Skype, the pioneering Global Internet Communications Company recently announced
Skype Groups, enabling one person to buy and distribute Skype’s premium
services to multiple Skype accounts.
Skype gives small businesses the market advantage against larger competitors
by lowering operating costs and increasing productivity with voice calls, group
chat, instant conference calling, file-transfer, free toll-free calling and
Skype Toolbars, which lets callers make one-click calls to phone numbers
directly from Outlook and Internet Explorer.
“From our research, we know that approximately 30% of our 61 million
registered users rely on Skype for business purposes. We responded to their
needs with Skype Groups, which will increase customer satisfaction by making it
even simpler to purchase premium services,” said Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO
and co-founder. “In particular, businesses that outsource or have distributed
teams will find Skype's services incredibly valuable. No longer do managers have
to juggle multiple communications plans among multiple providers; with Skype
Groups, all employees are on one global platform at a fraction of the cost.”
First available in beta in September, Skype Groups centralises the management
of pre-paid services. Group administrators can now make large credit purchases
to one account, from which they can distribute credits to an unlimited number of
Skype callers, as well as purchase SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail premium services
for group members. All administrators can register a group for free and can
purchase Skype credit through Moneybookers and bank transfers; select
administrators can also use PayPal and credit cards.
"Skype has fundamentally changed the modern communication landscape by
bringing high- quality free Internet voice communications to the masses.
Plantronics firmly supports the use of Skype for business communication and the
launch of Skype Groups will enable us to centralise the cost and streamline the
overall management,” said Philip Vanhoutte, MD, Plantronics EMEA. “Plantronics
is Skype's preferred headset partner and we are well positioned to offer a wide
range of wireless and wired headset solutions to the SME market, making the use
of Skype Groups even more compelling."
From a recent survey of beta users, Skype found that small businesses in a
variety of industries are using Skype Groups to lower operating costs. 25
percent of respondents are in the software and services sector, 11 percent are
in business services and eight percent are involved in technology hardware and
equipment.
This research found that 63 percent of users surveyed are using Skype to
conduct business abroad, while 52 percent are also using Skype across regional
offices and 46 percent are using Skype to conduct conference calls. This survey
also discovered that 40 percent of respondents don’t have a standard PBX phone
system.
"We are excited about the benefits that Skype Groups offers to small
business collaboration", said Sunil Bhalla, senior vice president and
general manager of voice communications at Polycom. "The Polycom
SoundStation2 and SoundStation2W conference phones extend the Skype experience
using Polycom's Computer Calling Kit. Combining Skype's high-quality Internet
calling with Polycom's industry-leading voice conferencing technologies provides
a compelling conferencing experience to small businesses."
Small and medium-sized businesses are rapidly adopting VoIP technologies,
indicated by the fact that long-distance call volume for SMBs is on the rise,
and total telecom spending is expected to continually decrease. For the
increasing number of mobile employees, VoIP applications offer the ability to
collaborate with team members, stay connected with customers, vendors and
coworkers in real time - regardless of geographical location. SMBs in the
emerging markets of India, China and Russia spent $19.4 million on VoIP in 2003,
and are expected to spend over $200 million in 2008 (Source: AMI Partners)
About Skype Technologies SA
Skype, the Global Internet Communications Company™, allows people everywhere
to make free, unlimited, superior quality voice calls. Skype is available in
several languages worldwide. Since August 2003, Skype has been downloaded more
than 186 million times in 225 countries and territories. 61 million people are
registered to use Skype's free services, with more than 3 million people using
Skype simultaneously at any one time. Skype earns revenue through its premium
service offerings, and has a growing network of global affiliates, and a
community of developers working with the Skype APIs. Skype Technologies SA is
headquartered in Luxembourg and has offices in London and Estonia. www.Skype-Technologies-S-A.html" title="go to Skype.com profile page">skype.com
