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reviewer1311051 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. IT Project Manager at a university with self employed
Real User
Easy to set up and organize meetings, and integrates with Outlook
Pros and Cons
  • "The quality of the meetings is very good."
  • "We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question."

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ease of organizing and setting up a meeting.

It is integrated with my Outlook, which is helpful.

The quality of the meetings is very good.

What needs improvement?

We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Skype for Business for between five and seven years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The meetings can easily be expanded. Once you have the link you can push it, even in a WhatsApp group, to have all of your invitees become part of the meeting. The typical meeting for me is about 30 people.

Buyer's Guide
Skype for Business
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Skype for Business. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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

We have begun using Microsoft Teams in place of Skype for Business and it is very good for collaboration. However, it is also missing the "raise hand" feature.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was not difficult for me. 

What other advice do I have?

My understanding is that Skype for Business will be retired in July of 2021, so I am in the process of migrating to Teams.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Head of Strategic Portfolio Management team at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Real User
It's great being able to share files and documentation anywhere around the world
Pros and Cons
  • "File sharing and email invitations for a conference. I can have a meeting with people at the opposite end of the Earth, sharing documentation; it is quite easy."
  • "I should be able to make a desktop phone call when I click a member of my Lync directory."

How has it helped my organization?

Voice quality improvement, especially when used for over 40 minutes.

What is most valuable?

File sharing and email invitations for a conference. I can have a meeting with  people at the opposite end of the Earth, sharing documentation; it is quite easy.

What needs improvement?

Click to call: I should be able to make a desktop phone call when I click a member of my directory. There are other applications that enable making calls by clicking in the Lync directory.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Rarely, a chat message is sent very slowly.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No scalability issues.

How is customer service and technical support?

Good.

How was the initial setup?

I didn't set it up.

What other advice do I have?

I rate it eight out of 10. It is generally very good to work with using chat or web meetings. It would be a 10 if I could make a call by clicking in the directory in Lync.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Skype for Business
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Skype for Business. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
PeerSpot user
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
Very effective communication tool

Valuable Features:

Integration with other MS products such as outlook, OWA, SharePoint Support for various client devices, gateways etc. Support for federation with third party.Lync Client allows users access to presence, instant messaging, voice, audio, video, and Web conferencing

Room for Improvement:

Voice telephony and video calls utilize lots of bandwidth.

Other Advice:

It's is a very good product to have -- a solution for IM, voice telephony and video communication bundled into one.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user4401 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor

I agree with you, and I would like to add three pros that Microsoft Lync 2013 has. First one is referring to HD video conferencing, because Lync delivers support for 1080p HD resolution for video conferencing, so participants have a sharp, clear display. Second one refers to mobile apps, because Microsoft has developed Lync mobile apps for Windows Phone, iOS and Android. The Lync mobile apps allow users to instant message, call, or join a Lync meeting from virtually anywhere. And the third pro refers to web app, because Microsoft also introduced a web app for Lync.

See all 3 comments
it_user776832 - PeerSpot reviewer
Unified Messaging Consultant at a engineering company with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
The public telephony feature reduces hard phone costs

What is most valuable?

  • IM
  • Audio/video
  • Federation
  • Public telephony
  • RGS 

The public telephony feature reduces hard phone costs and RGS is like a call centre feature.

How has it helped my organization?

Reduced the capital cost on the hard phone.

What needs improvement?

End user enhancement: There are few codes in the back-end from the vendor which need to improve, be enhanced, like application sharing for remote party to access the machine, and can be easily accessed by tools, such as CAD design. This is one of the examples.

For how long have I used the solution?

Nine years starting from its 2005 version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been a few issues working with vendor.

How are customer service and technical support?

An eight out of 10.

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

No.

How was the initial setup?

It will depend on the B2B setup.

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

It is okay for a large environment.

What other advice do I have?

Think about other parameters, such as monitoring, if you invest in a Microsoft-based monitoring solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user1020 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Data Center at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Question regarding Microsoft's Lync server

Hi,

I have been tasked to prepare a plan to upgrade our analogue telephone system into a full-IP unified communications system. Since we have a subscription-based licensing deal with Microsoft, Microsoft's Lync server offers a compelling product for this purpose.

For those of you who have experience using this as your IP communications system, I would like to know your experiences with using this product. Any comment or suggestion would be highly appreciated.

Francis

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user3483 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user3483Senior Consultant at Unify Square
Real User

Hi Francis.
It is a really good product (I am sort of Lync fanboy :-D ) and Lync gives a lot of features that other product do not have.
Also, it gives an extremely powerful and easy to use client interface (voice operatons like call parking and call forward, for a example, are really simple to make).

The administrative part is not too difficult and the high integration with Active Directory, Exchange and SharePoint is something you will love if you have the aforementioned products in your company.

The costs, however, are not so low.
a) You have to pay client licenses and they are more costly for enterprise voice
b) You have to pay for every single frontend server and if you use Lync voice you need more than one f.e. for high availability (we want our telephones alway up and running, don't we ? :-P )