Creating a seamless cross-platform meeting solution for Nielsen's global communication needs
- eCommerce
- B2B
- Technology
- Information and Media
- Microsoft365
- Browser Extension
Nielsen’s understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, empowers their clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their audiences. An S&P 500 company, Nielsen operates around the world in more than 55 countries.
The Challenge
Before Microsoft launched Teams, Microsoft Skype for Business was the choice instant messaging and video conferencing application for enterprises, including Nielsen. They frequently used Skype for Business to host training sessions, webinars and conference calls within the organization.
However, to schedule these meetings, their preferred choice of office productivity software was G-Suite, namely, Google Calendar.
Unlike now, the basic user could not link the two platforms—meaning meetings via Skype for Business were not automatically updated on the teams’ Google Calendar app.
Objective
Integrate the two platforms, allowing automated scheduling between Skype for Business and Google Calendar, simplifying the process company-wide.
Development
The two products could not be linked as their APIs did not support integration between them. To combat this, we developed a simple but effective Google Chrome extension.
This meant the manual two-step process of setting up the calls on Skype for Business and then manually sending Google Calendar invites to participants was reduced to one simple automated step.
After installing the chrome extension, the ’Add Skype for Business Meeting’ button would appear in the Google Calendar ’Create Event’ window. By clicking on it, you’d instantly add the meeting URL and information to the event description.
Due to Nielsen’s large, global employee base, to encourage the use of this product, the extension was rolled out in collaboration with Microsoft, bundled in with their Microsoft Office365 licenses.
The Result
A dramatically improved user experience leading to increased productivity for Nielsen’s 6000 employees based in the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, Australia and more.