Skype for Business (including Persistent Chat groups) will be retired on March 31

Michigan Medicine’s instance of Skype for Business (SfB) will be retired on March 31. This planned retirement is happening in conjunction with the rollout of Microsoft Teams — which is now the organization’s preferred tool for business-related (non-clinical) communication and collaboration, including chat. 

As a result of this change — effective immediately — no new Persistent Chat groups can be created, nor can members be added or updated. 

What you may need to do:

If you or your colleagues are using a Persistent Chat group in SfB (set up specifically to maintain an ongoing record of group conversations over time), consider these alternatives:

• For regular “business” communication, set up a new conversation thread in Microsoft Teams – either as a Chat, a Channel (within a Team), or a Team.
• For patient care-focused chats, use MiChart – Hyperspace Secure Chat.

Other things you should know:

There is no way to migrate existing SfB content (including Persistent Chats) into Teams or Hyperspace Chat.

Questions? 

For support, visit the Michigan Medicine Help Center.