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Skype in the workspace beta member shares tips on getting started
By now you may be familiar with Skype in the workspace, a new community we're building that's designed to help small businesses connect and grow. We'd like to share a post from Mark Ralphs, one of our beta users, who offers a look at his experience along with some great insights on getting started. If you'd like to join Mark as a Skype in the workspace beta user, please do sign up today. Already a member? Leave your feedback in the comments below.
You can read Mark's post on the ralphs mcintosh + partners blog.
Bring dispersed teams together with ongoing Skype chats
More and more often, small business owners tell us they're collaborating regularly with teams from all corners of the world. Agencies, employees and consultants working on the same project can be thousands of miles apart.
Sound familiar? For growing numbers of workers, a scenario like this is the norm. Employees and work colleagues once just a cubicle away now frequently reside in different cities or on other continents. Separated by distance, time zones and language, intra-team communication can become an exercise in frustration and futility.
One solution many are finding helpful: ongoing Skype Group Chats. It's easy to get started, and even easier to manage. You simply start a group chat, add the people relevant to a particular project or work unit, and participants contribute ongoing comments, whenever and wherever.
Skype business users who rely on these persistent chats point to several benefits:
- They're easier to keep organized and review than long email chains.
- They remove pressure to respond immediately.
- It's simpler to handle written text when different languages are involved.
- It's easy to move conversations into private sidebar Skype chats if they're no longer relevant to the group.
Other tips to making ongoing group chats a success:
- Give your group a descriptive, current name (eg Acme Marketing Team). Once you've set it up, and go to Conversations > Rename at the top of the conversation box to name it. You may need to change the name -- to Acme Communications Team, say -- if the topic or participants change.
- Ask your team to get out of the email habit, and instead share information and ask questions in the group.
- Ask members to save the group in their contacts by right clicking on the conversation and selecting Save Group in Your Contacts. You can find all your groups at the bottom of your contact list. If you're on a Mac, click the star next to the group name to add it to your Favorites.
- Segregate sub-conversations into their own ongoing group chats, and name appropriately. A conversation about one specific product launch, for instance, may warrant its own group with a smaller cadre of participants, eg Acme Widget Launch - 2012.
- Remove participants promptly when they leave the company or are no longer relevant to that group. Only the organizer can remove other people, by right-clicking on a participant's name and choosing Remove Person From This Group. All participants can remove themselves by right-clicking the group name and choosing Leave Conversation. If the organizer is no longer relevant, start the group fresh with a new organizer.
Meetings a mess? Try the sound of silence
We've all heard the complaints: meetings take too long, involve too many people, do not produce clear decisions, and take time away from completing "real" work.
That's why we're so excited to learn about Donnie Maclurcan and Janet Newbury's ingenious use of Skype to overcome meeting overload. They outlined the approach - dubbed "silent meetings" -- in a recent Fast Company article. They use Skype's group chat feature to host meetings consisting of typed, real-time exchanges between participants, instead of conducting "talking" meetings (either in-person or via audio or video calls).
Some of the benefits they found from silent meetings:
- Quick, efficient and thoughtful swapping of information, ideas and updates
- More democratized participation from senior, junior, introspective and extroverted team members
- More accommodation for international participants, who might prefer quiet for odd-hour meetings, and who may not have lots of Internet bandwidth available
- The transparency that comes from having a permanent, accurate meeting transcript
If you're interested in organizing silent meetings on Skype, here are a few best practices to help get you started:
- Create a group for the meeting, and give it a title that makes it easy to identify (such as "Staff Meeting"). Do this by clicking on the Create A Group link on your Skype client.
- Share the meeting agenda in advance, and ask participants to draft relevant updates prior. During the meeting, members can simply drop those updates into the chat.
- Clearly indicate decisions and to-dos by including specific phrases like 'Action Item' or 'Next Steps'
- Encourage participants to take some discussions into "sidebar" one-on-one chats during the meeting, if those items don't require full team participation
- Require that participants unable to attend the meeting alert the group in advance. Ask absent participants to provide updates to a colleague who can share them in the meeting, and have them review the transcript after the meeting.
Have you given silent meetings a try? Tell us your experiences in the comments below, or join the discussion in our Skype for Business group on LinkedIn or Facebook.
Vacation plans? Try these tips to keep your business connected
It's summer, at last. Are you wishing for white sandy beaches, cool mountain air or faraway places, but don't see how you can get away? Indeed, the reality of today's 24/7 work life is that business owners often do need to stay connected, even while enjoying some well-deserved time off.
Don't let that stop you - instead, try out our time-tested strategies for using Skype to stay in touch, whether you're visiting Disneyland, Dubai or somewhere in between.
- Skype can be used on smartphones running Windows Phone7, IOS and Android. Make sure it's installed (and practice using it!) before you depart.
- Be sure to contact your mobile provider to find out what you will be charged when you switch your phone on at your destination. Combining Skype, Skype WiFi and the best deals from your provider can help to avoid any unpleasant surprises when you get home.
- Skype subscription costs are based on the destination you call, not where you call from. Before you head out, make sure you have a subscription related to the geographic region of colleagues you call the most, to ensure maximum savings.
- Skype WiFi lets you purchase internet connectivity globally, using your Skype credit. That way, you don't have to establish a new relationship with a WiFi access provider in each new country. A good option if you're visiting multiple locales.
- If you won't have Internet connectivity where you're going, a Skype To Go number means you can still use Skype to make low-cost calls from a cell phone or landline. You simply let Skype know the number you want to call -- say for an important client -- and Skype To Go assigns a number with an area code you choose, that will automatically connect to that client's phone when you dial it.
- Remember that your list of Skype contacts travels with you. If you have a computer at your destination, log in to your Skype account when you arrive, and all your account info will be available, just as it is at home.
- Finally, your Skype status is a good way give your colleagues quick updates, including the time zone you're currently in (avoid getting those 2 a.m. work calls!) and, most importantly, how much you're enjoying your time away.
Skype Premium with group video calling and group screen sharing lets you run productive, face-to-face meetings without even leaving your backyard.
How will you be using Skype to stay connected on summer vacation? Share your story in the comments, below. Or, if you'd like to learn more, contact Skype's mobility team.
Six ways to control communications costs with Skype
As a small business owner, you've seen firsthand how communications costs can stack up quickly. Problem is, small businesses need professional communication tools, but without a hefty price tag or the burden of heavy IT involvement.
So, what should you expect as a result? We chat with businesses all day long and here's what they're telling us:
• I won't compromise on quality - good audio quality reinforces my brand. Bad calls damage my customer relationships.
• Let me decide - voice, video, chat - one person, multiple people, multiple/different platforms - I choose how I want to communicate, rather than leaving it up to the technology.
• Make easy so I can get started fast with no IT help, and minimize infrastructure costs - I need to eliminate up-front investment wherever possible and save money every step of the way.
Small businesses, Skype hears you loud and clear.
With Skype, you get a set of cost-effective communication and sharing tools that help you do business for less, all over the world, without sacrificing your professional image. Even better, Skype's products are easy to use across a number of devices, without enlisting the help of an IT professional.
Try these six tips to start saving now:
1. Use Skype to save on calls to mobiles and landlines. Connect with customers, suppliers, partners and prospects anywhere in the world, from about 2 cents per minute with Skype Credit (or even cheaper with a subscription). And of course, Skype-to-Skype calls are always free.
2. Make contacting your business easy for customers (and cheap for you) with an online number. When a customer dials your online number from their mobile or landline, you answer on Skype, wherever you are in the world - with no mobile roaming fees or sky-high long distance charges. And online numbers come with voicemail, so your contacts know you'll be able to get back to them as soon as you can. Bonus tip: Use Skype Manager to allocate online numbers to employees, so they get a direct number for customers to reach them anytime, anywhere.
3. Get additional communications features for less. It's not just about dialing: Skype offers low rates on caller ID, call forwarding, SMS and call transfer to help you stay in touch with colleagues, cu