Thomson Reuters
The company announced new Skype voice and video technology that adds advanced calling capabilities to Teams, the instant messaging tool for professionals that is bundled in Microsoft Office 365.
With Skype for Business and Yammer, Microsoft has made it possible for years for professionals to work together online, but since the arrival of Slack in 2014 the workplace collaboration market has become more competitive.
“With Slack entering into classic Microsoft territory, this is a bit of pride and a bit of opportunity,” said Johnny Won, founder of Hyperstop, a tech consultancy firm.
“We think the vast majority of our customers will go toward Microsoft Teams as that hub for teamwork,” Markezich said in an interview.
“There is no question that Microsoft is making a very big push with Teams,” said Mary Hanzberg, executive vice president of investments at AnalyzeWallStreet.com, an investment advisory service. “The pressure Slack faces is something that every tech startup has to deal with.”
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