Hosted VoIP Phone System Services: Meaning & Benefits

What hosted VoIP means, how it works and why more UK businesses are switching to it

Half your team works from home, but the phone still only rings at a desk in the office. A customer calls the main number, and nobody's quite sure who's free to pick up. Sound familiar?

A hosted VoIP phone system is a phone system that runs over the internet instead of through copper phone lines. The system itself sits in the cloud, not in a cabinet somewhere in your office, so your team can call and be called from a laptop, a mobile or a desk phone, wherever they happen to be working. It's also known as hosted voice, hosted IP telephony or hosted voice over IP, and it's quickly becoming the normal way UK businesses handle their calls.

 

How does hosted voice work?

With a hosted phone system like this, the technical side sits with your provider, not with you. Calls come in over your internet connection, get routed through the cloud, and land wherever you've told the system to send them: a desk phone, a laptop or an app on a mobile. This is what sets hosted voice apart from a traditional phone line: everything runs through software, so there's no phone cabinet to maintain and no engineer visit every time someone new joins the team.

Most hosted VoIP systems, Xelion included, work with a normal internet connection and everyday devices, so setup usually takes days rather than weeks. Because everything runs on hosted IP voice technology, adding a new office, a home worker or a whole new team is mostly a case of adding a licence, not a cabinet.

 

The benefits of hosted voice

A GP's reception, a contact centre and a five-person sales team all use their phones differently, but hosted voice gives them the same basic advantages.

You decide who receives a call and when. Set up call groups, queues and opening hours, so a call to your main number always reaches someone who can help, even outside normal hours.

You see who's available before you put a customer through. Instead of placing them on hold and hoping a colleague answers, you check the overview first and send the call straight to someone who's actually free.

You keep one number wherever you work. Whether someone's in the office, at home or between appointments, calls to the business number reach them on whatever device they're using.

Managers get a clear overview too. Call reports show how many calls came in, how long people waited and where calls were missed, so you can staff a queue properly instead of guessing.

These hosted VoIP services also connect to the tools your team already uses, such as your CRM system or Microsoft Teams, so colleagues can see who's calling before they even pick up.

 

What to look for in hosted VoIP providers

Not every provider offers the same thing, so it's worth checking a few points before you switch. Look at what's actually included in the price. Some charge extra for queues, reporting or mobile apps, so check whether these already sit inside the licence.

Ask how the hosted IP phone system connects to your other software, since a phone system that doesn't talk to your CRM just creates extra work instead of saving it. And check what happens if something goes wrong. A good provider gives you a UK-based support team, not a helpdesk in a different time zone.

Xelion has been building hosted VoIP phone systems for European businesses for more than 36 years, so partners and customers get a system that's had time to mature.

 

How to resell hosted VoIP with Xelion

If you're an IT provider or telecoms reseller, there's also a straightforward way to add this to what you offer, without turning yourself into a phone company. Xelion doesn't sell directly to end users. Every system runs through a partner, so you stay the point of contact for your customer and keep the relationship, the invoicing and the support conversation.

As a hosted VoIP reseller, you get one licence that already includes calling, chat, reporting and mobile apps, so there's nothing extra to bolt on before you can quote a customer. Xelion also gives partners marketing materials, technical support for trickier installs, and the option to add extra services on top, such as call recording tools or a mini website through Xelion Plus.

If you already sell IT or telecoms services, this is usually the easiest way to add it to your portfolio.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. People use several different names for the same kind of phone system: one that runs in the cloud instead of on site. Whichever term brought you here, at Xelion we build one system that works the same way underneath, regardless of what you call it.

It means the phone system itself lives in the cloud rather than in a cabinet on your premises. You still make and receive calls as normal, from a desk phone, a laptop or a mobile, but there's no on-site hardware to maintain.

Cost mostly depends on how many users you have. Most providers work with one licence per user that already includes calling, chat and reporting, so there's usually nothing extra to add on top.

Not really. It works with equipment you probably already have, such as a laptop, a mobile or an existing desk phone. All you need is a decent internet connection.

Incoming calls can usually be redirected to a mobile number or a colleague's line, so you don't miss anything important while the connection is back up. It's worth asking a provider how this is handled before you switch.

Yes. Your current numbers can normally be ported across to a new system, so customers keep calling the number they already know.

Since there's no cabinet to install, setup usually takes days rather than weeks. Most of the time goes into setting up call groups, queues and opening hours the way you want them.

Yes. As a reseller, you keep your own branding on invoices and communication, while Xelion looks after the technology behind the scenes. If you want to go a step further, Xelion Plus lets you add a customer-specific mini website on top, so you can offer this as part of a wider package rather than a single product.

Request a demo

Xelion has spent more than 36 years building phone systems, and over 15,000 companies across Europe now use one. If you want to see how this would work for your business, request a demo and we'll talk you through it using your own numbers and your own team, no pressure and no jargon.

Request a demo