Skype for Business (S4B) is just one of the productivity tools in the Office365 arsenal, but it adds many powerful collaborative features that can take your efforts into the stratosphere, improve employee productivity and engagement, and streamline many of your business processes to be more efficient and agile than ever before. The modern communications solutions it offers are valuable for any size business, but nowhere is its effect as dramatic as at the enterprise level.
With full S4B integration into your Microsoft Office suite, your workforce can connect and collaborate with the click of a mouse. Add to that the ability to integrate your CMS, and you’ve got a neat little package that packs a huge punch.
What is S4B?
We are all familiar with Skype as a way to video call and make IP phone calls from your computer or device. S4B is much more than that – a complete unified communications system that combines all of your communications into a single platform: your entire network’s voice, mobile, SMS, email, instant messaging, voice mail and live chat are consolidated, and available on any device, from anywhere you might be working. All of your messaging and calls can be managed from a dashboard, which gives you the ability to monitor what is going on with every single user. This includes being able to monitor call quality as well as call length and destination, so that you can better optimize your hardware as well as your human capital to accommodate your specific needs.
Overcoming communications challenges
Increasing employee engagement is something you want to strive for, and with S4B you are giving them the tools to stay focused and continue on in their tasks without the challenges of technology, location, or even language. Yes, that’s a thing: recent features added to S4B include support for more than 50 languages. So, if for instance you are on a video conference with a client or a remote worker, and that person is in China, you can opt to have their spoken input translated in real time. This works for both voice and video calls, and adds a new and exciting layer to what is possible.
S4B also gives your workforce the option of switching to a different mode of communication without having to exit the platform or switch devices. For instance, if you are on a call with an account, you can conference in other employees instantly, or join a remote meeting that is already in progress on the other side of the world – all without leaving your desk. If you are on an important call and need to leave your desk, you can switch to your mobile device without interrupting the call, and carry on. The same applies to your remote workforce, or to your in-the-field salesforce. In a world that increasingly expects an immediate response to most issues, your team can connect and collaborate, no matter where they are: in the airport, in transit, or anywhere there is an internet connection.
Organization made easy
Skype for Business also makes it easier to set up conferences and meetings. Integration with your CMS allows you to set up and invite your contacts to meetings from within the S4B environment. Take your efforts even further by broadcasting your meetings to up to 10,000 people, a great option for large companies with international locations. Broadcast your team conferences, training seminars, and webinars, and provide an interactive experience for your viewers as you can ask them to complete polls, ask questions and take messages as you go.
Get Started with Office 365 and Learn More About S4B
If you are considering implementing Office 365, or if your company is ready to get started with Skype for Business unified communications, we would love to hear from you. Greenlight ITC is a full-service IT consultancy, and over our more than a decade in business, we have helped thousands of Australian businesses become more productive and achieve greater success. Call today or drop us a line to speak to one of our Microsoft Office 365 specialists, and find out what Office 365 and S4B can do for you.
