Conferencing

Probably the biggest driving force behind companies implementing Lync Server 2013 is replacing outsourced web conferencing services. Many companies spend tens of thousands of dollars a month on services, such as WebEx or GoToMeeting. Although there might be situations in which a company running Lync Server 2013 needs to create a conference so large that its infrastructure isn’t sufficient, the other 95% of the time it can use a platform it owns rather than pay an external company for these services.

Conferences in Lync 2013 can be generated in a few ways, but the meeting experience is identical in each case. The most dynamic way to create a meeting is by presenting a PowerPoint, a whiteboard, or a poll within an existing peer-to-peer conversation. Sharing any of those items immediately escalates the conversation to a conference. Similarly, adding a third participant by simply dragging another contact into an existing conversation escalates it to a conference.