Lync Tool Belt #5: A little Tit-Bit about Presence

Presence is a function of Lync that has proven to be extremely useful.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with what presence is, here is a little Lync Presence 101.  Presence is the red, yellow and green bars next to contacts on your Lync interface.  These colors can be changed manually or automatically in some cases.

Manually changing presence:  I can click the pull down menu next to my name in the “me” section on the top of my Lync interface.  I can change my presence to Available, Busy, Do not Disturb, Be Right Back, Off Work or Appear Away.  These options are shown below.

Automatically changing presence:  If I have an Outlook meeting scheduled on my calendar my presence will automatically change to, “In a Meeting.”  Within Outlook, if I am scheduled on an Online Meeting, my presence will show me as “On a Conference Call.”  If I am on the phone my presence will show me as, “On a Call.” When I lock my computer or walk away from my computer my presence will change to “Away.”  By having my presence change it allows my co-workers to quickly identify whether or not I am sitting at my desk and available to collaborate.

You can see in the above picture the statuses of all my co-workers.  From this screen I can see that Adam is away from his computer, Dan is available to chat and Emilio is in a meeting.

Just another tool that Lync encompasses, making collaboration and communication that much easier!  To learn more about Lync please visit www.pei.com or give us a call at 303-786-7474

-Andrea Leonhardt, PEI

“From the Trenches: An End-User Look at Lync”

With so much information currently about Lync out on the market, sometimes we get caught up in the technical specs and forget about the end user.  This article is going to be about how a typical end user, yours truly, uses Lync on a day to day basis.

The first thing that I noticed about Lync, once my IT team installed it on my machine, was the ease of adoption and use.  Similar to everything Microsoft, Lync lays out the user interface that’s in line with all of their other products.  Being in my mid 20s, I’ve grown up using the Microsoft tool set (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, etc…) and figuring out where and how everything works within Lync, took all of 15 minutes.  With only a couple of clicks within the same interface, I could see whether or not my clients and coworkers were online, start IM conversations and even make a quick phone call.

Given the nature of my work as an outside sales manager, I sometimes need to do the “face to face” with a client.  Previously, scheduling a video call required that I be in our conference room with dial in numbers, web logins, etc… to be set up in advance.  Now, I can be on the road, plug in my $30 webcam into my laptop, and have a video conference going with multiple people in under a minute.  I can’t overstate how much this has helped drive business and customer relations for me.  Having that face time with long distance clients really does make a big difference.

Finally, I believe the greatest aspect of Lync, is the fact that all of the above features are accessible outside of my corporate network.  All I need is an internet connection and off I go.  It’s made working from home a great experience as I don’t fall behind on work given my remote distance.  On sick days, I can still accept calls and IM clients without getting my coworkers infected.  During the snowy days of Colorado, business still moves forward through conferencing, even if the local grocery store is shut down due to weather conditions.

All I can really say to summarize Lync is that this tool has changed the way I do business, for the better, and moving forward there is no way to work without it.  If you want to help your business by enabling your end users to be the most productive, Lync is the way to go.
-Arash Zadeh, PEI

Unified Communications – a typical day

If the deluge of information on unified Communications over the past few years has created an ‘immunity’ to actually hearing what the concept may offer you and your organization I don’t blame you.  The marketing surrounding UC the past few years has moved in to super warp overdrive forcing us to edit out some things that do not seem pertinent …but let me tell you this is pertinent.  Let’s take a typical day for a worker and highlight some of the features of Unified Communications and how it might transform the way you move through your day.  

First thing on Monday morning you arrive at the office to open email and being your tasks but notice the red light of your voicemail.  Checking it you find a client needs a ‘quick change’ to that project plan before lunch (of course) because they have an approval meeting with the CFO.  You realize it takes much longer than 4 hours typically to get all the team members you need to assist, review and approve that kind of change.  Phone calls, voice mails, returned calls, printing copies, marking up, changes, reviews, more voicemail’s.  If you can actually find them.  Or does it?  

Opening your online tools for UC a list of those important colleagues appears with their ‘status’.  You see Jane your lead engineer is online and ‘available’.  You click on her name and being your Instant Messaging session.  Asking if she can help with the customer requested changes she states she’s got an hour this morning to help…but what file, what client?  You proceed to your file sharing platform where you locate the documents you need and immediately drag and drop the info into the IM window.  She has immediate access and opens it into a online meeting where you both check the document together.  Jane has a question and clicks inside the very same window to start a voice call.  Connected you begin working on things and she realizes a part number does not seem correct.  You need your product specialist to help ensure you’ve got the right part.  Inside the same window you check his status …available!  Dragging and dropping his name to the voice call box he is added immediately and the three of you begin working.  The updates are completed and shared back to your file storage platform while your product specialist disconnects.  Now on to purchasing to ensure you’ve got the right pricing.  You check and his status says he’s ‘mobile’ so you click on his name and start a voice call.  Turns out the purchasing lead is is on the road and can’t get to his laptop but he does have email and can review a document if necessary.  You drag and drop the file to share feature and it appears on his smartphone where he confirms the pricing looks good and approves the revised proposal.  The last stretch, management approval.  You notice the director of engineering’s status says ‘in a call’ so you email the file link to her and ask for approval.  She begins an IM session with you and states she is on a training class but she can review the document while she listens.  With a few questions to you about the formatting and quantities she approves the proposal and you are free to send to the client.  YES, success and all before 10am.  

Imagine attempting to do the same amount of work without Unified Communications?  You did that this morning?  How’s that going for you?  If you find yourself wondering ‘what could UC do for me’ then you need to visit with PEI team and we can show you live, in person how to transform your work into a highly effective business transaction.  

-Jennifer Smith, PEI

End-User Perspective on Microsoft Lync 

I am sure many of you are familiar with the end-user adoption process when implementing new technologies in your organization.  Some additions and upgrades are welcomed with open arms while others seem to get ignored and shunned.  Surprisingly we have found a great adoption rate by our end-users after implementing Microsoft Lync internally at PEI.

We had a one hour training session and sent everyone off and running.  Within only a few minutes’ people had already figured out how to set their company photos as their defaults on Lync and started exploring the new features and perks.

Lync is one of those technologies that when your end-users start to play with it they will see the changes and benefits it has to offer.  Just yesterday end-users noticed that Lync puts a little phone icon next to any numbers on websites, allowing you to click right there to place a phone call.

The second feature that our end-users have found of interest is the sharing of the whiteboard.  Mind you these are all features that were not covered in our overview training session.  We had users placing files and pictures on whiteboards collaborating and sharing information within a couple hours of releasing Lync internally.

So for those of you shying away from implementing Lync because of end-user concerns, implement away because we are sure they will see the value in it right away, speeding up collaboration and communication within your organization. 

-Andrea Leonhardt, PEI

What is Lync 2010?

Lync 2010 is the next version of the Office Communications Server product.  Lync (a combination of “link” and “sync”) 2010, introduces new features and improvements from Office Communications Server 2007 R2.  Lync 2010 enables business to collaborate and communicate more efficiently via  Enterprise Voice, Instant Messaging, Presence and Conferencing.

A few items that have been improved in Lync 2010:

• All roles can be virtualized.  This has been a struggle for many of our Enterprise Voice customers as providing 3 physical boxes has been costly with OCS 2007 R2.  The ability to virtualize all of the Lync 2010 servers provides a way to move towards a Unified Communications system easily and in a cost effective manner.
• Site Survivability.  This gives companies the ability to put Lync 2010 at their Branch Offices without the fear of isolation if the WAN link goes down. 
• Support for Analog devices.  While we are quickly moving forward in the Digital Age, many of us still have Analog devices that have lingered such as fax machines and standalone conference phones.

Lync 2010 has the ability to deliver advanced communication features at a reasonable cost with proven administration.  With all of the new features and enhancements, Lync 2010 promises to be a hit with businesses. 

-Adam Ball, PEI

Life with Microsoft’s OCS

Being an Account Manager here at PEI allows me to try several different technologies and use them from an end user perspective.  I think one of the best tools I’ve gotten to play with is Microsoft’s Office Communications Server (OCS).  I jokingly split my life into two pieces, Pre-OCS and Post-OCS.  My Pre-OCS life was hectic.  It was always a pain to try and find my coworkers when I needed something.  My email box was insanely full with quick back and forth discussions and I was tied to my desk for all phone calls. 

My Post-OCS life, much better. Being able to have a list of my coworkers and clients and their availabilities built into my Outlook is awesome.  If I have a quick question, I no longer have to send an email and wait for an answer hours later.  I can just shoot over a quick Instant Message and generally get a response within the same minute.  Also having my office line call my computer is a wonderful benefit.  I have a long commute into work and on snowy days, I can now stay at home and be just as productive, if not more, then trying to get into the office to answer calls.  Everyone I’ve show OCS too loves it and I cannot imagine working anywhere that doesn’t have it.  I believe in a matter of a couple years, organizations will not be able to operate at optimum efficiency levels without it.

 -Arash Zadeh, PEI