Have a Remote Workforce? You’ll Love These Skype for Business Features
It seems like everyone works remotely these days. What dispersed teams won’t tell you is that fostering collaboration between on-site and off-site employees can be very challenging. Communication is hard enough when everyone is in the same room!
Fortunately, there are tools that can help. Skype for Business enables companies to get more done no matter where their employees may be.
This article will look at the Skype for Business features that are particularly important if you have remote teams.
Skype for Business Features – Must-Haves
Impromptu or orchestrated group chats are simple to set up and great communication tools for remote teams. You can set up a chat group easily enough, but there’s also a feature that allows you to create a link to the chat room. If you want people to join a meeting, you can email or text them the chat link. We also like how you can control who can see chat history.
Another feature that’s helpful for remote teams is that you can use your Skype number just like a regular phone number. Just sign up for a Skype Number to enable the functionality. If you’re unavailable on the Skype, line a call will route to your mobile device.
Any of the Skype features are now available on your mobile devices. In the past, Skype hasn’t been the best tool to use; the drain on your battery alone made it unwieldy. Now, smartphone batteries have improved so that you can stay in chat mode on Skype all day long.
Here’s another cool tool: you can carry on multiple conversations with Skype. Say you’re on a laptop video conference with your team that’s running long. If you need to step away to make another call, you can keep the Skype chat running on your laptop while using Skype on another device.
One of the biggest pet peeves on remote conference calls is the background noise from anyone in the field. Staying on mute during the call is always annoying – inevitably someone forgets to go off mute while waxing poetic. All you hear is dead air. Skype added a Push to Talk (PTT) hotkey. When the call starts, go on mute, as usual. Then use the hotkey combinations on your keypad when you want to talk, similar to a walkie-talkie. Read this article to find out how to enable this feature.
We’ve Come a Long Way – Skype for Business Features
Skype for Business has come a long way since it’s inception as a rudimentary voice over IP platform. Today it is an integral part of the Microsoft Office tools environment. Remote teams can now conceptualize ideas on a whiteboard, make a presentation with a PowerPoint, set up a group chat, or record a discussion – and that’s just a few of the features. If you haven’t taken a test drive of the new Skype for Business features, Contact Red River today. We can help you integrate this indispensable tool in a way that benefits your employees – no matter where they may be.
