Skype plays up business angle

Skype is pushing harder to sell its services to business customers, announcing new functionality, including ease of installation software for multiple computers and new tools for IT managers who want to use Skype as a business VoIP service.

The company is also trumpeting its success as a business play, saying 30% of its customers are business users.

Among that group is Monoflo International, a Virginia-based manufacturer of reusable and returnable plastic containers, which was first lured onto Skype by free calling within the U.S. and Canada, a promotion offered last year.

“We were always trying to get into VoIP, but wondering about quality,” said Monoflo IS Manager Juan Hernadez. “We had an old-style analog PBX.

When they said they were offering free calls to US and Canada--well, I could sell that to my management. So we bought headsets and handsets for everyone, or about $1200 worth of equipment. We gave it to the outside sales guys, and we’ve been using it for about a year, although we upgraded to Version 2.0.”

Monoflo has seen both cost savings and employee productivity benefits of using Skype, and has not had quality issues, Hernandez said. The company saved about $6000 in long-distance charges, in addition to money not spent bringing sales force members into the office for regular meetings.

“The quality has been great,” Hernandez said. “In the beginning, we had some issues which we later tied down to a switch internally that was dropping packets.”

The company also upgraded from a T-1 line to a 3 Mb/s service, he said. When the free calling promotion expired, the company went back to using regular telephone service for outgoing calls to non-Skype numbers but continues to use the Skype service for internal communications and continues to save in the process, Hernandez said.

The outside sales force, which covers the U.S., Canada and Mexico, has particularly benefited from being able to use Skype for long-distance calls on the road, avoiding using hotel phones or using up cell phone minutes, and for getting immediate response to internal questions via Skype messaging.

“The biggest impact on them is being able to get responses back from customer service as opposed to having to send an e-mail or leave a message and wait for a response,” he said. “The sales guys can get them right on the spot, and get a quick status on a specific order, for instance.”

While he is now in the midst of another major IT project, Hernandez expects that once that is complete, he will explore ways to use Skype for more of what the company does. Already Monoflo is using the Skype conferencing capabilities to enable sales force members to meet monthly without having to fly everyone to Virginia.

Skype for Business launched with the typical Skype features plus SkypeIn conference calling, file transfer and options for enterprise controls and a Skype for Business destination page. The company has now added an installation package for multiple computers using Windows Installer, an enhanced online business control panel to enable central management and allocation of SkypeIn phone numbers, SkypeOut credits and company invoices. In addition, network administrators can use their existing management tools to remotely configure Skype clients, and turn features on or off , depending on company policies.