So here it is, that odd hinterland between Christmas and new year, and for many of us it's back to business as usual. Hopefully some companies will find things easier on the communication front, thanks to the business tweaks Skype has added to the latest version of its software.

As well as the recently-announced enhancements to the Skype for Business Control Panel,
Skype 3.0 now includes upgraded features enabling system administrators to configure and control the software across their company. These functions are expected to evolve into a set of tools that can be switched on or off and fine-tuned according to the needs of the organisation.

For the time being, Skype will rely on an "ecosystem" of third parties to adapt and integrate Skype for business uses – but in the long term we may even see specially-trained "Skype integrators" popping up to do the business for, erm, businesses.

This sounds to me like an excellent move. At present, many employees are unable to download brilliantly useful freeware like Skype (Google Toolbar and instant messengers get similar treatment) because business owners fail to see how it would benefit their business. A friend of mine recently worked for a national company even resisted setting up internal email, saying that it'll "stop people working".

The fact is that these technologies encourage communication in our global culture: and that's the bedrock of creative workflow. To hold employees hostage in a luddite software-phobic working environment is to harm your business, and who'd want to do that?