Item: Skype
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Skype is used by my organization to communicate in real time with another department, which is based in Asia. Our marketing and promotion department set up Skype meetings with our graphics and video editing department in order to have the chance to catch up with work at the beginning of each week, or even more than only once a week, depending on the type of work.

Pros and Cons

It lets people text during the call, which is extremely useful if you have to take notes.
You can share a screen with the other person, letting him or her see what you want and making it easier to describe things.
You can send files and attachments in real time.

The quality of the call could always be improved, we are never fully satisfied, but probably this has mainly to do with our Internet connection.
Sometimes the user gets stuck on Offline mode and there is no way to turn it online.
The mobile version is very slow and heavy.

Return on Investment

It has definitely been helping our organization in terms of timing meetings in a better way with far away countries
It has made us save money on international calls
Unfortunately it doesn't always work, depending on the Internet speed

Alternatives Considered

Viber and Slack

Skype was much more intuitive than Viber or Slack under all the different aspects - it worked better, it had a faster system, the quality of the calls has always been much better overall. After a couple of trials we all decided to stick to Skype and I would recommend this software with no doubts.

Other Software Used

Hootsuite Enterprise, Zoho Social, Trello

Likelihood to Recommend

If you have to get in touch directly with people from other countries and in other time zones, Skype is a great alternative because it lets you communicate immediately with anyone, for free and gives you the chance to talk in person, see each other and share information by sending files.
I wouldn't suggest it for something that has to rely only on an internet connection and needs to be done in a perfect time because this never really works. For example, using Skype for playing music simultaneously can be risky as you would have to rely on the internet and it could crash. My organization is a music university and sometimes we encountered this problem with some students who had to audition via Skype for personal reasons.

Skype - Organizing your meetings around the world from your office

Overall Satisfaction with Skype