Case study ยท Technology

Skype for Business to Teams, in four weeks

With Skype for Business retiring in July 2021, this IT services company needed a clean move to Microsoft Teams against a fixed, immovable deadline. We delivered it in a managed four-week timeline: training included, disruption minimal.

The challenge

A deadline set by Microsoft, not by the project plan

Platform retirements don't negotiate. Skype for Business Online had a fixed end-of-life, and the company's day-to-day operations (internal and client-facing) ran on it. The migration to Teams had to be complete, adopted and stable before the switch-off.

Speed alone wasn't the brief; a communications platform migration that users don't understand is a failure regardless of the timeline. Training had to travel with the technology.

The deadline

Jul 2021

Skype for Business retirement: the immovable deadline

The approach

A managed four-week runway

We scoped the migration tightly around the deadline and ran it in a compressed, governed sequence: configuration, migration, validation and user enablement in parallel tracks.

  • Teams environment designed and configured for the business
  • Migration from Skype for Business executed in managed phases
  • User training delivered alongside the rollout
  • Completed inside four weeks, ahead of the retirement date

The result

Live on Teams, with users who knew how to use it

The company moved to Microsoft Teams inside four weeks with minimal disruption to the business, and because training shipped with the migration, adoption was immediate rather than grudging. The deadline came and went unnoticed, which was exactly the point.

Delivery time

4 wks

From engagement to a completed, adopted migration

Related services

Working against a platform deadline?

Fixed dates focus minds, ours included. Tell us what's retiring and when.