Years after buying Skype, Microsoft has begun to unify its development across multiple environments. According to a report by Ars Technica, this effort has been in the making for years. Now that it is complete, the company has been working on new features.

Business users can look forward to utilizing recent updates including video chat with screen sharing at up to 1080p with up to 24 people, a Skype blog post noted. This could prove helpful for conference calls and discussions. The service now allows for mentions in group chats and file-sharing up to 300MB with a simple drag and drop UI.

Users can also find files more easily in a gallery of shared media content for a given chat.

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Microsoft will also be making changes this summer including call recording, a feature that was previously only available through third-party apps. The service will also offer end-to-end encryption of text and audio chat, the report noted, and all users on the call will be alerted when the recording begins..

These two features could prove very helpful to business pros when they need to quickly reference topics discussed in a Skype meeting. Additionally, Microsoft noted in the post that Skype 8.0 is coming to the iPad, read receipts will be enabled, and private encrypted conversations will be available using the Signal Protocol.

The consolidation of the classic, modern, and mobile apps could allow Microsoft a faster pace for development and implementation of helpful features like this, the Ars Technica report noted It streamlines the app development process as it only needs to happen on a single platform.

However, according to the report, users who use the “classic” Win32 Skype client, will lose their support by the end of August. Users will have to upgrade to the latest version, Skype 8.0, to continue to use the service.

The big takeaways for tech leaders:

  • Microsoft’s consolidation of platforms has allowed for new Skype features that can help boost your business’s productivity.
  • New features including call recording, screen sharing, and more can help conference calls through Skype run more smoothly.