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
Public Instant Messaging (IM) federation
Skype Federation
Persistent Chat / Chat Rooms
Skype for Business to Skype for Business Calling (Voice and High Definition Video)
Skill Search
Desktop, Application and Whiteboard sharing
Group Conferencing (Multiparty (3+)) A/V/Content sharing
Meeting Lobby Functionality
In-Meeting Notes with OneNote Sharing
Skype for Business Audio Conferencing
Integration with 3rd party Audio Conferencing Providers
Skype for Business Multi-party Video
Skype for Business Enterprise Voice (VOIP/SIP Integration)
Skype for Business Mobile Clients
Skype for Business Web App

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
Access to IM logs and call recordings/logs.
Integration of SIP & PSTN trunks
UCMA/UCWA/SDK integration
PowerShell access		Partial	Partial
Enhanced E911 (EV Only)
PBX Integration

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

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.