What is unified communications (UC)?
Unified communications (UC) brings your business calls, chat messages, video conferences and presence status together in one app. Instead of jumping between a desk phone, a chat tool and a separate video app, your team works from one place, on any device. With cloud unified communications, everything runs online. So there’s no phone system sitting in a cupboard at the office, waiting for someone to fix it.
Sound familiar? A customer calls your main number. Reception answers, puts them on hold and sends a message in another app to check if Sarah is free. Sarah is in a video call in a third app and doesn’t see it. The customer waits. Then they hang up. Nobody did anything wrong. Your tools just don’t talk to each other. That’s exactly the problem unified communications is designed to fix.
Unified communications meaning in plain English
“Unified” simply means joined up. UC is the umbrella term for bringing the different ways your team communicates into one system, with one address book and one overview.
A typical unified communication system includes:
- Telephony: calls, hunt groups, call queues and the option to redirect calls
- Chat: chat conversations with colleagues, one-to-one or in a group chat
- Video: video conversations and video conferences
- Presence: a presence list that shows who is available, busy or away
- Voicemail: messages that follow you, wherever you work
- Integrations: links with your CRM and Microsoft Teams
The idea is simple. When all of this sits in one app, you spend less time looking for people and more time actually helping customers.
Why cloud unified communications?
A few years ago, most business phone systems (often called a PBX) lived on a server at the office. Someone had to maintain it, update it and call an engineer when it went wrong. Adding a new starter often meant waiting for a new line.
With cloud unified communications, the system runs in a secure data centre instead. That means:
- No phone system hardware to maintain at your office
- Updates happen in the background, so you always use the latest version
- You add or remove users in a few clicks as your team changes
- You work from the office, at home or on the road with the same business number
Your phone number isn’t tied to a desk anymore. It’s tied to you.
How Xelion does unified communications
Xelion started as a business phone system, and good telephony is still at the heart of everything we do. Around that, we’ve added the other channels your team uses every day. Here’s what that looks like in practice.
A customer calls. Xelion recognises the number and shows you who it is before you answer. You check the presence list and see that Sarah is free. You transfer the call in one click. No hold music marathon, no messages in three different apps.
Busy period at the support desk? Calls go into a call queue and reach the next available colleague. You set opening hours, an auto-attendant and redirect rules yourself, so calls go where you want them to go.
Working from home today? Open the Xelion Windows App on your laptop or the Xelion iOS App or Xelion Android App on your phone. Your business number comes with you. If your team lives in Microsoft Teams, the Xelion Microsoft Teams App gives you a Xelion dialler and your Xelion address book right inside Teams.
Want to know how your team is doing? Reports and the Xelion Statistics Dashboard show you how many calls came in, how long people waited and how many calls were missed. You see where things go well and where you can make changes.
A few things make Xelion different:
- One licence with everything included, so you don’t pay extra for modules you need every day
- Developed in-house by Xelion, with 38 years of experience in business communications
- GDPR compliant, so you know how your data is handled
- Optional extras through Xelion Plus, such as WhatsApp Business, when you want to add more channels
Choosing a unified communications platform: what to check
If you’re comparing options, it’s easy to get lost in feature lists. Plenty of enterprise unified communications solutions come packed with tools you’ll never use, plus a price list to match. Start with what your team actually needs. Ask these questions:
- Is the telephony solid? Calls are still the channel your customers rely on most.
- Is it one licence, or a pile of add-ons? Check what’s included as standard.
- Does it work on the devices your team already uses? Desktop, smartphone, browser and desk phone.
- Can you see what’s happening? Look for clear reports and a live overview.
- Who helps you set it up and supports you afterwards?
That last question matters more than you might think. Xelion works with accredited partners across the UK. Your partner sets up your unified communication solution, moves your numbers over and stays your first point of contact. So you deal with someone who knows your business, not a faceless helpdesk.
Keep your communications unified, not scattered
Whether you run a small office, a medical practice or a busy sales team, the goal is the same. Customers reach the right person. Colleagues find each other quickly. And you keep an overview of what’s going on. That’s what a good unified communications solution should do for you, without making things more complicated.
