Instructions: For this final Graded Writing Assignment, you will compose a Short Report based on one of the scenario's outlined below. You must choose one of the scenarios listed below; papers submitt

Darcy’s Department Store Prepared by: Student Name BUS105 2 Background The East Coast buyers for Darcy’s Department Store are looking for an economical and efficient way to share information about the deals buyers are getting from various suppliers and use real-time transmission of that in formation between one another to help save money. There are a number of tools to do this, but Skype h as been mentioned as a leading contender. Skype claims to be an easy to use, onlin e tool that allows users to connect with any other Skype user around the world for free . A user can make video and voice calls to other Skype users at no charge. Users can even share files among themselves, which provides a great asset during a business meet ing. However, when there are group video calls, then Skype begins to charge a fee. Also, for buyers throughout the East Coast, this to ol can be useful if they need to talk with one another. However, for meetings that requi re more than two attendees, Skype is not a useful tool and is not intended to work th at way for business.

Benefits Among the most attractive benefits of Skype is that it is free and you can see the person you are talking with. To purchase a software licen se for 20 buyers that is compatible to what Skype can do will cost Darcy’s roughly $1,500 per month. There are no hidden charges with Skype. According to Skype’s web page, users get video and voice calls to other Skype users and “instant messaging and file s haring” all at no charge.

The video sharing feature of Skype will allow the b uyers to see products in real time. For example, if two buyers are looking at similar m erchandise from two different suppliers who are offering different pricing, then they can quickly Skype one another and compare the product to see if it is the same an d to then get the best pricing for it.

Two business writers for the Auburn Citizen in NY, state that there are business users “who can save time and money in scheduling and hold ing conferences or training sessions, demonstrate products or services for potential customers, and extend customer service by showing customers how to get th e most from your product” (Leon and Leon). Downsides Despite the benefits mentioned above, there are clear downsides to this product. I tested Skype over a one-week period by calling vari ous Skype users throughout the East Coast and tried to simulate a conversation that a b uyer might have.

First, using Skype takes getting used to. During m y five-day test, I never mastered the connection stage. This is when one Skype user “cal ls” another Skype user. Skype makes 3 a distinctive sound that lets the user know it is m aking a call. However, once you connect to whom you are calling, the picture shows, but it takes about five seconds for that picture to catch up with the person sitting th ere. In essence, it is a still picture for five seconds. Second, once I was connected to the user, I quickly realized that what I was saying was not being transmitted in real-time. There could be up to a three second lag in what I said and the user hearing it. This created a numbe r of challenges, but the biggest one was this lag kept the other user and me talking ove r each other. I just assumed the user could not hear what I said, so I repeated myself. Of course, as soon as I spoke, then I heard the user’s response to my original message, a nd thus began us talking over one another. This was a persistent problem throughout my first two calls, but got better once I became more familiar with the technology. Third, the picture is grainy, like an old TV. In t his world of high definition, the picture I was getting with Skype looked like a 1970s televisi on set. I could see the person fine, but the lack of clarity was alarming. If buyers we re trying to compare colors of a fabric, for instance, that would be nearly impossible to do because of the degraded picture quality. Fourth, I experienced a number of connectivity issu es throughout my test. I was only able to connect immediately on four of my 10 test c alls. On the others, I thought the person picked up, but there was no one there, and I had to re-connect. This caused frustration and made me want to discard Skype each time it happened. Also during calls, it was not uncommon for the connection to be lost, and I would have to try and re- connect again. I am not sure why this occurs, but it happened on nearly 40% of my calls. Again, this caused a great deal of frustration. Finally, there are concerns that the privacy of Sky pe users is being violated by Microsoft, “Anyone who uses Skype has consented to the company reading everything they write” (“Skype with Care). Recommendation The use of Skype really boils down to money. If we are trying to save money and need a readily available, free solution, then Skype is a c ontender. However, even though it is free, Skype poses a number of technology challenges that are outlined above. This alone makes this technology untenable for our compa ny. At the swift pace we move, little challenges like the one Skype poses lead me to not recommend the product.

There are a number of other services we can use, in cluding many instant messaging programs that provide similar services as Skype, bu t do it better. We can even use FaceTime, from Apple, that can be used on Macs, iPh ones, iPads, and iPods, and most of our buyers seem to have at least one of these produ cts. 4 In summary, although Skype is free, it does not mee t the need we have to interconnect buyers across the East Coast and allow them to quic kly and efficiently conduct business. I do not recommend Skype for Darcy’s buyers. 5 Works Cited Leon, Norma, and Tony Leon. "Sky’s the limit for Sk ype video call uses." The Citizen. N.p., Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. .

"Skype with care – Microsoft is reading everything you write. ." The H Security . N.p., May 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. .

"What is Skype?." Skype. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. .