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.
