ShoreTel’s New Plug-In Telephony Offers Enhanced Microsoft Skype for Business Integration for Customers

ShoreTel, a leading provider of brilliantly simple unified communications (UC) solutions and phone systems,has enhanced its integration to Microsoft Skype for Business with a new plug-in that embeds telephony controls inside the Skype for Business client. “ShoreTel Telephony for Microsoft” enables ShoreTel phone system customers who use the Skype for Business client to have robust phone controls at their fingertips.

Specifically, with ShoreTel Telephony for Microsoft, users can dial contacts directly from the Skype for Business client, execute conference calls, transfer calls, access their voicemail box, view and set presence information, and control all of their ShoreTel preferences such as call routing.

“We recognize that some ShoreTel customers will use Skype for Business, so this new plug-in provides the power of ShoreTel telephony features inside that client, ensuring users have an easy, seamless experience,” said Eugenia Corrales, vice president of product at ShoreTel. “This is another example of ShoreTel meeting the needs of mid-market and enterprise customers across our entire Connect portfolio. We also offer future flexibility, giving customers the option to move to the ShoreTel Connect™ client when they are ready to harness the full collaborative power of ShoreTel Connect.”

“ShoreTel Telephony for Microsoft delivers a single application footprint for UC, combining ShoreTel’s voice infrastructure with the Skype for Business desktop client to give users the best of both worlds,” said Jason Evans, managing director of Response Data Communications, a ShoreTel Circle of Excellence partner in the UK. “For partners it enables us to deliver a robust, cost-effective voice platform that runs alongside the Skype for Business communications application.”

For the IT department, ShoreTel Telephony for Microsoft is a client-side integration, so no changes are required to the environment. The plug-in supports Lync 2013, Skype for Business 2015, and Skype for Business 2016 clients in both Office 365 and on-premises environments. ShoreTel does not require a separate license – the plug-in is part of the mid-tier bundle for ShoreTel Connect CLOUD and Connect ONSITE.