Oh the wonderful world of cross platform, mobile device, unified communications!

Don’t get me wrong, video conferencing and content sharing are an AMAZING tool for businesses to communicate and collaborate remotely…when they work.

The problem is, sometimes they don’t, or they work in a less than ideal fashion.

Take my conference call this AM for example. I was on a weekly call with the rest of my company discussing sales performance, new tools, and our plans for an awesome InfoComm16.

I click on the link to the virtual meeting on my calendar and the Skype for business app launches on my iPhone.  I am quickly placed into the call without delay.  I come in automatically on mute, which I love.  I start hearing the other participants greet each other without having to configure any audio settings, which is great.  Then the presentation starts and my screen goes black.  I get a message saying I have to be connected to WiFi to get any access to shared content.

Hmmm.  Why is that?  The reason that I have the app installed on my iPhone is that I am a road warrior and many times are not in the home office, or at a location where WiFi is readily available.  Luckily, at this point I do have access to WiFi so I connect to get the content.  I change from LTE to WiFi.  The Skype for Buisness app freezes.

I exit the meeting and relaunch, this time on WiFi. Now I’m in business!  I can see the content and hear the presentation, and my ability to participate is only 1 press of the unmute button away!  It’s utterly amazing!

Then a reminder alarm goes off on my phone.  The Skype for Buisness app freezes.

I exit the meeting.  I relaunch, and I’m back in business!   I can see the content and hear the presentation, and my ability to participate is only 1 press of the unmute button away!  It’s utterly amazing!

I depart for my AM meeting.  As I pull out of the driveway, my phone goes out of WiFi range, and switches back to LTE.  The Skype for Buisness app freezes.

I exit the meeting.  I relaunch, and I’m back in business!   I can’t see the content, (but I’m driving so that’s a good thing!) and I CAN hear the presentation, and my ability to participate is still only 1 press of the unmute button away!  It’s utterly amazing!

Then I land at my location early.  The team is going over a new visual tool and about to watch a video tutorial that I am excited to watch.  I switch back to WiFi to get content.  The Skype for Buisness app freezes.

I exit the meeting.  I relaunch, and I’m back in business!   I can see the content and hear the presentation, and my ability to participate is only 1 press of the unmute button away!  It’s utterly amazing!

Or is it…

I can only imagine the frustration a potential customer may have had if trying to connect with me in this manner.  I doubt they would have been as persistent in reconnecting.

As for now, Skype for Business and my iPhone tolerate each other but aren’t great friends.  Maybe the folks that built the app can fix that soon!