Skype Expands Its Business Services

Skype has extended its Skype for Business offering in response to continued demand among businesses around the world that use Skype to communicate with customers and colleagues.

Business users have always been part of the Skype family and make up more than 30 percent of Skype's global community of users. In a recent survey of 250 businesses using Skype, 95 percent claimed to have saved on their telecommunications costs and 80 percent shared that using Skype had increased employee productivity. The survey also revealed that 62 percent of the companies using Skype communicate better with customers and 76 percent said they work more closely with colleagues because Skype is so easy to use.

Skype for Business builds upon Skype's rich calling features including Skype-to-Skype, Video Calling, SkypeOut, SkypeIn, conference calling, file transfer and chat. Skype for Business adds additional options to assist business users, which includes enterprise controls and functionality, Skype Extras, and the Skype for Business destination page.

Enterprise Controls and Functionality
The new features in Skype for Business make it easier for businesses of all sizes to install and manage Skype. Skype can now be easily installed on multiple computers using the Windows Installer package (commonly known as MSI). This gives system administrators greater control over how to deploy Skype across their corporate networks.

Skype for Business also includes an enhanced online business control panel which enables companies to centrally manage and allocate SkypeIn phone numbers and SkypeOut credits to allow an organization to make cheap Skype calls to landline or mobile phones. Network administrators can enable automatic top-up of SkypeOut credits to individual Skype accounts and centrally manage company invoices.

New enterprise controls allow network administrators to use existing IT management tools to remotely configure Skype clients, turn off various Skype features, such as file transfer, based on company, group or department IT policies. Network administrators interested in better understanding how Skype works and how to manage Skype in an enterprise environment can download a PDF of Skype's Guide for Network Administrators.

"The management controls in Skype for Business, when combined with the tremendous savings delivered by Skype's Unlimited Calling plan in the United States and Canada, is a very compelling option for businesses looking to control their telecommunications costs and improve the productivity of their employees," said Don Albert, vice president and general manager of Skype North America.

Skype Extras
Skype is also working with partners to develop a range of new business productivity tools, called Extras. Examples include the Convenos Meeting Center, an on-demand web conferencing and collaboration service, WebDialogs Unyte?, a 1:1 application viewing tool which enables users to share anything on their PC desktop anytime, and On-State ACD, a comprehensive call center and customer contact solution. Examples of productivity tools are accessible within the Skype Extras menu in the latest version of Skype 3.0 software.

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