Xelion Review – Strong Microsoft Integration and App Marketplace

We take a good look at the offering from Xelion

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Xelion Review
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Published: March 10, 2021

David Dungay

Editor in Chief

Hosted telephony provider Xelion has been pushing the boundaries of software-driven solutions aimed at the SME market. The business has made the conscious decision to not only deliver flexible solutions for customers but also to only sell through a select group of partners.

The platform brings together the need for traditional telephony functionality in the cloud alongside modern UC-driven tools and functions including apps for the desktop and mobiles that enable flexible-working out of the box with no bolt-ons.

Xelion has a clear strategy for integration into the Microsoft echo-system which is included for free for every user. With the built-in Azure Active Directory sync, users can log in to Xelion with their 365 credentials which the 365 administrators can manage. The integration can connect and sync to a user’s calendar, contacts and teams client if required.

 

Xelion’s open architecture enables partners to develop bespoke solutions for customers. The platform is vendor-agnostic which means customers can connect any network, manufacturer, CRM, SIP provider and third-party apps to the platform.

This approach enables partners to build solutions with best of breed apps that meet specific customer requirements, instead of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ service.

History

Xelion was founded in the Netherlands in 1988 as a bespoke software development consultancy and launched the first Xelion cloud voice service in 2012 and entered UK market in 2016 with Xelion 6. Xelion’s roadmap is driven by customer trends and feature requests from partners which are submitted via the partner portal. The feedback loop is key for Xelion meeting real customer demands and ensures their channel partner’s propositions only grow in value over time.

Xelion has always been a software-driven platform and has delivered a softphone environment since its inception. In recent years Xelion has focused its efforts on integration, via its marketplace, and the solution is deeply embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Key Features

Xelion provides a range of features to give customers access to modern-day communication services. Key features include:

  • Traditional telephone in the cloud – Xelion includes all the traditional telephony functions and features customers still required in the modern flexible working environment. Hunt groups, call queues, overflows, personal and group mailboxes and much more come as standard
  • Standardised user interface app across all devices – The highly developed desktop, mobile and tablet apps mean users have the same interface experience across all platforms. No data is stored locally on any device, all data is store in the platform, the apps are merely a window into the platform
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Xelion hosts their entire infrastructure with the most advanced data centres in the world powered by AWS and offer partners a fully managed service so they don’t have to worry about unnecessary on-premises equipment and ongoing maintenance costs. This also offers exceptional connectivity as the majority of, if not all ISPs connect into AWS
  • Hardware independent– With support for a wide range of IP based hardware, accessories, door entry systems and more, Xelion can auto-provision all popular brands of hardware though the admin console for easy deployment
  • Flexible storage functionality– Customers can extract data or call recordings at any time as individual files or bulk downloads. Each account includes 1Gb of storage per user with options to purchase additional storage if downloading is not suitable
  • Customer service operations– Xelion supports Listen in live, stop/start call recording, online payments via a 3rd party partner, intelligent call routing options along with interactive wallboards and multiple levels of reporting tools
  • Open SIP policy – Xelion can be used with almost any network provider’s SIP trunk service. This enables Partners to use different SIP providers suited to meeting with different customer needs

In the last 12 months, new features launched have included:

  • Teams Direct Routing
  • WhatsApp integration
  • Added support for Snom devices
  • Added support for new T4x Yealink range
  • Added support for HTTPS device provision
  • Added SME focused web reports service on top of the existing automated and query reports
  • Added bulk call recording management tools for mass extract/sync to 3rdparty drives 
  • Added phone-bridge integrator to support another 20 CRM packages
  • New SIP stacks for mobile apps to support high caller volumes on mobile devices

Coming soon…

Xelion has a strong roadmap and delivers high-quality updates two to three times per year. The roadmap is predominantly structured around partner feature requests and market trends. Feature requests are reviewed on a weekly basis by the Xelion user focus group and if accepted added to the roadmap for future releases.

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The big launch of 2021 is expected to be Xelion 8. Xelion 8 will be the biggest Xelion release to date and include completely new desktop and mobile apps, new collaboration services and further integration into Microsoft 365 and Teams.

Microsoft Teams

Xelion was quick to market with their first Teams integration using Direct Routing in 2019. The service connects into the core of the Xelion platform which enables customers to use the Microsoft Teams application as an independent softphone to call out over the Xelion platform. This allows customers to use the power of the MS Teams collaboration with the power of Xelion’s call routing and functions underneath.

During the summer of 2021, Xelion will launch a new Teams integrator for all Xelion users that will enable calling from Teams without the need for a Microsoft phone system licence or bolt-on charge.

Partner Benefits

With a 100 per cent channel-only approach, Xelion offers partners a number of support and training options, including dedicated sales and technical training to all new and existing partners via their in-house experts. They even offer this expertise for customer demonstrations to help partners close more business.

Partners are in control with Xelion and can offer a platform with an open architecture with a full rest API. This allows partners to build exciting voice solutions suited to their customers’ demands and needs whilst still offering value-added solutions differentiating them from their competitors

Xelion is aiming to take partners from being reliant and tied to a single product supplier, to having the ability and skills to control and manage Xelion as a service provider themselves.

Platform benefits

  • All-in user Licence – Xelion licence by users, NOT by devices – every user has access to the Xelion (Softphone) desktop client, mobile app as standard and support for multiple devices
  • No hidden extras or chargeable bolt-ons – all features included as standard in each user licence. Partners and end customer have access to everything Xelion have to offer out the box
  • Integration Market Place – Programming interfaces between Xelion and customers preferred back-office apps is resource-heavy. This innovative new service provides partners and end customers with the ability to choose ‘pre packed’ UC applications that have all passed rigorous testing to ensure seamless integration

laptop xelion

Verdict

Xelion is committed to putting the power of technology in the hands of its trusted partners. This refreshing approach enables partners to produce great solutions for customers with wildly different requirements.

A huge stumbling block to migrating customers from on-premises to hosted solutions is the need to integrate back-office functions with the hosted telephony platform for a comprehensive UC solution. That’s why Xelion allows third-party apps to be integrated seamlessly through the platform via their impressive list of integrations accessed via their marketplace. Although the brand is less known outside of its home market (Netherlands) it has a substantial customer base and is gaining traction in all the key markets including the UK, Ireland and Germany.

Capabilities Checklist

User Experience   Included Optional Notes
Cloud Calling Options (UCaaS / Hosted Voice) Yes
Calling Plans – Global availability of Dial-in Numbers (DID/DDIs) and local breakout to PSTN  Yes
BYOC – Bring your own Carrier e.g. SIP trunks, E1/T1 connections, SBCs Yes Wholesale SIP offering to new partners
PBX Call Routing, Auto Attendant, IVR, ACD, Queuing, Announcements, peer to peer dialling  Yes
Voice messaging/unified messaging, User mailboxes, group mailboxes, voice mail to email, voice mail transcription  Yes
Advanced Contact Centre Routing e.g. Skills-based routing, predictive routing, intelligent routing  Yes
Interoperability / Federation / Multi-site networking, SBCs  Yes Federate the platform with other PBXs that allow a SIP connection for peer to peer closed calling.
Users and extensions, access control, permissions, feature access control  Yes
UC Clients for Smartphone / Tablet multi-OS / WebRTC  Yes  All applications for multiple devices
Endpoint Devices e.g phones, conference phones, personal speakerphones, ATAs, headsets, wearables, video endpoints  Yes
Smart Endpoints with APIs, Android OS  Yes Mobile Applications for both Android and iPhone. All driven by the rest API.
Team Experience
Team Collaboration Software with voice, video, persistent chat, file sharing, Bots, integrations  Yes Chat service built into the platform, with WhatsApp for web chat.
Video Conferencing, audio bridge, VCaaS, Meeting Assistants, Room Kits, AI capabilities Coming soon Video and Collab in Xelion 8, summer 2021.
Huddle Rooms, Room kits, video endpoints  No
Interactive Whiteboards, collaboration screens Coming soon Video and Collab in Xelion 8, summer 2021.
Customer Experience
Omni-channel e.g voice, video, SMS, email, social media  Yes Video coming soon
WFO / WFM software  Yes
Call Analytics, reporting, real-time wallboards, call recording, AI analytics and insights  Yes 3 levels of reporting packs, Web reports, automated reports and a query tool which is raw data
Speech technologies, speech analytics, NLP,  No Late 2021 via Azure transcribing tools.
Chatbots, Live chat, AI enabled conversational interfaces  Yes WhatsApp Customers can utilise the marketplace for alternative solutions
Automated outbound dialling e.g click to dial, predictive, power, progressive diallers Click-to-dial as standard
Business Experience
Innovation, Leadership, financial stability, strategy, agility, ability to execute, completeness of portfolio.  Yes Agile and reactive to the market and partners. Very focussed on deliveries with 2 major releases every year
Administration, programming interface, admin training, LDAP integration, service management Yes
Integrations with 3rdparty applications e.g CRM integration Yes Marketplace
APIs / SDK / CPaaS, development hub/community, documentation, example code Yes Public API
User Adoption, support plans, help, guides, documentation, adoption programmes Yes Fully supported Partner portal for all training videos, Technical docs and marketing collateral
Resilience, geo-redundancy, global availability, deployment options e.g hybrid cloud Yes Hosted in AWS (EU West)  and can be deployed globally.
Security e.g fraud detection/prevention, ISO 27001, SBCs,  Yes Dedicated security officer inhouse monitoring day to day functions
Compliance – GDPR, MIFID, PCI-DSS, data sovereignty etc Yes Fully compliant Call recording, online payments
Licensing options, upgrades, migrations, Yes Standard user licence which includes all features. Fully support customer migration opportunities
Pricing options, group packages discounts and incentives, perpetual licensing vs subscription Yes Subscription-based model

 

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