MeetingZone has extended the capabilities of Skype for Business with an audio conferencing service that enables users to dial-in to online meetings from anywhere.
Organisations will be able to invite an unlimited number of internal or external participants to join Skype for Business meetings via standard fixed-line and mobile phones.
MeetingZone will also offer users an enhanced live support and in-call assistance facility as part of the service.
"People love the convenience and extended conferencing features of Skype for Business such as virtual white-boarding and screen-sharing, but until now it hasn't been easy to let guests dial-in to meetings via telephone," said Andy Clark, general manager for Skype for Business at MeetingZone.
"Now they can. This makes it perfect, for example, where you need external suppliers to attend a project meeting on an organisation's "internal" Skype for Business network. What's more, even Skype for Business users who are "off net" can dial-in from any location using our range of international dial-in and toll free numbers."
The Audio Conferencing for Skype for Business service offers toll-free and local access numbers in almost every country.
This enables users abroad to dial-in at their convenience without incurring hefty international or roaming call charges.
Where Skype for Business currently permits a maximum of 250 participants in a meeting, MeetingZone's service will allow an unlimited number of people to dial in.
This will give organisations the ability to use it to conduct much larger meetings where necessary - for example, when the management of a large organisation wants to address its entire global workforce personally, rather than sending out a blanket email, or invite the world's press to discuss a major announcement.
The service also integrates seamlessly with Outlook's email and calendaring functions, allowing organisations to include all the audio-only participants on an invitation, along with Skype for Business users, and track all responses automatically in one place.