Skype Pro Launched
By Alex Bellinger, 21st February 2007 at 12:19 pm
Let me say from the outset, that I’m a big fan of Skype - and they don’t pay me to say that! I use it for all outgoing and many incoming business calls and it plays an invaluable part in recording my podcast.
So, with that little disclaimer out of the way, I thought you might be interested in the launch of Skype Pro. 
The benefits of the Pro service which costs 2 Euros a month after the initial discounted offer include: free domestic land line calls, free Skype voicemail, 5 euros of Skype credit and discounts on SkypeIn numbers and VoIP phones and equipment.
Definitely worth checking this out if you are a homeworker, solopreneur or run a virtual office.
However, I simply don’t know how robust Skype is in a multi-person small business office environment. Other VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) providers like Swyx it seems to me have focused much more on the business end of the market thus far.
If anyone out there has experience of installing a VoIP system in a small office, let me know how it went and what system you used.
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You might also like to check out the stuff I’ve written about Lewis and Hickey Architects (or just watch their video on YouTube) - they’ve got plans to migrate to Skype completely over the next couple of years, and are already saving plenty of cash.
There’s also a Skype for Business blog, which is worth reading to keep up to date with what’s new for small businesses and Skype.
Of course, if you have any specific questions about integrating Skype into your business, just give me a phone.
Comment by Peter Parkes (Skype UK) — 22 February 2007 #
Thanks Peter. The video’s interesting and Lewis & Hickey are clearly at the cutting edge.
In much the same way as my comments on Google Apps this morning, I think the slight fly in the ointment remains bandwidth and ISPs. Until bandwidth and network issues cease to pose any concerns, businesses will continue to need traditional telephone back-up at the very least.
Comment by alex — 22 February 2007 #
We have been a long time user of swyx since version 4. Being a software product it does have its bugs, as does any software product. However the pro’s far outway the cons and it has the advantage of being managed by any competent in house IT guy/gal.
Swyx is a full blown bussiness level SoftPPX
that works over ISDN (and sip/adsl) so its not really the same kind of product as SKYPE.
I believe you can check out your local dealer via the dealer lookup on http://www.iptelecoms.com
Iptelecoms seem to be the UK distribution partner for Swyx.
Comment by Dave — 1 March 2007 #
Hi Dave, thanks for the info on Swyx, although the site you point to for a dealer is broken on my browser at least. Does Datamex supply as well as use Swyx?
Comment by Alex Bellinger — 1 March 2007 #