Dear Valued Customer,

On behalf of Consolidated Telecoms, I wanted to update you on our progress with Microsoft’s Skype for Business.

In the April Office Update released on April 15, 2015, Microsoft released the new Skype for Business client via Windows Update and Click to Run.  With this change, Microsoft effectively replaced the Lync 2013 client with the new Skype for Business 2015 client, and added the ability for administrators to choose between the existing Lync user Interface (UI) and the new Skype for Business UI.

On May 12^th there will be another monthly update from Office, and organizations that did not take the April Office Update will most likely pick up the May Office Update for Office 2013 ProPlus and Office 365 Pro Plus.

We strongly recommend that you review your adoption plans prior to the May 12 Office Update and take control of the client experience with 5 Quick Steps:

1. What User Experience do you want? –Skype for Business UI or Traditional Lync UI
2. How are you deployed? - Online or Server
3. Make the appropriate changes to your Lync Environment.
4. Ready your support teams.
5. Prepare your users for the change.

End User Experience

In addition to all the features of Lync, Skype for Business provides new features with simplified controls and familiar icons from Skype. This update supports the new Skype for Business client experience as well as the Lync client experience. Based on your deployment method you will have different default client user interface experiences:

Note: If you want to keep the Lync UI there are some references to the Skype brand even in the Lync UI mode of the new Skype for Business Client.

Make the Changes to your Lync environment?

Configuring your client experience depends on your type of deployment, configure the client experience based on your specific environment in using these links:

• Lync Server 2010
• Lync Server 2013
• Lync Online/Skype for Business Online

Prepare your Support Teams and End Users:

To help you prepare for the transition, we have many additional resources available to help you plan, educate and engage end-users:

• End User Videos: Quick videos on how to us Client
• End User Support: Discover Skype for Business
• End User Support: What’s new in the client?
• End User Readiness: Bundle of Quick Start Guides
• Adoption and Readiness:  Internal Resources Kit for Skype for Business rollout and user experience transition.
• Office 365  Success Center: Creating awareness and drive adoption within your organization