Skype for Business Versus Its Competitors

How do Skype for Business features stack up against their competition?

Richard Hay, Senior Content Producer

June 22, 2016

2 Min Read
Skype for Business Versus Its Competitors

When your organization is considering what technology to invest money, time and other resources in taking a close look at several options is a very important element of the decision making process.

There are many options available when it comes to messaging including voice, video and teleconferencing and how that solution integrates into your other resources is a key factor in choosing your messaging platform.

One of the things many companies tend to do is consolidate into one ecosystem to benefit from the synergy of having various tools easily interact with each other. Microsoft is a company who has shown this as the way forward with tools like Office 365 and the software that can interact with it.

There is a new white paper over at the Microsoft Downloads Center that compares Microsoft's Skype for Business features against competitors like the very popular Slack, Jabber, WebEx, Spark and Google Hangouts.

In this document, the following features are compared across all of those products:

  • Instant Messaging

  • P2P Voice Calling

  • Video Calling

  • Meetings

  • File Sharing via IM

  • Full Office Integration

  • Consistent Experience on PC, tablet and phones (Android, iOS and Windows)

  • Choice of Hosting (Cloud/Hybrid/On-Premise)

  • Centralized, enterprise-grade security, compliance, management and privacy controls

  • Integrated Meeting Room Device Portfolio

The comparison, looking at features in each product as of May 2016, shows Skype matching all ten of those features, Slack hitting four, Jabber/WebEx/Spark matching seven and Google Hangouts getting two matches and two features that have caveats.

Research is critical and this document should be one of the items in your folder when decision times arrives alongside of white papers for the other products you are considering.

You can download the white paper from the Microsoft Download Center here.

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.

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About the Author

Richard Hay

Senior Content Producer, IT Pro Today (Informa Tech)

I served for 29 plus years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer in November 2011. My work background in the Navy was telecommunications related so my hobby of computers fit well with what I did for the Navy. I consider myself a tech geek and enjoy most things in that arena.

My first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then I used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and WindowsObserver.com is the result of the work I have done on that site since 1995.

In January 2010 my community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when I received my first Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for the Windows Operating System. Since then I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP each subsequent year since that initial award. I am also a member of the inaugural group of Windows Insider MVPs which began in 2016.

I previously hosted the Observed Tech PODCAST for 10 years and 317 episodes and now host a new podcast called Faith, Tech, and Space. 

I began contributing to Penton Technology websites in January 2015 and in April 2017 I was hired as the Senior Content Producer for Penton Technology which is now Informa Tech. In that role, I contribute to ITPro Today and cover operating systems, enterprise technology, and productivity.

https://twitter.com/winobs

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