Collaboration with Microsoft Lync

This week I spent some time with Microsoft’s new Lync 2010 or should I say the big upgrade of one of their existing application Microsoft Communicator. This product is very promising to mid and large size organizations in various ways. It is a tool that is designed to facilitate communication between different users in the organization.

But what seems to get many IT directors and CIOs attention is the possibility that this product can potentially be a viable option to replace any existing phone systems. With the ability to use either a simple USB or Bluetooth headset, you can be on the phone from your desk or from home without having to use a traditional handset.

On the administration side Microsoft made it very user friendly. IT engineers have the ability to support the system in house without the need for third party vendors in most cases. While it may be required at first during the architecture and initial deploying, this platform is not out of reach for most system administrators.

Some of the features available are:

· Through the Microsoft Lync 2010 client users will have access to presence, instant messaging, voice, video, audio and web conferencing

· Integration with Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint

· Collaboration capability through application sharing, white boarding

· Schedule meetings with single click from Microsoft Outlook

· The availability of IP and USB devices for onsite or remote use

· The availability of E911 in the system

· For solution providers, the system APIs allows the developers to easily embed Communicator UI elements in your application

· The system offers mobile apps (currently only windows phone 7 is support and they are planning on releasing future mobile Apps for Android and Apple).

Microsoft Lync 2010 provides many features to facilitate and streamline communication within the organization. And with its integration capabilities with other Microsoft server and productivity tools integration it may provide to be a product worth reviewing.