XO Communications Expands UC Features on its Hosted PBX Service

By Michael Guta
TMCnet Contributing Writer

An effective communications solution can drive organizations to be more productive and avoid many of the problems that arise because of inability to reach all the intended targets. With more people working from anywhere, anytime and on any device, a unified communications (UC) solution that can bring everyone together is essential. A company that is improving its UC offering to meet the new requirement of its customers is XO Communications, provider of advanced IP communications, with the launch of a full suite of UC features for its Hosted PBX (News - Alert) (HPBX) service.

The company designed the new XO HPBX UC to ensure it can address the collaborative environment currently being deployed in the workplace. It simplifies the way in which users communicate and collaborate using different devices, including desk phones, smartphones, tablets, desktops and laptops. Additionally, it integrates work phone numbers to personal smart mobile devices and computers while keeping the data separate. This allows employees to receive phone calls, emails and locate coworkers whether they are at the office or out of the field.

“In today’s highly mobile business economy, enterprises need their employees to be able to collaborate anytime, anywhere using high-quality voice, data, video and other apps on company provided and personal devices,” said Jake Heinz, senior vice president of marketing and product at XO Communications (News - Alert).

The new XO HPBX features include:

• Instant messaging;
• Presence - availability status;
• Integration with Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook;
• Web-based collaboration, document and desktop sharing;
• Video calling and fax-to-email capabilities along with WorkTime mobility application that incorporates a smartphone app and virtual phone client for the user’s desktop.

The addition of these new UC communication features are designed to provide more access to the solutions users need to enhance productivity levels. With this platform in place, businesses can have a more agile infrastructure with reduced complexity and simplified management. This includes the ability to scale at will as the needs of the organization continues to increase.

The cloud PBX and unified communications services is expected to grow to $12 billion globally by 2018, according to Infonetics (News - Alert). The demand is being driven by the need for organizations to have a collaboration platform that can be accessed at all times. The new XO HPBX features has enhanced its award winning platform with more tools for improving the ability of businesses to communicate effectively.