Church
Cloister
Nation

Uniondale, New York 11553

(516) 776-6120

Vision
Mission
About me
About us

Church
Mission
Religion
Education
Chaplaincy

Cloister
Mission
Community
Work
Services

Nation
Mission
Ideals
Path
Positions

Using Skype for Business

For some time Skype has been an excellent consumer choice especially for consumers with extensive international calling needs. Skype and third-party providers now also have options for small businesses such as user credit management and auto attendant.

• Why not:
  1. Cannot make 911 calls
  2. Cannot port an existing number to or from Skype

3. Caller ID can only be your Skype number or a mobile phone number, not your existing or third-party number
4. No phone support
• Why:
  1. Low cost
  2. Good quality
• Prerequisites:
  1. High speed Internet
  2. Switch with enough ports for desk phones, if chosen
• Implementation plan:
  1. Register for Business Control Panel
  2. Download and install Skype for Business
  3. Establish one outgoing account
  a. $2.95/month (US & Canada)
  4. Purchase headphone or desk phone
  a. Headsets $10 to $60
  b. USB $26 to $30
  c. Desk $60 to $120
  5. Test for quality and ease of use, outgoing calls only
  6. Establish one incoming account
  a. $30/year or $12/3 months
  7. Publish incoming number as direct dial
  8. Test for ease of use
  9. Establish more outgoing accounts
  10. Assign incoming account to high volume user
  11. Test
  12. Assign incoming account to receptionist
  13. Forward existing number to receptionist's incoming number. This is where it gets tricky if you are already very attached to a specific published phone number. If you never receive more than two incoming calls at a time, you may be able to get away with simply forwarding your existing number to your Skype number and have subsequent calls forwarded to another Skype number when the first line is busy. If you need to have more than two simultaneous incoming calls, you need a hunt group from your old phone company. With a hunt group, incoming calls will try all your lines until it finds one that is not busy. After a while you may consider biting the bullet and publish your Skype number. Caution: You cannot port your Skype number to another phone company should it become necessary.
  14. Test
  15. Set up auto attendant to handle incoming calls
  a. Computer $600
  b. Software
  i. PrettyMay, free trial, $200/5 users, $500/unlimited
  ii. OnState, free trial