If I Owned Microsoft (and now Skype)

Microsoft may be $8.5 billion poorer, but its acquisition of Skype yields interesting possibilities. Since Microsoft has a large share of the browser market and now also owns a widely-used internet telephony and videophone service, lots of possibilities exist for a marriage of the two. If I were in charge, my first priority would be adding some new media to web pages. Transform the way we interact with company representatives by placing the reps directly on the website, ready for clients to communicate with over Skype. Allow users to make use of all Skype's capabilities within their web experience on the organizations website.

Browse to a retailer's website, click on a product, and then click to chat (or voice call, or video call, at my option) a customer service rep in that product department to learn more about it. Perhaps if I video call them, and they're in call center on another continent, being able to see their eyes may help me overlook the cultural disconnect.

On a non-profit website, Skype could provide a "Discuss a Donation" button, which would invite a chat/call/video call with a staff member. There's no dialing required, and a chat window is available for me right away. If the user chose the voice (or much more importantly video) option, they now have a personal connection with a person at the non-profit, which is essential for keeping donors for the long-term.

A university website could allow this kind of direct connection for admissions and student services, but also for facilitating faculty office hours, helping student organizations to have virtual meetings, creating ad-hoc study groups, etc. The possibilities for innovation in the microcosm of the academic community are endless, and its potential for accelerating the interchange of ideas is exciting.

To enable this functionality, Microsoft would simply provide a widget for website owners to drop on to their site. The code would be standards-compliant, and run well on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and other browsers. Mobile devices would be able to use it too, as it's simply JavaScript on a web page, and a small screen version would be included for mobile devices. The code can be different for different parts of the website, so the correct department is contacted on each call. And at the company level, some basic call center routing would enable delivery of the call to an available representative.

So welcome to the era of talking through website, conversing through browsers. And as devices other than laptops (game consoles, TV's) become Internet browsers as well, the possibility for an extremely rich media experience with organizations' websites becomes quite real and accessible.

What would you do if you owned Microsoft and Skype?