The Benefits And Risks Of Using Skype At Darcy’s: A Short Rep ✓ Solved

The East Coast buyers for Darcy’s Department Store are looking for an economical and efficient way to share information about the deals buyers are getting from various suppliers and use real-time transmission of that information between one another to help save money. There are a number of tools to do this, but Skype has been mentioned as a leading contender. Skype claims to be an easy to use, online tool that allows users to connect with any other Skype user around the world for free. A user can make video and voice calls to other Skype users at no charge.

Users can even share files among themselves, which provides a great asset during a business meeting. However, when there are group video calls, then Skype begins to charge a fee. Also, for buyers throughout the East Coast, this tool can be useful if they need to talk with one another. However, for meetings that require more than two attendees, Skype is not a useful tool and is not intended to work that way for business.

Benefits

Among the most attractive benefits of Skype is that it is free and you can see the person you are talking with. To purchase a software license for 20 buyers that is compatible to what Skype can do will cost Darcy’s roughly $1,500 per month. There are no hidden charges with Skype. According to Skype’s web page, users get video and voice calls to other Skype users and “instant messaging and file sharing” all at no charge. The video sharing feature of Skype will allow the buyers to see products in real time. For example, if two buyers are looking at similar merchandise from two different suppliers who are offering different pricing, then they can quickly Skype one another and compare the product to see if it is the same and to then get the best pricing for it.

Two business writers for the Auburn Citizen in NY state that there are business users “who can save time and money in scheduling and holding conferences or training sessions, demonstrate products or services for potential customers, and extend customer service by showing customers how to get the most from your product” (Leon and Leon).

Downsides

Despite the benefits mentioned above, there are clear downsides to this product. I tested Skype over a one-week period by calling various Skype users throughout the East Coast and tried to simulate a conversation that a buyer might have. First, using Skype takes getting used to. During my five-day test, I never mastered the connection stage. This is when one Skype user “calls” another Skype user. Skype makes a distinctive sound that lets the user know it is making a call. However, once you connect to whom you are calling, the picture shows, but it takes about five seconds for that picture to catch up with the person sitting there. In essence, it is a still picture for five seconds.

Second, once I was connected to the user, I quickly realized that what I was saying was not being transmitted in real-time. There could be up to a three-second lag in what I said and the user hearing it. This created a number of challenges, the biggest one being that this lag kept the other user and me talking over each other. I just assumed the user could not hear what I said, so I repeated myself. Of course, as soon as I spoke, then I heard the user’s response to my original message, and thus began us talking over one another. This was a persistent problem throughout my first two calls, but got better once I became more familiar with the technology.

Third, the picture is grainy, like an old TV. In this world of high definition, the picture I was getting with Skype looked like a 1970s television set. I could see the person fine, but the lack of clarity was alarming. If buyers were trying to compare colors of a fabric, for instance, that would be nearly impossible to do because of the degraded picture quality.

Fourth, I experienced a number of connectivity issues throughout my test. I was only able to connect immediately on four of my ten test calls. On the others, I thought the person picked up, but there was no one there, and I had to re-connect. This caused frustration and made me want to discard Skype each time it happened. Also during calls, it was not uncommon for the connection to be lost, and I would have to try and re-connect again. I am not sure why this occurs, but it happened on nearly 40% of my calls. Again, this caused a great deal of frustration.

Finally, there are concerns that the privacy of Skype users is being violated by Microsoft, “Anyone who uses Skype has consented to the company reading everything they write” (“Skype with Care”).

Recommendation

The use of Skype really boils down to money. If we are trying to save money and need a readily available, free solution, then Skype is a contender. However, even though it is free, Skype poses a number of technology challenges that are outlined above. This alone makes this technology untenable for our company. At the swift pace we move, little challenges like the one Skype poses lead me to not recommend the product. There are a number of other services we can use, including many instant messaging programs that provide similar services as Skype, but do it better.

We can even use FaceTime from Apple, that can be used on Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iPods, and most of our buyers seem to have at least one of these products. In summary, although Skype is free, it does not meet the need we have to interconnect buyers across the East Coast and allow them to quickly and efficiently conduct business. I do not recommend Skype for Darcy’s buyers.

References

  • Leon, Norma, and Tony Leon. "Sky’s the limit for Skype video call uses." The Citizen. N.p., Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

  • "Skype with Care – Microsoft is reading everything you write." The H Security. N.p., May 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.

  • "What is Skype?." Skype. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.