Financial services firm Edison Ford has four offices across the UK, employing more than 50 accountants, financial advisers, solicitors and property consultants. Employees at the company need to be in constant contact with colleagues, partners and clients – who may be based anywhere in the world.

It is a problem common to many small firms – but one that is not necessarily expensive to address.

‘We do a lot of business with clients in Africa, Europe and Asia through our overseas property division, and that used to be very expensive,’ says John Moon, the firm’s managing director. ‘So that’s why we started using internet telephony from Skype at the start of the year.’

For Moon, the best thing about Skype is how easy it is to use once installed.

‘You literally just click on an icon on the computer desktop, and then click on the name of the person you want to call,’ he says. ‘It’s very logical and we haven’t had to invest in any training or technical support.’

Moon says Skype also offers benefits that a conventional phone cannot match.

‘With Skype, I can see if someone is at their desk and online before I make the call,' he says. ‘It also lets me send an instant message if I don’t want to disturb them with a phone call.’

Edison Ford uses a feature of Skype called Skype Out, which lets the firm dial non-Skype users through the Skype account. Although there is a charge for these calls, the cost is still substantially less than using a conventional phone, says Moon.

‘It also has the advantage of giving us a regular landline number as well as a Skype user name, so people don’t have to be on Skype to be able to call us,’ he says.

In future, the organisation may also investigate other Skype applications, including video calls, which Moon has recently used for the first time.

‘I actually did a second interview for a new member of staff using the v ideo-calling application, because she couldn’t get in to the office,’ Moon says.

‘It worked absolutely fine – in fact, she’s now working in the office.’

Moon says that if a client uses Skype to call the firm, the quality of the call is indistinguishable from a regular telephone line.

‘I only had interference on the line once, but when I hung up and dialled again it was fine,’ he says. ‘To me, the only difference is that it’s cheaper.’