Following Microsoft’s announcement that it has launched the next version of Lync as Skype for Business, No Jitter conducted a survey to assess enterprise adoption of and attitudes toward the Microsoft Unified Communications (UC) platform and all its various components.

The survey on Lync/Skype for Business use included responses from 540 enterprise IT professionals, with more than half (52 percent) responding that they had already adopted Lync/Skype for Business.

When asked which functions they currently used Lync for, the majority of respondents named presence and instant messaging. This was followed by Web and audio conferencing as well as desktop video.

Using Lync/Skype for Web conferencing typically extends the usage of Lync outside network boundaries and requires action to be taken to secure the deployment as LyncShield does.

At the same time, Web conferencing was seen as the main function used in hosted Skype for Business service, followed by audio conferencing and presence and instant messaging.

Skype for Business will retain all Lync capabilities, including content sharing and telephony, while adding video calling and the Skype user directory, making it possible to call any Skype user on any device.