Microsoft beefs up Skype for Business as Amazon Chimes in

Microsoft is rounding out its Skype for Business Cloud PBX. The software giant is adding a feature called Auto Attendant for automated answering and call routing, and Call Queues to route calls to the next available attendant. Also announced was Skype for Business Call Analytics, a dashboard designed to let those running the …

[Anonymous Coward]

Stability would be nice

If M$ could just go ahead and get S4B to be stable that would be great... So many frozen screens during multi party screen shares

[Dr Who]

Heard in IT Support. "Office 365 is down again Bob. Odd that our phones aren't ringing off the hook with irate users. Well if they're not bothered I'll just finish my lunch and then call Microsoft. Oh ... wait ...."

[Anonymous Coward]

Oooo

Auto Attendant for automated answering and call routing, and Call Queues to route calls to the next available attendant.

Welcome to what a basic PBX has been able to do for 30 years.

[Dwarf]

Re: Oooo

Still no sign of Lenny the telemarketing person's worst nightmare though

[P. Lee]

Re: Oooo

>Welcome to what a basic PBX has been able to do for 30 years.

But now it has been patented for use, "on a Microsoft Cloud Server device."

[Mine's a Large One]

Re: Oooo

Indeed. I remember numerous customer calls and meetings where M$ spouted that we didn't need our (resilient, well-featured) VoIP PBX, we needed Lync with Enterprise Voice. Auto attendant? Call queues? Hunt/response groups? Who uses - or needs - those anymore? Nah... Old Skool.

I fully expected my boss (a M$ worshipper and evangelist ad nauseum) to swallow the bollocks, but I can't believe so many others here and in other companies did. And then realised they didn't have the capabilities they had with their "old, out-dated, legacy" PBX systems and which it turns out WERE used extensively, and which M$ started to re-introduce.

They now even sell the E5 plan as "a cloud PBX"!!!!

[Inertia]

Yeah, no.

I actually really like the O365 ecosystem now but Microsoft PBX has got more chance of bearing my first child than it does getting my call center.