Verge1’s Dave Michels offers as good a description of Skype Connect as anyone is likely to find. He is a consultant, so he goes into pretty good detail about the service. Anything having to do with Skype is enigmatic, since it “falls into a strange space between application, service provider, and carrier,” as Michels puts it.
Skype Connect is no different. The service offers free inbound calls from Skype users and low cost PSTN services, Michels writes. It is a peer-to-peer Internet-based service, so the mechanics of how things work – and what is offered and what isn’t – are quite different than more traditional corporate VoIP services.
The bottom line, to Michels, is that Skype Connect is something that shouldn’t automatically be discounted:
Many business professionals discount Skype as a not-for-serious-business Internet fringe thing. But Skype’s grown up and deserves a new look. Skype offers numerous case studies on businesses that utilize Skype for all (or at least a majority) of their communications. Combined with Skype Manager means accounts, dollars, and features can be centrally managed. Skype does not offer emergency services or analog support (alarms, modems, fax) – but does offer a tremendous amount of capability. In fact, many of the UC enterprise vendors are still working to match the functionality Skype users take for granted.
system allows: outbound calls at standard Skype rates, inbound calls via “Click & Call” website buttons, inbound calls from landline and mobile phones using Skype numbers and continued access to existing corporate PBX or UC call features. At the time of the release, Skype Connect had over 2,400 global customers, the release says.
