Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Microsoft Lync’ Category

Feb 12

Microsoft Lync 2013
2 Comments

For Users of Lync and Microsoft Dynamics Online, a Click to Dial Feature

Lync has a new feature when used with Office 365 Plan E4 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Jahjah Voice plan for Lync which could prove extremely useful to businesses. The fact is, it takes time to go look up a CRM record, pick up a phone, and then type in the numbers to dial. If you think that this takes you a long time, imagine how long it takes bored employees. Employees like things to be simple and direct. Simple and direct processes also speed up pace of work getting done. Speeding up the completion of work means more profits, less staffing costs, and greater efficiency.

With the advent of Skype joining Office 365 as well, this will work with Skype too. Please note that Lync will have to be configured to make and receive calls for your company. We have professionals who can help you do this.

The important part of preparing your telephone numbers for click to dial is that they are in the right format. If they are not in the right format and you do not wish to manually update all of them, there are tools available from Broadlook that we sell at the Web and I which help clean and  normalize your data, and these tools can automatically format your telephone numbers correctly.

The proper format is + then country code (1 for United States) then the rest of the telephone number. For instance, the formatting of the number to reach us at the Web and I is +16468530573 .

When you then save the contact form and click on it, the following message opens up the first time:

Do you want to open this link with Lync?

Do you want to open this link with Lync?

Once this dialog box opens up, un-check the check box next to the message “Always ask before opening this type of address”.

The great thing about this is that for call centers, law offices, medical offices, and financial services, wasted time spent dialing as well as miss-dials will become a thing of the past. If you are a company dealing with sensitive information and do not want your staff to actually see the numbers that they are calling this is a great solution as well, because we at the Web and I have a way to make the telephone numbers appear as all stars to users of a clerical security level.

These are powerful but complex solutions, useful for the company that does not want to pay a lot for staffing, but wants to keep their telephone operators in the United States. In order to get these features, contact a competent certified Microsoft Partner like the Web and I to help you. Please call us for a casual discussion of your needs or any technology problem at 646-853-0573. You’ll be glad you did!

 

Jan 19

New Office 365
1 Comment

Office 365′s New Edition with Microsoft Office 2013 Available January 29, 2013

REDMOND, WA

According to news sources including Neowin.net, Microsoft Office 365′s new edition will be released on January 29.

In previous articles, we have covered what new features are going to be available in the new edition in-depth from a technical standpoint, including the ability to program custom SharePoint applications using a number of common languages very familiar to developers. However these technical aspects are beyond the scope of this article, because the interests of our readers are the actual business uses for the new technologies including new functionality and its business impact.

Rumors have abounded for weeks, including speculation by highly respected Microsoft Reporter Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet and bloggers from Brazil. Originally, speculation was that the planned Microsoft launch on January 29 would be about the release of Windows 8 Phone operating system and equipment in countries like Brazil where they were not yet available. However, when speaking to our contacts in Brazil we were told that Microsoft was not in the habit of launching their new phone technologies directly in Brazil and other countries directly, but rather left these launches to their individual distributors in these countries. There was also the possibility of a launch of Surface Pro, so that was another reason to wait with the announcement of what the launch was about. We saw no benefit to announcing a launch without being certain of the content and impact for the end users. This author has been eagerly awaiting announcing this because of the new capabilities of Microsoft Office 2013 as well as new functionality in Microsoft Lync and SharePoint. However we have waited until we had more confirmation, and this came some ten hours ago.

We at the Web and I have been assured by Microsoft that all of the technologies and techniques available in the previous version of Office 365 would remain intact. Existing business processes will not be interrupted or affected. As a further safeguard for the proper and effective management of change in client organizations, the upgrade will not become mandatory until November. After the upgrade, new technologies and techniques will be available, but the Web and I can help with any re-training for changes and ensuring the continuity of existing business processes and workflows.

New technologies in SharePoint include the ability to create programs within SharePoint include both features for internal SharePoint intranet and extranet sites as well as the ability to create much more sophisticated public facing sites. That is just the tip of the iceberg, however, with Java and CSS becoming available, both branding and functional capabilities will increase. The Web and I will be helping many of our clients transition to sites that can help them create effective client portals, easing the workflow and communications between businesses and their clients. Minimal development costs will deliver tremendous ROI on this front. New business connectivity service capabilities in SharePoint will allow interfaces both inbound and outbound with SharePoint, making SharePoint the glue that binds newer and more streamlined business processes, saving a great deal of time and money on the way. Search improvements, improved Identity Management functionality, and granular security for content management will round out the most exciting new aspects of SharePoint 2013. Social computing for the workplace has also improved, but the utilization in the workplace is more applicable to larger enterprise users than to small and medium businesses. Our larger government clients such as Hunter College may be good candidates for increased use of social computing through SharePoint, but discussions on this matter have not yet commenced.

Lync has some exciting new developments which will greatly increase the functionality both for secure enterprise IM and for meetings with multiple users. A “Brady Bunch” style meeting will be possible, where all members of a meeting will be able to see all other members of a meeting tiled on their screens much as they did on the television show from the 1970′s. Unlike the show, however, they will be able to simultaneously edit the same document using Office Web Apps. Sporting a cleaner and more efficient interface with less “Chrome”, Lync will become easier to see and control as well as gaining these new functionalities. Persistent chat rooms and topics can be created, which can help smaller teams collaborate more effectively, even in disparate locations with disparate working hours. Asynchronous communication has become increasingly important in the global workforce, and Microsoft has given businesses greater potential for effective global expansion with these tools. Tabbed conversations will enable users to communicate more effectively with multiple users by allowing them to do so in one window with tabs instead of the usual many windows of the current edition of Lync. New video features including one-click start will be available, which is an excellent tool for managers to maintain a presence with their direct reports in disparate locations. Lync layouts will have many more options than they do now, and we will report on these once we get to test them. Lync mobile users will have added functionality including the possibility of video chat. No longer will employees be inaccessible anywhere, as long as they are provided with a Windows phone.

Exchange Server 2013 also holds great new possibilities for making the use of E-Mail more efficient. New built-in social features will allow users to have better control over conversations and related E-Mails, which will save users a great deal of time by not forcing them to continually search E-Mail for related items and persons. Users will be able to merge contacts from different E-Mail addresses so that they can be consolidated into a single contact, saving a great deal of time and confusion in the process. The great new streamlined look of Outlook will also save users time, so employers will benefit from less time being wasted on employee navigation of E-Mail, which is currently a serious cause of wasted time and money. Seamless integration with Lync will bring E-Mail, meetings, and Enterprise IM together in one place, saving even more employee time and effort. In addition to these time savings, we anticipate there will be a great savings in worker frustration. Often worker frustration with technology both new and existing leads to poor performance, and having a more seamless and well-designed interface and functional approach will lead to happier and more productive workers.

We at the Web and I are ready to help make this change happen for you starting in as little as ten days. Being the first Microsoft Partner in the United States to announce this detailed news helps set us ahead of the crowd. We want to help all of our clients make the best decisions, and we will discover with you on your own time what works and does not work for you. To find out more just call us today at 646-853-0573.

Sep 15

Lync
2 Comments

Setting up Lync for the Windows 7 Phone

Lync on a Windows 7 Phone gives organizations the ability to have continued employee presence including secure instant messaging. Eventually Lync for Windows 7 Mobile will have video messaging available. Still, the ability to send official and secure messages on your own network to contact staff from different locations who are supposed to be on-call is a reassuring ability. Eventually, the full Web Meeting technology will be available on the Windows 7 Mobile Platform, but until that time there is still a technological advantage. Note that the forward facing video cameras may be usable with Skype, and we will see if there is a Skype application for the Windows 7 Phone, test it, and write back on this site.  It is important to mention at this point that support for Lync is not limited to Windows 7 phone, but is also available on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Symbian, and the Web and  I is ready to support your Office 365 needs as well.

Lync Mobile Applications

The first time I tried to set up the Windows 7 Phone with Lync was a little confusing, because the seemingly simple login procedure was not sufficient to successfully login. Lync sometimes has difficulty signing in. Entering the Microsoft Office 365 E-Mail and Password resulted in an error. The error is caused by the Lync servers being hard to find for the phone. If they were not hard to find, the phone would be able to automatically discover the servers. Fortunately, the solution is easy. I have included the steps below so that you can easily walk through them to set up your mobile phone for Lync below:

  1. After entering the E-Mail and Password, tap the screen at “Sign in as”, and select the status you should see when you log in.
  2. Tap “User name” and enter in your Office 365 E-Mail address again.
  3. Tap the indicator to the right of “Auto-detect server”, and slide the switch to off.
  4. Tap “Internal discovery address” and enter https://webdir.online.lync.com/autodiscover/autodiscoverservice.svc/root .
  5. Tap “External discovery address and enter https://webdir.online.lync.com/autodiscover/autodiscoverservice.svc/root .
  6. Tap the check mark at the bottom. As long as your Office 365 E-mail and Password are correct, the login should work.

These instructions might be too complicated for some to have the time or the inclination to follow, and if that is the case, we at the Web and I would be very happy to help. Simply call us today to discuss your issues at (646) -853-0573.

Jun 4

Microsoft Lync

Microsoft Lync on Office 365: Instant Messenging, Enterprise Collaboration, and More

Microsoft Lync is a new product, but it is not Microsoft’s first foray into the world of Instant Messaging. But Lync is more than instant messaging. It has a variety of amazing features that make it indispensable for today’s enterprise:

  • Audio Teleconferencing.
  • Video Teleconferencing.
  • Unified Messaging.
  • Simultaneous Microsoft Office document editing.
  • Employee Presence Verification.
  • Windows 7 Mango Phone.

Between all of these features and the integration of these services to Microsoft Enterprise PBX services and Unified Messaging, we can tender to you a simple and secure solution to give you the new industry standard in services, reliability, and sophistication.

This solution is great whether you have two employees or two thousand.

An Overview of the Capabilities of Microsoft Lync

An Overview of the Capabilities of Microsoft Lync

To find out more about Microsoft Office 365 and how it can help your business, click here or call 646-853-0573.

Here is a more comprehensive view of Lync and the capabilities from an engineering perspective:

Microsoft Lync on Office 365

Microsoft Lync on Office 365 Full Capabilities. Click twice to view full-sized poster.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 904 other followers