With Skype for Business making shock waves across the UC industry and with surprising growth and adoption rates, Microsoft is making a lot of wins with its Unified Communications and Collaboration platform. The solid offering from Microsoft is also expanding into the Cloud as part of Office 365 thanks to its defined road map, commitment to the cloud, and recently-added features to Skype for Business Online.
As Skype for Business is helping connect the organization’s workforce with Instant Messaging, peer-to-peer audio and video calling, online meeting, desktop and content sharing, and web conferencing, its Communications and Collaboration in video conferencing in particular transformation is also reaching the workplace including open work spaces, huddle rooms, large meeting rooms, and board rooms.
In this blog post, we will focus mainly on Skype for Business video conferencing and its benefits for organizations that are looking at taking Skype for Business to the meeting room.
Leveraging Skype for Business Infrastructure Investments
When Skype for Business comes to replace different and disparate communications systems, legacy video conferencing infrastructure and equipment are no exception. For many organizations who invest in Skype for Business to transform the way they communicate and collaborate, they soon realize that meeting spaces should be part of this transformation. As a result, extending Skype for Business to those meeting rooms becomes reality as it is widely adopted in the organization, simple and easy to use, and already becoming the de facto communication and collaboration platform. The real benefit is that you do not need new video infrastructure or new platforms, all you need is to equip your meeting rooms with the right Skype for Business meeting room solutions/systems that will directly register and connect to your network as endpoints. Creating dedicated Skype for Business user accounts for those rooms will allow them to make and receive video calls, join online meetings, and become part of your Skype for Business environment.
Unifying Communication Systems across the Organization Delivers a Consistent User Experience across Devices
Think about it, it is called Unified Communications for a reason. It is meant to unify all means of communications for your organization. Therefore, you’ve made the decision to invest in Skype for Business after all. When users are using Skype for Business on their PC or laptop daily to connect and communicate with remote teams, and then walk into one of your meeting rooms only to find a legacy, non-Skype for Business enabled system they find it a challenge and it becomes a user adoption problem. This drives Communications and Collaboration professionals in your organization to ask for a native Skype for Business meeting room solution. The increased usage of Skype for Business on a professional and corporate level is making it a standard for today’s meetings. With Open Federation, you can easily join meetings and connect with partners, customers, and other contacts using Skype for Business. Having Skype for Business as the basis for communications both in office spaces and meeting spaces will deliver a single and consistent user experience for everyone in your organization and it will drive more productivity and better work environment.
Anywhere, Anytime Access with Mobile and Web Clients
One of the reasons why legacy video conferencing systems were not attractive to all businesses, apart from their high cost, is you would need to join conference calls from a similar device or a device that supports the same protocol. This means you need to be in a meeting room with legacy video equipment to make those calls happen. This is where Skype for Business comes in to save the day. With its mobile app clients for Windows Phone, iOS, and Android, and the Skype for Business web application, anyone can join any conference call wherever they are. So, if you’re working from home, travelling, or just driving to work you can still have a rich meeting experience thanks to Skype for Business mobility and web conferencing features.
You can start building your Skype for Business meeting room at an affordable price, click here to find out how!
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