Skype Means Business - Saving Money is Just the Start.

Skype Expands its Skype for Business Features

LONDON -- Skype today announced it has taken Skype for Business one step further in response to continuous demand by businesses all over the world to use Skype[TM] to communicate with customers and colleagues. Skype for Business has proven to be incredibly popular because firms save both money and time as Skype is so easy to use and a convenient way of keeping in touch.

Business users have always been part of the Skype family and make up over 30% of Skype's global community, now numbering at 171 million.

In a recent survey of 250 businesses using Skype, 95% claimed to have saved money and 80% claimed that using Skype increased employee productivity.

One particular firm, Lewis & Hickey, a group of leading international architects that has recently installed Skype across its offices in the UK and Prague, claims that since making its first Skype call, it has saved up to 7.6 % on its standard call charges and wants to reach a cost reduction of 50% of its total telephony expenditure in the near future.

Benoit Mareschal, Director, Business Development at Lewis & Hickey, comments: "We have clients and teams across the UK and abroad and like many creative businesses we need to share ideas and keep in touch with one another. This can come at a high cost. We wanted to find a way to communicate but pay less for the privilege. Since we started using Skype, the amount we're spending on international mobile and landline phone calls has dropped significantly. Skype creates a human bridge between technology and personable communication."

The survey also revealed that 62% of the businesses communicate better with customers on Skype and 76% said they work more closely with colleagues because Skype is so easy to use.

Benoit Mareschal agrees, "Now we have Skype, the ability to talk with one another has increased enormously. People used to rely on email but with Skype you can get an immediate response to a query without disturbing the whole office - especially if you are using the instant chat feature. You can see when people are online, ask your question and carry on with what you were doing."

With additional new features unveiled today, Skype has also made it easier for businesses to install and manage Skype. Skype can be easily installed on multiple computers using the Windows Installer package (commonly known as MSI), giving IT Administrators greater control over how Skype communications traffic runs across their corporate networks.

An online control panel enables companies to allocate individual users with Skype credits that can be used to make cheap SkypeOut[TM] calls to traditional landline phones or mobiles and provides a consolidated view of what is being spent.

Meanwhile, Skype is working collaboratively too. Together with its partners it has been working on a range of new business productivity tools, called Extras: these include the Convenos web conference and collaboration service, a package called Unyte which enables users to share the view off their PC desktop and a Skype-enabled call-centre offering from ACD.

To learn more about Skype for Business visit www.skype.biz.

About Skype

Skype is the world's fastest-growing Internet communication offering, allowing unlimited free voice, video and instant messaging communication between users of Skype Software. With over 171 million registered users, Skype is available in over 28 languages and is used in almost every country around the world. Skype generates revenue through its premium offerings such as making and receiving calls to and from landline and mobile phones, voicemail, call forwarding and personalization including ringtones and avatars. Skype also has relationships with a growing network of hardware and software providers.

Skype is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). To learn more visit skype.com.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required for Skype and all Skype Certified devices and accessories. Skype is not a replacement for your traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

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