As the Technology Manager for Parker Executive Search, a retained executive search firm, I am constantly looking for ways to improve our efficiency and functionality. We have been using Skype increasingly, as it saves a bundle on travel costs and you can video chat with multiple people all over the country (and the world) in a single day.
We signed up for Skype Premium, the business version, in order to use group video chat. We envisioned connecting people from multiple locations--either a board, or a search committee--on a single call where we could orchestrate a meeting. The potential opportunity was great and we were very excited.
Enter reality. Skype one-on-one has been pretty well tested and established and we had few problems. Group Video, on the other hand, is the buggiest piece of software I have used in some time. Granted, introducing multiple live streams presents obvious problems and more room for error, but I have had only one call thus far that worked flawlessly with 3 or more connections. I can't tell you how many times I have seen the message "Group video is unavailable at the moment." I just wish Skype would make sure a product is solid and flawless before putting it out on the market.
All in all, I would be very wary of signing up for Skype Premium with the intent of group video for business. It reflects poorly when the video is constantly being dropped. I think we will have to ditch Skype for a better solution or wait until the bugs are improved.
