By Fiona Sims, Applications & Services Lead, Microsoft Australia
Re-imagine the way you connect to get work done. Each year, organisations spend millions of dollars on contracts with conferencing providers to allow people to dial in to virtual meetings from landline phones. Now there’s a cheaper and simpler approach.
On 1 September, Skype for Business PSTN Conferencing will be available in Australia via Office 365 to help customers simplify operations and cut costs.
Modern communication tools are critical to helping organisations empower employees to achieve more together. New Skype for Business capabilities in Office 365 have and will continue to re-invent meetings. These capabilities deliver one feature-rich client that meets all internal and external communications needs.
The combination of PSTN conferencing and Office 365 delivers a comprehensive meetings solution for every event – large or small. Participants can use a dial-in number to join Skype for Business meetings from any device. They can also dial-out to bring other participants into the meeting.
The new features can simplify unified communications environments. They also offer the benefits of one platform and provider to meet all communications needs, simple pricing (fees are per user, per month) and less need for expensive on-premises hardware.
As we release these new cloud capabilities in Office 365, partners will play an important role in helping to extend the new services to our customers. This local ecosystem is a key differentiator for Microsoft, with our partners offering deep experience in delivering communications solutions, across planning, deployment, adoption and usage. These skills include helping customers integrate with vertical applications and Skype consumer solutions.
The Skype for Business video conferencing service in Office 365 is based on an intelligent real-time network. This network spans Microsoft’s global data centres in 40 countries, delivering secure, high-quality voice and video traffic around the world.
Customers and partners who are keen to learn more can join us at one of our Skype for Business discovery days, which have been specifically designed for IT decision-makers. Attendees will hear from Microsoft experts, as well as peers who have successfully championed Skype for Business in their organisations. You can register here.