This week we released our fourth update for the Skype for Business on Mac client. That makes 4 updates in 5 months - we are committed to improving the client on a regular cadence. This month you will see improvements for delegation, USB devices, and contact management. Please enjoy and let us know what you think.
Delegation is important to customers when adopting Skype for Business as their voice solution. Starting with this release customers using Office 365 can add delegates to the "My Delegates" group in contact groups and set routing preferences to those delegates. And if you are a delegate, you can see who has made you a delegate and make calls on behalf of that delegator.
For those of you on the go like many of us here at Microsoft, the ability to take a meeting anywhere and plug in a USB device at the last minute is very helpful. Users are now prompted to switch when plugging in a USB device during a meeting. Whenever technology can be more transparent, users can focus on getting work done. Users can now also add a separate audio setting for a ringing device.
We have added a “groups” button to the contact card and the detailed contact views. This will make it faster for users to add contacts and improve their usage experience. You can now also call or IM to groups via the group contact card.
Experience Improvements
I really enjoy sharing the new work we have done to add features to every release. Equally important though for all users are the improvements we make for everyday usage.
We had some issues where mute/unmute might not work as expected with your favorite device – we have taken steps to correct the unexpected behavior.
We have improved the experience for joining a meeting from Outlook when using certain Polycom devices or Skype Room Systems. Please note these improvements are for new meetings – you will need to reschedule an existing meeting to see this improvement. We also improved the lobby experience for users who needed to end the call.
Some users were not able to see their meetings – one of the causes was that they were not logged into Exchange. To improve seeing your list of meetings, users will now be prompted to log into Exchange if they are not.
There is more - for a complete list of new features and experience improvements to the client, please be sure to read the release notes that come with this update. Customers new to the Mac client can choose to download the latest from the download center or those who already have the client can use the Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) to update.
Last but not least, our Skype Operations Framework team has updated their video presentation on the Mac client. I think its very helpful as you think about supporting this client.
- Paul Cannon, Skype for Business Product Marketing Manager
