While there are plenty of articles covering enterprise communications technology, it’s perfectly possible to use co-browsing solutions aimed at consumers to get work done. The tech blog Zagasi has highlighted Skype’s (News - Alert) screen sharing feature as one such useful tool.
Skype’s main advantage is that it’s free for ordinary use. Sure, it’s possible to buy minutes to call mobile and landline phones, but the service is ubiquitous enough that anyone the user wishes to talk to probably has it installed anyway.
Users can share their screens during voice and video calls just by pressing a button.
This transforms the Microsoft (News - Alert)-owned videoconferencing system into an impromptu presentation system. Users can show off websites or software instantly to each other. It would be ideal as a tutorial system by showing an actual software product instead of having the user watch slides or a video.
While there are advantages to using this system, there is also the potential for privacy problems.
“Your computer is your own personal space so if you don’t want anyone peeking at things you do not want them to see, you must be careful on what you’re showing them on your screen,” the Zagasi post said.
Fortunately, Skype offers the ability to preview the screen before sharing it. Since Skype is more often used on home computers where people might be more lax about the sites they visit than they would be in an office.
While Microsoft would probably prefer that business users sign up for Office 365 and use Lync, there are obvious business uses for Skype. Skype is better suited for small businesses and people who are self-employed rather than enterprise, but Microsoft is promising integration with Lync, which would probably appeal to people who work for an enterprise at home, either full or part-time.
Microsoft also offers Skype Manager for businesses that allows them to manage employee accounts and allocate minutes.
Edited by Alisen Downey