Skype for biz?

I still get asked if Skype has a place in the business environment. My answer remains the same - yes, and no.

If you work in any industry where companies need to log emails, IM conversations etc you shouldn't do your employer the disservice of using Skype in the work place. If you're at all able to. Most up to date IT managers will have made sure that Skype either can't be installed, or indeed run, on the network.

If on the other hand, you're a SMB in a non financial/medical/etc industry, or even run your business from the spare bedroom, Skype is a brilliant choice. Apart from the obvious benefits (it's free, calls to landlines are cheap, yada yada), it's a good tool that keeps your comm's tools in one place - your PC. It's quick, it's easy to use. I know of a journalist who conducts interviews with Skype and records them to his hard drive with Ambrosia's WireTap.

You can find lots of blog posts, articles etc on Skype's merits elsewhere so I won't spend any more time on it here.

But I want to point you to a good little piece covering Skype in the workplace from eWeek.