Bring your own device, or BYOD, is without question effective for both internal and external business communications. In fact, seven out of 10 employees choose to work using their personal devices, according to Ovum (News - Alert). Furthermore, 65 percent of companies allow employees’ personal devices to connect to their network, according to data from Checkpoint. At the end of the day, the BYOD and enterprise mobility market is worth an impressive $284.70 billion, according to a May 2014 MarketsandMarkets report.

Companies everywhere are vying for a slice of this pie. Among the contenders is Microsoft (News - Alert), which has emerged as a game-changer in the space thanks to its Lync solutions. Lync is touted as the next big thing in unified communications, combining videoconferencing, presence, IM, SharePoint, Outlook and, of course, voice. You can also share contacts right from Outlook when stored in your server, and participate in document and desktop sharing. For the remote worker, these features are readily available from a smartphone.