Skype Journal: Implementation of Skype in Companies
July 8, 2005 10:46 PMby Jan Geirnaert
, an IT/Internet Business Consultant in Malaysia.
I have worked here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the IT manager and network administrator for a small non-IT business. One of the many things I did is cutting the cost of the phone bill by implementing Skype as a VoIP solution. These thoughts are not purely IT/technical. My wage was paid by the cost-savings on the telecom-bill.
Here are some issues to be taken into account before implementing Skype. What you read below is how I did it, these are my personal experiences. The standard setup-recommendations can be found on the Skype web site.
Make your case gently and with numbers
Explain properly to all involved management levels and teams (especially Finance and higher management-levels) what the solutions consist off. Don’t go too much into IT-technical issues. Focus on the advantages and the low cost (only your time and skill are important here). Take into account that VoIP (Skype included) is something new and a low-level entry is better than no entry at all. If you make things sound complicated, it just won’t work.
Do not be aversive or aggressive towards existing technologies that have been put in place. Introducing a new technology in real life situations has to be done by focusing on the advantages of the technology for the existing users. Today and now. If you start comparing with existing solutions based on older but valid (operationally speaking) technology you will be seen as an evangelist. In the end the customer will choose for things that work. Being right or wrong is not an issue here. Making something work and pinpointing the cost is.
The advantage of having chosen Skype is that the implementation took only some upgrading of the security layers in the existing Windows XP network and adding more bandwidth to the existing ADSL-Internet connection. [Ed: As opposed to investing in an entirely new telephone system, with digital PBX, cabling, and phones.]
It is advisable to check the security settings and activate bandwidth monitoring, software-firewall on the systems that are going to use the Skype solution.
Creating a basic user-policy is useful too.
An easy way to get the project going could be to ask for the existing phone bill and spread it out over 4 quarters (Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4). Put this in a spreadsheet. Make a quick analysis of the current recurrent phone bill on fixed phones, mobile phones (actually anything that goes out via the traditional PABX system). The reasoning to apply here: by conducting phone traffic via the Internet, the phone bill of the existing PSTN-traffic will go down. Keep track of this. 
After one year you will be able to see what the effect of a Skype implementation is on the telecom bill.
Configuration and Deployment
At the time of implementation there were no USB-link-boxes or super de luxe devices available. So I choose simple headsets (0.5 euro each). Installation was very simple. Plug in the headset, install Skype and off you go. Once you save some money (or you could do it from the start), you can put devices in place that link your Skype via USB to your existing phone. Nobody likes to sit with a headset on... But this topic is the topic of using the external hardware devices (so many options here). Make sure you test the hardware solution first.
Once Skype is activated you will encounter the problem of the naming convention. People will always try to do what they want if options are given to choose. So preventing a wild spread of all kind of names (resulting in not knowing who is who) I applied this rule on the naming: (company-abbreviation)-(country-iso-code)-surname. If you have those annoying users who still want their own nickname instead of company related names, well the surname could be replaced by the nickname. In order to avoid this you can simply create all user names before the users start making them. Creating the user names for your population will also avoid wide-spread of the passwords. Do enter an email-address in the Skype program during installation and fill in the full name.What is missing in the Skype-ID-fields now are 3 fields : company-name, department, function/position of the user. Now thinking further on this matter of “who is who,” integration with LDAP servers would be nice. These would be like LDAP integration with Outlook. But not having access to all that technology I used a simple trick: installing Plaxo 2.0. (www.plaxo.com). In the IM field you can then mention the Skype ID. Works and it keeps the costs down. This is ideal in an environment that has no central email-LDAP-address book. Remember I am talking about a solution for companies that have multiple locations, external partners who are connected to each other only via some computers, and ADSL Internet connections.
Actually spreading the name list is quite simple. Set up one central account, support@ (for example), and add the new users to the office list. Then send around an email (anybody can setup account, externals included, which is kind of confusing) stating that this or that has been added/deleted. Ask people to add / authorise the user to their list.
After having done the implementation, try to make the users add their picture or company logo. This adds to the security features of Skype too, since Skype seems to allow you to login twice or more with the same account. I assume that the picture will not appear if somebody else but yourself logs in (since the picture resides on your hard disk). Your voice and your face are unique, you better get this done quickly.
I never engage in a talk with external sources without having heard their voice. P2P solutions have the advantage you can quickly connect to "everybody," and it can be everybody. Avoid leaking of valuable information. With some luck you will be able to use Skype for the voice traffic in no time. On top of that, it has an interesting instant messenging feature and let's you send around files in no time.
Once the users are happy with the existing Skype-functionality, get back to Finance and Management and show that the Skype system can be used to make calls to mobile and fixed phones. You can then start setting up a general company billing account (SkypeOut) for the fixed computers. For some users you will have to setup individual accounts. Be careful not to compromise the credit card info of multiple users. It might be more useful to use a company credit card that has some web protection. You can actually "top up" user accounts by using one credit card, which has the advantage of centralised financial control.
I guess that is about it (for now). After implementation you should provide the user with a basic "how to setup and use" manual. Let them get used to the system and take it from there. Keep track of the support requests. You will learn a lot from those questions.
Open issues...
Some problems and open questions remain.
- How to get centralised control on the number of calls generated on a "company account"?
- Can the concept of a mail server be applied on Skype?
- How to keep track of the files and information sent via Skype?
- How to get rid of Skype spammers and SPIT?
If you want to give me your ideas and thoughts on this, just callto:tropicaljantie.
Reprinted by permission from Jan in Malaysia.
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Comments (7)
Jan,
Haha, i knew at once (of course) that you are a Belgian.
Hey, nice story, usefull tricks!
Concerning your comment "You can actually "top up" user accounts by using one credit card, which has the advantage of centralised financial control.", or i misunderstood, or this is wrong: the credit card fraud policy of Skype doesn't allow you (anymore) to fund several Skype accounts with only one credit card: rule is one card = one account! A money loosing solution, and a pity!
Posted by: Jean Mercier at July 9, 2005 2:36 AM
Thank you for a fine article. I am trying the ways of making group accounts, experimenting with writing in the vCard file. You can actualy write info to an account post and get it 'adopted in the contactlist, but as it is not 'imported' by the 'owner' it is no good. An admin service feature/program alowing that would be nice (using a vCard editor?).
I found that by using one 'dummy'/'admin' account and getting every new user account authorized into that 'dummy' account, then 'porting' it (via vCard) to the new account's you get a complete userlist (marked=?) for the user's to start with. User then only have to learn authorization and importing updated distributed vCard files as seen fit.
Posted by: jyden at July 9, 2005 3:31 AM
FYI
Posted by: Ramon at July 9, 2005 3:43 PM
more on the Telephonic Paper here : http://zog.typepad.com/malaysia/2005/07/the_virtual_tel.html
Posted by: Jan Geirnaert at July 9, 2005 11:23 PM
For more info about using vCard files with the Skype client, see this paper:
http://share.skype.com/directory/using_vcard_files_with_the_skype_client/view/
Posted by: Marcus at July 12, 2005 5:48 PM
Related topics on using skype in corporate environments. Actually my thoughts on why certain companies resist on using the current version of skype to improve or add it to their communication-systems.
http://zog.typepad.com/malaysia/2005/07/skype_for_corpo.html
Posted by: tropicaljantie at July 26, 2005 9:47 PM
Excellent description of using Skype at corporate level. Many corporations wish to add Skype to the most used Intranet application - the Corporate Phonebook.
The best way to accomplish this is by adding SkypeName to the corporate LDAP directory (such as Microsoft Active Directory), and then having various applications, such as the phonebook, leverage this attribute.
Click here to learn more.
Posted by: Morten Marquard at September 21, 2005 2:48 AM