Today we are extending the value of the Skype Developer Platform with a collection of new capabilities designed to support an important scenario with broad application across a range of industries – remote advisors connecting over real-time voice and video with external customers using the power of Skype for Business and Office 365.
Skype for Business App SDK
After previewing the Skype for Business App SDK last year at the Build 2016 conference, we’re excited to announce that the App SDK will be made generally available on Friday, February 17th. The App SDK provides packages for iOS and Android, and enables developers to seamlessly integrate messaging, audio, and video experiences into existing native mobile and tablet applications.
The focus of this initial release of the SDK is to power “remote advisor” solutions that enable native iOS and Android apps to embed communications from external guests to users within a Skype for Business organization. For organizations using Skype for Business Server, the SDK utilizes existing guest meeting join capabilities. For organizations using Skype for Business Online, the App SDK takes advantage of new preview features for integrating trusted applications.
Please visit the Skype for Business App SDK MSDN page for more information on how you can incorporate the App SDK into your own iOS and Android applications.
Dynamic Guest Access (Preview)
Providing a secure and reliable Remote Advisor experience to customers outside of your organization requires two key elements – seamless integration with your existing customer identity system, and dynamic control over how your trusted applications can authorize those users to access Skype for Business Online. Today we’re excited to announce the first extension of the Skype Developer Platform to support trusted applications in Skype for Business Online with a public preview of the Skype Developer Platform – Dynamic Guest Access feature.
Dynamic Guest Access builds on a REST-based API that enables developers to facilitate meeting scheduling and authorize users to access Skype for Business Online resources using secure, session-based tokens. Dynamic Guest Access works together with the Skype Web SDK, App SDK, and UCWA to enable Remote Advisor and other business-to-consumer solutions.
To learn more about the Dynamic Guest Access preview feature, please visit the Skype for Business GitHub repository.
Office 365 Virtual Health Templates
Earlier today we announced the release of Office 365 Virtual Health Templates that allow you to accelerate building your virtual consult experiences by providing an open source solution with a range of samples and components that are needed to support the end-to-end workflow of a virtual care visit. Supporting everything from bot-assisted scheduling to custom lobby experiences, these templates take full advantage of all of the Skype Developer Platform capabilities announced today and will help customers get even more value from their existing Skype for Business investment. We’re excited to make these templates available and looking forward to continued feedback and contributions from our developer community in the coming weeks.
Download the templates today and get started on developing your own Remote Advisor solution.
