Instant Messaging, Desktop Sharing and More

You have several new ways to get in touch with and work with your colleagues, and you may not even know it.

The County recently made Microsoft Lync, a suite of communications tools, available to all employees whose IT is handled by HP. There’s no cost to the individual user.  You’ll need to install it yourself, but once you do, you can start…

Instant Messaging

Just like many instant messaging (IM) services in use, Lync allows you to open a chat window for a back and forth text exchange with another employee – or several.

If you haven’t used IM before, you may wonder what the advantage is over email. Felicia Brown-Walton of the County Technology Office explains it’s especially good for short, simple questions – things that need yes or no answers. The windows disappear when done and the exchanges won’t clog up your email inbox. 

Web Conferencing

You don’t need to stop at text. Lync allows video conferencing, though you will need to set up a web cam if you want others to see you.

Desktop Sharing

Perhaps you’ve been through this often frustrating scenario:  you’re talking to someone on the phone, trying to explain something you’re looking at on your computer screen.

“I wish you could see what I’m seeing,” Brown-Walton recalls saying in these situations. Desktop sharing lets users look – with their permission – at each other’s computer screens.  

“Now you can show them and they can see, this is what I’m talking about,” Brown says.

More

Lync has more features and the County plans to expand the services it offers even further in the future. For now, the goal is to get employees aware of the tool and interacting with each other through it.

“The more people who are using it, the more powerful a tool it is,” Brown says.

To get started, visit CTO’s Knowledge Base and look for the Lync Install Instructions. You can follow that with additional tip sheets from the same page. There is also training for Lync in the Learning Management System (LMS).