Earlier this week Todd Ogasawara -Windows Mobile MVP- wrote an interesting article on Mobile Content Today: “Microsoft Communicator Mobile: Live Messenger All Grown Up & Dressed for the Enterprise“.
What is Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile ?
For the people who aren’t very familiar with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile, an easy to understand definition can be found in the Windows Mobile Blog article: “Microsoft Communicator Mobile“
The 2007 R2 version of Microsoft® Office Communicator Mobile is an enterprise application for mobile devices that helps you quickly find and communicate with your colleagues. The application is designed to make communication easier and more accessible and includes real-time presence information, single number reach support and rich instant messaging (IM) capability all with a familiar look and feel similar to the desktop version of Microsoft Office Communicator.
Todd Ogasawara has a slightly different approach in the description of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile:
“Communicator Mobile is essentially Windows Live Messenger grown up and dressed up for the enterprise. With the proper backend system, it lets you participate in conference calls, make outgoing calls that appear to originate from your office phone, and other enterprise type messaging tasks.”
Since Windows Live Messenger is a very familiar Instand Messaging (IM) client / platform I really do like this description.
Microsoft has announced an update to Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2, which builds upon and improves the original Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 release. While the original release shows only screenshots of a Windows Mobile Standard device, the information around the latest update cleary shows screenshots and therefore support for Windows Mobile Professional. In the following part of the article the new key features will be discussed.
1. Join conference calls with a single click of a button
“One of our goals with this update was to make it easier to join conferences while on the go. Instead of using conference dial-ins and entry codes, you can now join conferences with the single click of a button. This capability is available for all meetings scheduled using the new UC Conferencing capability in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2.”
The screenshots above show that Microsoft has addressed here a critical point of usability, making life a lot more easy for a professional on te go to join a conference call or meeting. With today’s workforce becoming more and more mobile the one-click scenario is a great improvement.
2. Avoid roaming charges when out of a provider’s network range
Well this is an option, which for eaxmple is also be seen in the sync schedule of the Microsoft MyPhone service and several other applications as well. In the current hard economic times saving costs out-of-the-box is critical. I think that often people are not aware that they are roaming.
“When you are outside of your provider’s network, Communicator will not log in to a roaming network. As soon as you are back in your provider’s network, Communicator will log in automatically for you.”
The automatically logging in is a feature I personally find very cool, and in business it helps a lot to save costs while stay connected with your co-workers as much as possible.
3. Make calls from work (the ability to place outbound calls using your work identity)
“Another benefit of Windows Mobile 6.5 is that it gives you the capability to make a call via work (the ability to place outbound calls using your work identity) directly from your phone dialer. With this enhancement users can dial extension numbers to call their colleagues.”
To me it sounds a little like a voice-over-ip solution for the mobile professional, with the advantage to keep your comporate identity (which is not the case for applications like Skype for Windows Mobile for example). Also the use of extension number is an improvement to simply use your same corporate routines if you are in the office or on the road. Again very good that Microsoft is aiming for the one click solution for the mobile scenario, directly from the dailer on your Windows Phone. But:
“The team also improved the overall experience of making calls via work. In the previous release, you made your call via work and then answered the incoming call to complete the connection. Now Communicator Mobile completes the connection for you by automatically accepting the incoming call.”
4. Further reduce power consumption
Reducing power consumption and hence optimizing the batterylife on your Windows Phone is a great improvement, however this should be a continuous development process. Battery Life is personally one of the key specifications I look for when I buy a Windows Phone, and a critical parameter on the road. If you run out of power, there is no communication. 
However these improvements are often put low on the changelog, but I would like to highlight this one here !
5. Office Communicator Mobile ready for Windows Mobile 6.5
“We’ve also done some work to get Communicator Mobile ready for the Windows Mobile 6.5 release this fall. A new plug-in will integrate nicely with the Home screen. In addition to looking good, it will show your presence status and the number of ongoing conversations.”
This improvement is in line with the reasoning of getting more things done from the today screen, and for amobile professional I think it is essential to stay informed about the status and notifications of Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile.
However I’m really curious how this will be implemented on Windows Mobile Standard devices, who are released with Windows Mobile 6.5 onboard. Will the Microsoft Office Communicator plugin be the same kind of sliding panel, like we are used from Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard ?
Overall thoughts
Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile offers a total solution for (small and medium) enterprises, and is significantly updatedin the latest release. Not only is the mobile version made Windows Mobile 6.5 proof, but also some very functional improvements are added.
The latest Windows Mobile related announcements of Microsoft show the clear direction of the three-screen-strategy and this is also applicable to the Microsoft Office Communicator software:
“[...] all with a familiar look and feel similar to the desktop version of Microsoft Office Communicator”
For the mobile professional staying connected with your team and co-workers is essential when you are on the road. Combined with for example Microsoft Exchange server (2010) and tons of applications in the “business center” of Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Microsoft offers a great set of business solutions. Furthermore it shows again this richness of the Windows Mobile platform, by simply connecting additional solutions into the platform aimed at optimizing personal and corporate performance.
Overall I think this total solution can significantly increase a companies efficiency and at the same time decrease costs. The latest Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2 update is accessible at www.GetCoMo.com or on the Microsoft Download Web site.
Connect with MobilityMinded