UGA students, faculty and staff now have access to Microsoft’s Lync, an instant messaging, video conferencing and online meeting tool useful for collaboration, especially for small group meetings.
Microsoft will rename Lync as Skype for Business this year.
Lync is available with an individual’s UGA account that is used to access UGAMail, OneDrive for Business and calendar services, which are all powered by Microsoft’s Office 365 platform. Some benefits of Lync include:
• Instant messaging with other people at UGA by using your contacts list;
• Scheduling online meetings with colleagues;
• Screen sharing of presentations in online meetings; and
• A presence tool that allows colleagues to see if you’re available, based on your Outlook calendar.
Lync is an option for video conferencing, but is not intended to replace other Web conferencing tools available at UGA such as Blackboard Collaborate or GoToMeeting. UGA’s offering of Lync/Skype for Business does not include the option for phone conference calls.
There are several ways to access Lync. They include a desktop application for Windows and Mac, a Web-based client through the online UGAMail and mobile apps for Android and iOS.
The EITS Help Desk website includes detailed instructions on how to use Lync at http://t.uga.edu/1bB.
