Skype

Skype

Introduction

With the advent of information technology, the way businesses operate these days, have drastically changes. The affects of information technology are not only confined to the operational production side for the business, in fact now a days, it is also used for diminishing the lags in communication and taking it to the next level altogether. If we talk about communication, then without a shadow of doubt that in last few decades, the mediums of communication have changed drastically and rapidly. The breakthrough in communication, by information technology, includes video conferencing and online free calls. With ever growing globalization and increasing competition, the need for fast and effective communication has also increased. There are many types of software which provide such services however; the most preferred medium these days is Skype.

Discussion

The scenario I have chose for this report is scenario 2, where is have to make a report on whether Sasha Warner, Senior Buyer at Darcy's, should go for Skype as her default medium to connect with her customers in eastern region of United States. In order to that we will analyze is attributes, utility and benefits. In this paper, we will also analyze its downside and other critical issues which need to be considered before adopting it.

Regional Analysis

The eastern region of United States includes major cities like New York, Michigan and Philadelphia. Apart from these major and highly populated cities, this region also includes cities like Baltimore, Detroit and Boston. The eastern region also includes the capital of the United States; Washington DC. Considering the dynamics of this region, they do prefer online business dealing, as this allows them to save time as compared to physical meetings and transactions. Considering this trend, online video conferencing and virtual meetings are also something common in this region, due to a number of reasons, out of which the main reasons are urgency and lack of time to conduct physical meetings. Overall, if we look at the trends of online social media and communications mediums, then we will come to know that Unites States is the most influenced region in the world when it comes to online communication. United States is also rated as the country with most facebook users, and it has the most facebook traffic globally. This shows the overall preference of people in the country, when it comes to communication and social interaction.

About Skype

Skype is one of the most frequently used software, for audio and video conferencing, around the globe. Basically it is an application which allows to users to connect and have audio or video conference, through internet. In 2003, Niklas Zennström from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark laid the foundation of this service. After this, in 2011, it was acquired by Microsoft on 10 May 2011 for US$8.5 billion. On 5 March 2012, it was announced that Skype reached its customer base of over 35 million, the highest ever for Skype. This it shows that it is one of Microsoft's growing ...