Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) purchase of Skype for $8.5 billion this week (regulatory approval pending) could result in a promising enterprise offering, if the Redmond, Wash., software giant plays its cards right. While Skype is widely used by consumers, once combined with Microsoft's business tools it could be a boon to enterprises on several fronts. 

Blending Skype in with Microsoft productivity tools could give enterprises a leg up in dealing with the consumerization of IT, writes Shane O'Neill at CIO magazine. As O'Neill puts it, Skype is "a bridge technology people use to do video calls with grandma but also helps them do their jobs more effectively."

Merging Skype with Microsoft's Lync could produce a powerful enterprise offering, writes Fritz Nelson at InformationWeek. To do it right, Microsoft needs to preserve Skype's multi-platform support, which some fear may not end up being the case even though Steve Ballmer said it would. While Microsoft would not be wise to drop support for other platforms, it could provide lesser support for them, Nelson writes. "[D]on't pretend that Skype will function equally well on all systems; it will be easier for the company to enable more functionality within the Microsoft ecosystem," he writes.

With Skype integrated with Lync, users could connect more easily to customers or partners. The two offerings provide similar features, particularly for business users, although Lync offers a variety of enterprise-grade features, Nelson writes. Businesses using Microsoft Exchange and Office stand to benefit from the ability to use click-to-call from a Calendar invitation or detect presence information in Outlook, he predicts.

"[I]f Microsoft can make mobile Lync access happen through Skype, then suddenly you've got mobile communications across devices everywhere, inside the enterprise and out," Nelson writes. "From any tablet, the ability to connect via video into, say, an enterprise-class room-based video system, or join a GoToMeeting call...that becomes pretty compelling and must certainly put the likes of Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) on notice."

For more:
- see Shane O'Neill's post at CIO
- see Fritz Nelson's post at InformationWeek

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