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CEO at Shivaami Cloud Services Pvt. Ltd.
Real User
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It is a user-friendly solution that enables us to manage international meetings with ease.
Pros and Cons
  • "We chose Skype for Business after other colleagues suggested that we give it a try. It has served us well."
  • "We really like the screen sharing tool. The user experience is smooth, and user-friendly."
  • "I venture to say that 30% of the people using this solution at our company have had issues with stability, due to the volatility and crashes."
  • "Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow."

What is our primary use case?

My primary use case for this solution is for internal meetings and meetings with customers.

What is most valuable?

I find the international dialing is the best feature.

What needs improvement?

Skype for Business needs to improve their support for Android cellphones. Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow.

Additionally, I think there is a need to improve the chat-for-groups feature. It is not perfected yet.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I venture to say that 30% of the people using this solution at our company have had issues with stability, due to the volatility and crashes.

How are customer service and support?

I do not have experience with tech support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use G Suite Hangout as a similar solution. But, prior to that, we were not using anything else in this domain. We chose Skype for Business after other colleagues suggested that we give it a try. It has served us well.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India.

What other advice do I have?

We really like the screen sharing tool. The user experience is smooth, and user-friendly.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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it_user846273 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Voice and Network Manager
User
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While it makes troubleshooting a little easier, our users have struggle with product adoption
Pros and Cons
  • "We like the easy provisioning of Skype for Business Conferencing."
  • "We like the tools our administrator can use to identify which calls had quality issues and why. This makes troubleshooting our user experience somewhat easier."
  • "We would like to better customize our instructions within the Outlook plugin/invite, but we are unable to do so."
  • "We overcame the audio quality issues by asking users to use the 'Call Me' feature with their desk phone."

What is our primary use case?

Skype for Business and PSTN Conferencing. Our users are using this add-on license to perform internal and external web and audio conferences for between two and 200 users.

What is most valuable?

We like the easy provisioning of Skype for Business Conferencing. Also, we like the tools our administrator can use to identify which calls had quality issues and why. This makes troubleshooting our user experience somewhat easier.

What needs improvement?

  • We overcame the audio quality issues by asking users to use the 'Call Me' feature with their desk phone. 
  • We would like to better customize our instructions within the Outlook plugin/invite, but we are unable to do so. 
  • Our user base has struggled for adoption, as using Skype audio is not a very consistent experience due to the diverse networks that they are on (home office, corporate office, and branch office networks).

For how long have I used the solution?

Less than one year.

What was our ROI?

We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Senior Consultant at Unify Square
Real User
Having CCE integrated with local gateways is a big help in making the Cloud adoption straightforward

Intro and Scenario

Some months ago, Microsoft added to its Office 365/Skype Online offer Cloud PBX with PSTN calling (Public Switched Telephone Network is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks). 

Cloud PBX gives the capability to connect Skype for Business (S4B) Online users to the PSTN with no existing on-premises deployment.

Your telco, in such a scenario, could be Microsoft itself but this kind of solution involves some interesting downsides.

Microsoft should be able to offer phone numbers in many different countries that have dissimilar regulations and that will have different carriers and providers, each one trying to offer something more interesting than competitors.

The alternative to the aforementioned scenario (and a more down-to-earth solution) is having all Skype for Business workload in the Cloud with minimum footprint on-premises, just to connect S4B users to local PSTN services (using SIP or ISDN).
This is what Microsoft calls Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition (previously, you may have heard names like MinTop or Minimal Topology).

While I will not deep dive the specifications of this solution, the implications it has must be understood from any customer that is evaluating a Cloud based VOIP system like this one

CCE Overview

CCE is a downloadable package from Microsoft.  Inside the package, you will have four virtual machines running on Hyper-V that you will have to deploy in your DMZ. 
As you can see in the following schema (from the TechNet post Plan for Skype for Business Cloud Connector Edition ( https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt605227.aspx) CCE acts as a bridge between your local telco provider and the Microsoft Cloud.

Deploying more than a single CCE on a site will add resiliency and increase the number of supported calls.

Note that, in this kind of scenario, you have purchase PSTN conferencing from Microsoft or from audio conferencing provider (ACP) partner if you want to add dial-in conferencing.

In addition, from a security point of view, the Directory Services inside the CCE have no communication with your production Domain Controllers.

Is CCE useful for My Company?

In the TechNet post Plan your Cloud PBX solution in Skype for Business 2015 or Lync Server 2013 ( https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt612869.aspx) Microsoft offers an interesting "block diagram” to help customers selecting the right solution.

CCE is seen as something fit for greenfield deployments, while existing Skype for Business infrastructures are suitable to work with Cloud PBX directly.

Vendors like Audiocodes are already offering support to the CCE onboard of their Gateways and Session Border Controllers (SBCs).

That is interesting because to talk with the local PSTN you usually already have the requirement for a gateway/SBC.

Therefore, CCE will probably add small or no cost to what you already had to spend anyway.

Takeaways

CCE is an interesting proposal to realize an hybrid voice deployment (Cloud services and local telco) with little effort.

Removing the Skype for Business (on-premises) deployment from the requirements to use Cloud PBX with PSTN calling simplifies the whole process of moving Enterprise Voice (VOIP) to the Cloud.

Having CCE integrated with gateways is another help in making the aforementioned Cloud adoption straightforward.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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it_user326337 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user326337Customer Success Manager at PeerSpot
Real User
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Thanks for you thorough review, Fabrizio! Do you have any other advice or recommendations for future/current users?

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GlobalSe6644 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Service Leader - Unified Communications and Collaboration at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
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P2P audio video calls and conferencing add value

What is most valuable?

IM, Presence, P2P audio video calls, Conferencing.

How has it helped my organization?

Optimizes our network, encourages adoption, standardizes optimized headsets, strong change management, mobility.

What needs improvement?

Make the Skype applications work with unified end user computing. For example, so that Apple headsets can be used. Instead of optimizing some headsets, it would be helpful to get into OS to optimize the application.

For how long have I used the solution?

Five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Yes.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Yes.

How are customer service and technical support?

Five out of 10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

No.

How was the initial setup?

Complex.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It depends on your infrastructure. There is value in using Skype only when your organization is Microsoft shop.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Cisco.

What other advice do I have?

Look at your end users and computing needs and find a suitable solution for them.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
LK
Senior Channel Sales Executive at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
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Intuitive, user-friendly, and reliable
Pros and Cons
  • "What is most valuable about Skype for Business is that almost everyone knows about it and almost everyone has it. You will be able to reach a large number of people."
  • "I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution."

What is our primary use case?

Skype For Business is primarily used for meetings, video meetings, and instant chats.

I use it for one-on-one meetings, not for conference meetings where you have been personally invited.

What is most valuable?

What is most valuable about Skype for Business is that almost everyone knows about it and almost everyone has it. You will be able to reach a large number of people.

It fulfills all requirements.

What needs improvement?

I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Skype for Business for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Skype for Business is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If I include the clients for the various events, there are a few hundred users.

How are customer service and support?

I have never contacted technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I did not use another solution.

How was the initial setup?

It was easy to install.

The installation was complete in a few minutes.

What about the implementation team?

I completed the installation myself.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There are no licensing fees, but you must use a Microsoft account.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Skype for Business a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
reviewer1065756 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works
Real User
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Easy setup, easy to use and can be configured on any device
Pros and Cons
  • "You can do meetings of up to two hundred people in a single conversation."
  • "Make it user friendly."

What is our primary use case?

I have used this software since 2014. You can do meetings with your employees, and employees outside of your company.

It has a very easy setup, it's easy to use and can be configured on any device. Everything gets recorded on an exchange server, so you don't have to worry about recording meetings and conversations.

How has it helped my organization?

It improves travel time for our employees and cost. It can be used on your 4G LTE connection easily. It has also improved manpower productivity.

What is most valuable?

You can do meetings of up to two hundred people in a single conversation. You can share your desktop with all meeting attendees at the same instant.

What needs improvement?

There is normal interface of software,it should be user friendly and eye catchy.Nothing esle and i cannot explain much.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Infrastructure Expert at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Real User
It is easy to integrate with Call Centers and doesn’t need separate appliances or hardware but several aspects have room for improvement

For how long have you used this product?
- 2 years

Which features of this product are most valuable to you?
- VoIP, IM Chat, Conferencing, Mobility

Can you give an example of how this product has improved the way your organization functions?
- Make it easy to communicate between colleagues, partners and even other companies. It is easy to integrate with Call Centers and doesn’t need separate appliances or hardware. It all can be virtualized. It also allows you to call anytime and anywhere from within your PC or Mobile phone.

What areas of this product have room for improvement?
- IM and file transfer, Conferencing, Persistent Chat, Monitoring and Archiving, Quality of voice and video and Mobility.

Did you encounter any issues with deployment, stability or scalability?
- Integration with Office 365 can be difficult sometimes if migrating users from Lync on cloud to Lync on premise.

Did you previously use a different solution and if so, why did you switch?
- We used to have Openfire, but since we are partners of Microsoft and Lync was a unified communication solution for enterprises which gather everything in it. Then we decided to migrate and deployed our first Lync in 2010.

Before choosing this product, did you evaluate other options? If so, which ones?
- No, we have just choose to go for Microsoft Lync and so as many of our enterprise customers who previously had OCS deployed on their premise.

How would you rate the level of customer service and technical support?
- Overall the level of customer service for Lync is good however, for Microsoft Office 365 it has been improved from getting support on forums to exchanging e-mails and even following up on issues by phone calls.

Was the initial setup straightforward or complex? In what ways?
- Initial setup was some how complicated with the edge part as you have to understand the trick of getting two NICs working and routing the traffic on internal NIC to Lync front end while the other NIC which is external has to face the Firewall DMZ lan.

Did you implement through a vendor team or an in-house one? If through a vendor team, how would you rate their level of expertise?
- We have deployed an in-house server and it’s currently still up and running, also we have evaluated the Office 365 and support was extremely good.

What is your ROI on this product?
- Lync has many features that would save your enterprise money, time and effort. Starting with the money, it lessens the cost of communication by using less PSTN lines for VoIP calls when using the Enterprise Voice feature for Lync, It saves you time since you can have conference calls with your clients on Lync using Multiple Conferencing capability along with Multi-Video as well saving the time of going to the customer’s main office for the meeting. Also it can be integrated with other various application servers providing you features which you probably don’t know about yet.

What was your original setup cost for this product and what is your day-to-day cost of using this product?
- Total cost of the project may vary depending on the requirements of the setup, The number of clients who will be using it and what kind of features would they require on it. It may start from $5000 up to $50,000.

What advice would you give to others looking into implementing this product?
- I have recommended Microsoft Lync to one of the customers who had Asterisk and used to have lot of voice quality issue even though they are using the generic audio codecs that are used by majority of VoIP applications. Microsoft Lync uses a different Codec which makes it unique and has better quality in this case.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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it_user6528 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user6528Infrastructure Expert at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Real User
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Hi Fabrizio,

Yes this review is dedicated to Lync 2010 more than 2013 however, I have migrated to 2013 about few months ago and noticed the big difference and change between both 2010 and 2013. as you mentioned Monitoring and Archiving are now part of the FE but require a separate SQL server. Mobility has been improved that it actually makes you not in need to use your desktop sometimes.

WAC server supports PowerPoint slides share for multi-point conferencing. I have deployed WAC couple of times in dedicated server (Internal) use and had great results.

Overall I can say a lot of my clients were very satisfied about the results.

I think I have to write another review about Lync 2013.

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F. Can AKTAN - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Systems Administrator at Gama Türkerler Ortaklığı
Real User
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High availability, scalable, and but difficult user interface
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found Skype for Business to be stable."
  • "Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Skype for Business mostly for meetings.

What needs improvement?

Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Skype for Business for approximately four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have found Skype for Business to be stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Skype for Business is a scalable solution.

We have approximately 350 people are using this solution. All departments are using it.

How are customer service and support?

The support for Skype for Business is good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Skype for Business was simple.

What about the implementation team?

We did the deployment of Skype for Business in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution.

What other advice do I have?

We are in the process of moving to Microsoft Teams and it is integrated into Microsoft Office.

I rate Skype for Business a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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November 2024
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