Microsoft Philippines answers the urgent need for unified communications through unit Skype for Business.
“Today, enterprise organizations in the Philippines are in for a digital disruption,” said Christian Lim, office marketing business group lead for Microsoft Philippines. “As the workforce and the consumer markets become more digital, there is a need for flexible, rich communications, and a reinvented productivity solution that will usher in a new modern work place”.
In 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype, an application that provides video chat and voice call services. Skype for Business provides instant messaging, audio and video calls, online meetings, availability (presence) information and sharing capabilities from one, easy-to-use program.
Presenting data they have garnered through their “New World of Work” survey, Microsoft surmises that as enterprises adapt to the changing business landscape, they must simultaneously adopt new ways to communicate with their workforce that are grounded in available and inexpensive technologies.
With most of the modern employees disparate and working well away from the office space, work mobility has become a primary concern among businesses. They have adapted multiple technologies to cope with the need to connect and interact with one another.
Microsoft stressed that a sporadic work force should not rely on multiple confusing devices in order to be flexible and work-competitive.
“We understand there is an undeniable demand for communication that transcends time zones and geographies,” said Lim. “The evolution of communication through technology has greatly impacted the workplace and we want to help equip businesses with products that will empower them to do more in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.”
Microsoft embraces the new working culture present-day employees are steeped in by introducing solutions they have devised in Skype for Business, helping them to unify communications in a heavily scattered workplace.
Available Skype for Business solutions are expanded through Microsoft’s partnership with Polycom to deliver the industry’s first cloud-based video interoperability service. Polycom will also develop new video collaboration and video room solutions for Skype for Business.
“Our 12-year partnership with Microsoft delivered industry-leading collaboration solutions to our end users,” said Peter Leav, chief executive of Polycom. “Together, we equip our customers of all sizes with cloud-ready solutions that will help them realize the powerful benefits of collaboration in the workplace of the future.”
Partnering with the international communication technology company, two readily available solutions built in Skype for Business were presented by Microsoft: Outlook Integration and Cloud Private Branch Exchange.
Businesses can now integrate their Outlook accounts into their Skype for Business app, providing them ease in inviting workmates into meetings and Skype calls that dissolve the need to bring their work into the boardroom. Microsoft also made this available to people who do not have the Skype for Business app yet through the free web app.
“Answering the urgent need for unified communications, we simplified Skype for Business’ design and created a common user experience that is both accessible to people and fitting to their devices,” said Eileen Ong, small and midmarket solutions and partners director for Microsoft Philippines.
“And with the present day’s threat to privacy, we employed measures to ensure reliability and security in our services, we assure our customers that they can put their whole attention into the conversation worry-free.”
Facing the future head on with Skype for Business, Microsoft assures businesses the opportunity to modernize mobility, collaborations, and meetings within the workplace.
“We at Microsoft, underline our mission to empower people to do more by pushing further toward advancement, to which we believe there is only one way—forward,” said Ong.
In March, Polycom and Microsoft announced plans to expand the reach of Skype for Business meetings enabling Polycom customers of all sizes to leverage their existing video investments, as they move to Microsoft Office 365 and Skype for Business environments.
In addition, Microsoft customers new to video collaboration will have the option to use Polycom’s proven technologies in their new deployments. Customers will also be able to collaborate with other existing video platforms using a cloud video interoperability service built by Polycom and Microsoft.
The two companies also announced that Polycom would deliver an industry-first, cloud-based video interoperability service, hosted in the Microsoft Cloud, for Office 365 customers. This enables Office 365 customers to leverage their existing video investments and unite with those of other vendors, including Polycom, Microsoft and Cisco, as they move to the cloud.
“Uniting Skype for Business in Office 365 with Polycom’s high-quality audio and video solutions gives customers the most complete collaboration toolkit for the modern workplace,” said Zig Serafin, corporate vice president of Skype for Business.