Introduction
Skype for Business is an instant messaging, video and telephony conferencing solution developed by Microsoft and launched on the 27th of October 2007. Skype for Business has been specifically developed for the enterprise market. It was named Office Communicator 2007, but Microsoft eventually renamed it to Lync and introduced it as Skype for Business on the 11th of November 2014. You have the option to install it on-premises or make use of the Cloud version which is part of Office 365. Microsoft has also enabled telephony in a growing list of countries.
Impact on organizations
A lot of people sit behind a desk and make use of a laptop or PC throughout the day. Skype for Business makes it easy to chat or initiate a video call with your colleagues and you can join virtual meetings with just a few clicks. It’s similar to the consumer version of Skype and these type of applications really help with when organisations want to introduce the New World of Work. You do have to keep in mind that the conversations taking place via Skype for Business will not to be available for others as with public groups on your Enterprise Social network.
The future
Microsoft is a major player in this market with Skype for Business en we expect that they will keep on investing in it and the integration with other Microsoft applications. Microsoft launched Lync Room System a while back and this also works with the latest version of Skype for Business. We’re expecting a new version of the Lync Room System en assume that Microsoft will introduce integration with the Hololens in the near future. Virtual meetings will replace traditional meetings to a larger degree and technology will also be used more often within traditional meetings.