Consider how much time you waste walking over to people’s desks only to find them vacant, mulling over emails and travelling to meet with prospective clients and vendors.
Enter Microsoft Lync. It’s an office productivity tool, which increases the speed of communications in your office and remote offices, unifies communication channels and reduces expenditure.
“Lync is a unified communication solution, specifically designed for a corporate environment. It’s like an internal MSN, which allows you to video conference, see ‘presence’ and communicate very quickly” - Director of R&G Technologies, Gordon Tan.
On face value Lync may just seem like a "fad" - but there are real benefits for organisations of all sizes. Read on to learn more:
1. Saves Time
There’s a common misconception out there that Lync is nothing but a black hole for productivity. Quite the contrary, Lync saves time and allows staff to operate more efficiently because it increases the speed of communication across your organisation.
“It gives you the ability to see what's known as "presence". Since it syncs with Outlook, you’re able to see whether a person is at their desk, if they're away, or if they're in a meeting. It's a very useful productivity tool because it means your staff don’t waste unnecessary time going to see people when they aren't there” - Tan.
Not only this, you reduce the amount of time wasted preparing, writing and waiting for responses from emails regarding minor tasks or queries. This is especially significant because emails regarding secondary tasks are often left on the backburner, with consequences of a missed or forgotten email only resurfacing weeks later.
Also, unlike formal channels of communication like email, phone calls and face-to-face interaction, social norms surrounding instant messaging tools make it socially appropriate to contact each other in real-time. Meaning you can address issues as soon as they flare up, and touch base regularly without worrying you’re interfering with another employee’s workload.
2. Brings your Organisation Closer Together
If you’ve ever been in a long-distance relationship, you know how challenging it can be to stay connected, let alone work collaboratively. Microsoft Lync gives your staff the power to join forces and pool resources to elevate productivity beyond what a normal, lone team could provide.
“When offices are geographically separated, a lot of the time you won't have much communication between offices. Whereas, if you have staff on the equivalent of an internal MSN, they’re just a quick message or video call away” - Tan.
Lync facilitates team members in a multi-site business working collaboratively, enabling brainstorming, conversation and innovation through chat, virtual meetings and whiteboarding. It allows the specialist skills of staff members to be used at a higher capacity within your organisation, giving you the ability to maximise the unique experience and expertise they bring to the table.
Related: 3 collaboration tools to help you improve productivity
3. Unifies Communication Channels
Microsoft Lync gives you central management of your communications.
“Particular versions of Lync let you build your phone system into the software. You can have phone calls routed through Lync and operate without a physical phone system.”
While you remove the inconveniences associated with telephony, bear in mind your Internet must be up to scratch. Use a local Australian IT partner to route your phone system and give you a complete solution to communication challenges.
4. Reduce Costs
If you’re business savvy, you only invest in new technologies when the return will be greater than the investment. Streamlining your communications with Microsoft Lync reduces operational IT costs, increases productivity and reduces your carbon footprint.
Here’s where you save:
- Lync’s video conferencing capabilities mean less travelling for meetings with staff, clients and vendors. Not only do you avoid the loss of productivity due to jetlag, fatigue and sickness, you reduce financial expenditure relating to transport, travel allowance and hotel stays.
- Routing calls through Lync equates to less hardware, support, maintenance and admin costs for legacy equipment.
- Rather than paying reoccurring fees with a third party conferencing vendor, you only pay for an initial license.
- Lync decreases your organisation’s impact on the environment. It’s the greener option because there’s less equipment wastage due to upgrades and significantly less travel.
Couple these savings with an increase in productivity and you can see how Microsoft Lync is a positive investment in your organisation’s future.
Related: 3 ways SaaS products can save your organisation money
If you’re looking at ways to increase productivity without incurring additional cost, consider adopting Microsoft Lync. Some people fear the software will corrupt their staff and turn them into bludgers, but streamlining your communications infrastructure will only increase productivity and keep your budget down.