ComputerWorld New Zealand has a case study on the benefits Microsoft Lync has brought to Beca New Zealand, an engineering consultancy. Aside from cost savings, those benefits include:
– the ability to iterate faster and be more agile. In terms of agility, you can work from anywhere there’s an internet connections, without requiring a phone infrastructure.
– getting closer to clients.
– reduced time-to-connect, by being able to tag someone who is already on a call and then to be alerted when they are available. Saves constant phone tag.
– using video conferencing to understand body language, and thus improve communication effectiveness / comprehension, especially with colleagues in Asia. “Video conferencing with our Asian colleagues has really helped us to understand what they are actually saying, as opposed to what we are just hearing.”
– using screen sharing and co-authoring / co-editing has reduced flying time and effort.
– the ability to view actual inbound call volumes, and make effective staffing decisions.

It used to be that the first thing people would notice during an outage was the lack of email turning up in Outlook. But for Beca, that’s now the inability to use Lync. It’s become that core to the way people collaborate.

For the complete case study, and the details of Beca’s mobility strategy too, see Lync-ing for collaboration – the Beca story.