Item: Skype for Business
Rating: 9.2
Author: Jonathan Kerns

Skype for Business Review 2020

With today's technology, you may have already heard of the free video calling service called Skype. With a price tag of nothing for personal use, it has taken almost every household by storm and can be considered a staple in the lives of many. Well, you may not be aware that they are offering a business version of their software. While their free version can accommodate up to 25 people, the business version can allow for so much more.

If you have tried Skype before, or if you are simply curious about this paid version of their service, then check out this review to see if it fits your video conferencing requirements.

Pricing and Features

Skype for Business offers two plans under their hood, both requiring a full year’s subscription- Plan 1 costs $2 per user per month and includes the following: presence and group instant messaging, file transfer, audio and video HD calls to fellow Skype for Business users, and Skype connectivity. Plan 2 costs $5.50 per user per month and includes all of the previously mentioned features plus group HD video calling, scheduling meetings in Outlook, joining meetings from desktop and web browsers overtly and anonymously, availability of meeting controls for presenters and a meeting lobby for attendees, remote control of another desktop, interoperability with other systems and dial-in conferencing providers, and enterprise voice functionality.

Aside from these amazing features, Skype for Business also packs other advantages like enhanced communication security including built-in encryption and authorization, scalability on demand, guarantee of a 99.9% financially-backed uptime, automatic patching and fast upgrades for new features, in-place discovery with Exchange and SharePoint via the eDiscovery Center, Office Graph and Delve integration, and unified groups.

This service is available on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and web clients, so you can just whip out your device and start planning that major event for your store next month together with your teammates who are currently scattered across the country, or reach your clients and vendors from the other side of the globe from your workstation.

Customer Support

You would be delighted to know that Skype for Business has a Help and Support page to answer most of your questions and queries. They also have a search toolbar so you can easily find the topics and discussion related to your concern. They also have a Skype community for discussions of the program. You can also send them an email or a text chat, although they do not have a hotline that you can call. Lastly, you can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube.

Free Trial for Office 365 Enterprise E5

Microsoft has recently released the latest version of their productivity tool package- Office 2019. And in doing so, they have integrated Skype for Business in every app in their plate- you can now see who are online and have a quick talk with them with just a few clicks from within the app. An even greater news- they are offering a free trial of this program, so you can see for yourself how they have perfectly mixed this video conferencing service with their Office programs without having to commit your Benjamins. Simply head on over to their sign-up page, enter some basic information together with your company’s details, create an ID, and you are ready to go!

What's the Verdict on Skype for Business?

A Must Have