Group Chat

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat allows users to participate in ongoing discussions on topics of shared interest. The history of the conversation is maintained so that teams in different locations and departments can review discussions even when users are online at different times. Group chat enhances communication and allows geographically distributed teams to work together efficiently. Group chat is delivered through a client specialised for group conversations that shares the same identity and presence information of Office Communicator 2007 R2. Users can see members who are currently online in any chat room along with their presence status and right click to initiate a 1-on-1 conversation with them. Through Office Communications Server 2007 R2 federation capabilities, you can also set up federated chat rooms so business partners, customers, and vendors can participate in shared group discussions.

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Group Chat supports many types of content so that you can share the right information with the right colleagues easily. Documents and links can be included within discussions for easy access to topic-related materials. Group Chat discussion archives serve as a powerful knowledge management tool for your organisation. When users post questions, everyone who is currently part of the discussion can benefit from the responses of subject matter experts. Anyone who later joins the discussion also benefits from reviewing the archives, so Group Chat is an important resource for the entire team.

The built-in features of Group Chat enable users who frequently participate to stay current with content that they really care about. Users can customize how they are alerted to new posts. They can choose to receive minimal interruptions by having unread message counts displayed in the chat room panel, or they can choose to be notified of content via flashing taskbar, sounds, or a window that comes to the forefront of the screen. Notification preferences can be set as default or customised for each chat room. User-defined filters allow the user to choose criteria, such as combinations of keywords or messages from specific people, and be actively alerted when those messages are posted.