Microsoft Lync, formerly known as Office Communications Server, delivers a unified experience for both end users and IT by integrating enterprise voice (telephony), instant messaging and audio, video, and web conferencing into a single, integrated communications experience.

"With Lync, Microsoft is enabling Canadian businesses to communicate and collaborate more effectively with employees, customers and partners through a single integrated client across the PC, phone and browser,” says Vineet Parmar, senior product manager, Unified Communications at Microsoft Canada. “At the same time, Lync offers IT the ability to help reduce costs by replacing PBX boxes with Lync while providing the choice to deploy on premise, in the Cloud, or a hybrid of both."

Microsoft Lync can make every engagement a virtual face-to-face meeting, because any interaction can include video and audio conferencing, application and desktop sharing, instant messaging, and telephony. Early beta user Creation Technologies, a Vancouver-based electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider, has been using Lync to enhance the level of communication and collaboration across the organization.

"Creation has leadership located across multiple sites in North America and China. Given the diverse nature of our locations, initiating a conference and collaboration session required the use of many layers of disparate technologies. Setting up a session was difficult and cumbersome and getting the technology synchronized took too much time. This lengthened our decision making processes. With Microsoft Lync, we now have a single integrated platform that allows simple conferencing and collaboration, thus eliminating the bureaucracy of location," says Douglas Besse, executive vice president and CIO, Creation Technologies.

"With Lync in place we can make better group decisions by getting people together more quickly and efficiently. I can now establish a meeting very easily, seeing full presence and availability.  Joining a session is simple, and with a few simple mouse clicks I can share my desktop, share files and allow collaboration very efficiently - no matter where I am or where my colleagues are located at any given moment."

Microsoft Lync 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 will be available for businesses of all sizes to purchase on December 1, 2010. Microsoft Lync Online will be available as part of Office 365 next year, with voice capabilities available in late 2011. Lync Online will include instant messaging, presence, audio and video conferencing, and PC-to-PC voice calls.

Microsoft Lync is the new family brand for the products formerly known as Microsoft Communications Server, Microsoft Communications Online and Microsoft Communicator, and now also includes Microsoft Lync Web App, and Microsoft Lync Online. Learn more about Lync at www.microsoft.com/lync.

Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Inc. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, a worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing.  Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Microsoft Canada is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario with MSN.CA offices located in Toronto and eight regional offices across the country. The company supports local communities across Canada by creating innovative technology and partnerships that help people realize their full potential. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca.

Select International recently released its “Fit” suite of assessments, a group of 5 brief (10-15 minute) screening tests that are positioned up front in the hiring process. The suite contains customized assessments that target different job sectors, including service, sales, healthcare, manufacturing and transportation.

According to Select International co-founder Matthew O’Connell, Ph.D., there has been a growing market need for short, up-front screen to optimize the hiring process since the time of online applications.

These brief assessments continue to build on the company’s approach of incorporating multiple assessment methods into a single, seamless package. The “Fit” assessments include personality scales, but they are much more than personality inventories; they also include biodata, situational judgment and behavioural intentions.  These abbreviated assessments were designed so that candidates could complete them in 10-15 minutes. In addition, the reports were designed to be easy to interpret and visually attractive.

According to Select International, the goal is for organizations to use the “Fit” assessments to quickly screen out candidates who would be a poor fit for the jobs in which they are applying.

“Our research has identified this as a critical need for all selection systems, and reaction to these new tools has been extremely positive,” said O’Connell.  “We’ve seen that the “Fit” assessments can be an integral part of a company’s selection solution.”

Select International is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, and maintains offices throughout North America and around the globe.

For more information on Select International, call 1-800-786-8595 or visit www.selectinternational.com.

Relocation APP gives clients access to immigration and temporary living information, expense reporting...

Graebel Companies, Inc. recently announced that it is the first full-service relocation and moving services organization to offer a true mobile communications and reporting option. The Graebel Relocation APP gives Graebel clients' relocating employees equipped with an iPhone or an iPad tablet computer access to a variety of key relocation facts and status about their transfer from anywhere in the world.

This information includes expense reporting, immigration and temporary living details, destination data and household goods shipment status. The Graebel Relocation APP can be downloaded from the Apple store at no cost to Graebel clients' transferees. A password-protected log-in to a secure Graebel portal is required for 24/7 access to data.

According to Bill Graebel, CEO, "We never close our doors on customer service, because we leave nothing to chance to ensure that our customers will be pleased with our global mobility services. Launching our Graebel Relocation APP is one more example of how we constantly seek and invest in new and effective ways to serve customers. For customers preferring mobile access they will find that the Graebel Relocation APP offers easy-to-access to their information and with little effort."

Graebel is a global relocation company that provides worldwide relocation management services, domestic U.S. and international moving and storage services, freight forwarding, move management and commercial office moving and workplace services. To learn more, visit  www.graebel.com.