1. With Microsoft making its push behind its Lync/
Skype for Business transformation, and the talk return-
ing of Microsoft building castles in the telephony carrier
sandbox, telephony service providers are once again
forced to examine the question of whether Skype for
Business is a competitive threat or partnership oppor-
tunity. In the end, the answer is: both, and Microsoft is
both displacing minutes and providing a platform – with
both Skype and Office 365 – for partners and resellers
to bolt on products and services.
Nonetheless, friend, foe or frienemy, Microsoft’s
place as a business telephony company has as much to
do with consumer perception and adoption as it does
with Microsoft’s intentions and marketing. So a NoJit-
ter Research survey on Lync/Skype for Business usage
and adoption provides interesting insight into how IT
professionals view and use Microsoft’s unified commu-
nications services.
All told, slightly more than half (52 percent) of
the 540 enterprise IT professionals that responded
to the survey have adopted Lync/Skype for Business.
Among those 280 or so respondents, Lync/Skype so
far is seen primarily as a presence/instant messaging
application, with about 80 percent using the platform
for presence or instant messaging. This likely comes
as little surprise to those familiar with the platform,
say NoJitter researchers. “First and foremost, Skype
for Business enters the business as a messaging tool,
then, little by little, its use extends into other commu-
nication modes.”
The next most common communication mode is con-
ferencing, with about six in 10 Lync/Skype adopters uti-
lizing the platform for audio or Web conferencing. Desk-
top video also is fairly well represented, cited by just
less than half of Lync/Skype-adopting IT departments.
In terms of enterprises using Skype for Business to
replace a legacy phone system, including PSTN con-
nectivity as well as voicemail and call management
IP
Telephony
IP
Telephony
IP
Telephony
IP
Telephony
Lync by Any Other Name
By Rene Galan
Skype’s penetration as a PBX replacement
are Advice
Channel for Initial Contact
al Business
Source: NoJitter
For which functions do you currently use
Lync/Skype for Business?
ntage of
7%
5%
6%
3%
4%
2%
1%
0%
2019 2020
48%
28%
10%
8%
5%
1%
Phone
In-person visit
Email
Fax
Social media
Web chat
P Video Traffic Growth
ll Account for 80% of Global IP Traffic by 2019
ming (0.05%, 0.08%)
e Sharing (11.6%, 4.3%)
b/Data (21.3%, 15.5%)
VoD (23.6%, 16.0%)
ernet Video (43.4%, 64.1%)
o 2014, 2019 market shares)
4 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
23% CAGR 2014-2019
Source: LogicNow
Service management
Service Integration
Hardware integration
Trusted Advisor/Outsourced
CIO role
Product recommentations
Focus on developing
business as a whole
Vendor relationships
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Trusted Advisor/Outsourced
CIO role
Product recommendations
Focus on developing
business as a whole
Service integration
Hardware integration
Application skills
Vendor
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Presence/IM
Much Better
Better
About the Same
Worse
Much Worse
Enterprise Voice/
PBX Replacement
Audioconferencing
Web Conferencing
Desktop Video
Room Video
Source: NoJitter
How would you rate Lync Enterprise Voice as
a PBX replacement?
Source: LogicNow
How would each side like to see the
nature of the relationship change?
13%
Greater emphasis on
strategic consultancy
45%
Greater emphasis
on tactical, technical
problem resolution
12%
Greater emphasis
on tactical, technical
problem resolution
24%
No change65%
Greater
emphasis
on strategic
consultancy
43%
No change
IT Departments Service Providers
0%
0%
10% 20% 30% 40%
10% 20% 30% 40%
50%
50%
60% 70% 80% 90%100%
100%60% 70% 80% 90%
72 ChannelVision | July - August 2015

2. capabilities, only about one-quarter (27 percent) of
Lync/Skype adopters say they have deployed Micro-
soft’s Enterprise Voice as a PBX replacement. Among
those organizations, 13 percent have done a full PBX
replacement, while another 39 percent reported that
Enterprise Voice has displaced more than half but not
quite all previous PBX capacity.
But while enterprises aren’t exactly rushing to replace
their legacy voice systems in favor of voice calling via the
Skype for Business client, Enterprise Voice did receive
some “big virtual thumbs-up,” shows the NoJitter survey,
among respondents who have made the switch. Using
a 1-to-10 scale, with 1 being “much worse,” and 10 be-
ing “much better,” respondents were asked to rate how
they felt Enterprise Voice fared as a PBX replacement or
as compared to PBX systems still in use. The majority of
respondents reported Enterprise Voice as being “better”
(61 percent) or “much better” (27 percent).
Of course, it’s possible that those who would re-
spond to a survey on Skype for Business, or that could
be considered early adopters of Lync/Skype for Busi-
ness, might have high familiarity and affinity for Micro-
soft or its unified communications components, which
may explain these high marks. Or, at least competing
telephony and unified communications providers can
hope that’s the case.
y
IP
Telephony
IP
Telephony
Source: NoJitter
Much Better
Better
About the Same
Worse
Much Worse
Room Video
Source: NoJitter
How would you rate Lync Enterprise Voice as
a PBX replacement?
ce: LogicNow
w would each side like to see the
ure of the relationship change?
Moving to or adding
new office locations
Need for specific
business phone features
Source: Allworx
Source: Aberdeen Group
Why Portals Make a Difference,
YoY Performance Metrics
17%
30%
4.5%
1.2%
3.8%
0.9%
2.3%
-1.1%
1.8%
-1.0%
Rate of errors
in contract/
proposal
generation
Total
outbound
proposal
volume
Customer
renewal
rate
Reps achieving
sales quota
Enablement portal adopters All others5.0%
4.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%
-1.0%
-2.0%
Year-over-yearchange
%
er emphasis on
gic consultancy
45%
Greater emphasis
on tactical, technical
problem resolution
12%
Greater emphasis
on tactical, technical
problem resolution
24%
No change65%
Greater
emphasis
on strategic
consultancy
%
ange
IT Departments Service Providers
0%
0%
10% 20% 30% 40%
10% 20% 30% 40%
50%
50%
60% 70% 80% 90%100%
100%60% 70% 80% 90%
Microsoft
of Cisco?
Microsoft vs. Cisco is said to be the big unified
communication showdown, but the fight might not be
so fierce within the organizations surveyed by NoJitter.
The number of respondents who say their organizations
have standardized on Microsoft for UC or plan to do so
is six times that of those who say they’re doing so with
Cisco. The research also suggests the impetus for the UC
decision comes from the desktop client side of the house
rather than the infrastructure side, says the NoJitter study.
“Nearly 60 percent of respondents said Microsoft
will be their organization’s leading UC provider because
they’re running Lync/Skype for Business on the
desktop (for messaging, at least),” said the study. “In
comparison, only 13 percent of respondents said Cisco
UC will be the mainstay because their organizations are
Cisco data shops.”
73July - August 2015 | ChannelVision