly drop in
Use our Microsoft 365 guides and Microsoft 365 FAQs