Skype for Business Enterprise Voice

Skype for Business On-Premise vs Skype for Business Online (Office 365)

Almost everyone has the same question, what is the best option to implement Skype for Business. With of the 3 different available options suits you best?

Implement Skype for Business Hosted or on-premise or Office 365/Skype for Business Online: that is the question?

To start out, the most important thing is to find out what is the real needs of the company, and depending on what they need, we can decide what to implement.

In my opinion, and because “I love to have control and have access to all features” I have to say, my choice goes to Skype for Business hosted or on-premise, but other options are also valid for me.

So we can have the following implementation sceneries:

  1. Skype for Business Hosted or on-premise
  2. Skype for Business Hosted/on-premise and Office365/Skype for Business Online (Hybrid)
  3. Office 365
  4. Skype for Business Online

I will try to show out the advantages and disadvantages of all three options.

For start, the Skype for Business Online and Office 365, is located online, in the cloud, is a low-cost solution, but is lacking key features that are important to many organizations.

Features Differences

Feature Hosted or On-Premises Skype for Business 2015 Server Skype for Business Online Plan 1 Skype for Business Online Plan 2
Rich presence, Instant Messaging (IM), Office Integration yes yes yes
Public Instant Messaging (IM) federation yes yes yes
Skype Federation yes yes yes
Persistent Chat / Chat Rooms yes yes yes
Skype for Business to Skype for Business Calling (Voice and High Definition Video) yes yes yes
Skill Search yes no no
Desktop, Application and Whiteboard sharing yes no yes
Group Conferencing (Multiparty (3+)) A/V/Content sharing yes no yes
Meeting Lobby Functionality yes no yes
In-Meeting Notes with OneNote Sharing yes no yes
Skype for Business Audio Conferencing yes no no
Integration with 3rd party Audio Conferencing Providers yes no yes
Skype for Business Multi-party Video yes no yes
Skype for Business Enterprise Voice (VOIP/SIP Integration) yes no no
Skype for Business Mobile Clients yes yes yes
Skype for Business Web App yes no yes

Skype for Business Enterprise Voice (SIP Trunk) this is only available on a hosted or on-premises installations. You must have a SIP trunking services qualified for Skype for Business Server 2015, or with a qualified gateway.

Technical Differences

Feature Hosted or On-Premises Skype for Business Server 2015 Skype for Business Online Plan 1 Skype for Business Online Plan 2
Access to CDR and QOE raw log files yes no no
Access to IM logs and call recordings/logs. yes no no
Integration of SIP & PSTN trunks yes no no
UCMA/UCWA/SDK integration yes no no
PowerShell access yes Partial Partial
Enhanced E911 (EV Only) yes no no
PBX Integration yes no no

Data Security and Privacy

Hosting Skype for Business online release the organizations of deploying more hardware, managing licenses and is very easy to have it set up, but where is my data stored, and who have access to it?

So please before implementing Skype for Business Online, you must read the Microsoft EULA carefully. Microsoft has rights to all analytics, inclusive data that is stored on their datacentre. This is also depending on the privacy laws in each region. But for you, this data is not available, so you don’t have the possibility to use the reporting features and be compliant.

So what is the best solution for you?

As I said before, this always depends on your needs

Recommended Solution
Skype for Business Online / Office 365 Hosted/on-premise Skype for Business
Access to logs and usage data Yes
Integration with VOIP/SIP/PBX (SIP Trunk) Yes
Local hosting Yes
Local email support Yes Yes
Local telephone support Yes
API access Yes
Low Cost Yes
No hardware wanted Yes Yes
Basic Service Level Agreement Yes Yes
Comprehensive SLA Yes

You can also take a look on the Client comparison tables for Skype for Business Server 2015 (These tables indicate the features that are available to Skype for Business users in an on-premises deployment of Skype for Business Server 2015. The same features are also available to Skype for Business Online and Office 365 users unless otherwise indicated): https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg425836.aspx

Conclusion

All the Skype for Business options are valid, so if you want to get the best option for your organization, does not hesitate to contact you, and we can design the best solution for your needs.

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