atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems XBlue Networks Telephones & Systems XBlue, comments

I keep getting email from XBlue, and up till now have always deleted the mail without reading it. I got bored yesterday and opened the mail and was pleasantly surprised with their offering. The phones look cool and seem to be relatively feature rich for small to mid size businesses.

We have always sold and serviced NEC exclusively, with emphasis on the DSX product. Does anyone know from experience how the Xblue and DSX compare in user friendlyness? We like the DSX and our customers love it because it is so easy to use.

I would like to hear what you folks say about the PROS and CONS of the Xblue.

The folks at X-Blue are straight-shooters and they won't lie to you in an effort to tell you what you want to hear. They have recognized the huge segment of the market that is the typical 6x16 arena and are taking advantage of it.

At the same time, they are maintaining the small-mid sized business mindset. Their systems offer the features that people actually use, not just a page full of the same feature described in three different ways.

I encourage you to go to their web site and sign up for one of their on-line webinars. They will tell you everything you need to know, plus you will be able to hear feedback from dealers who have been selling the product. It will be well-worth an hour of your time.

And we have been selling?? Comdial DX80 & DX120 but from the feed back here about Tech. Support for this equipment. I think the boss is now considering Xblue also.

Gentlemen, a few comments....

The first time I met the powers that be at X-Blue, Ernie Meadows came to town to see me and my wife. He even brought Larry Steinmetz. The first question from him was what could he help me with to sell X-Blue. Not what I could do for him but what could he do for me.

He asked about features, install, what did he need to do to improve the system (45p systems at that time). The smaller X-16 and the bigger 100 were the outcome of his questions to many dealers. Their basic VM did more for so much less, they were at least 18 months ahead of most manufacturers, and about 2/3 the price....now the others have finally caught up.

Are they perfect? No. Did they grow too fast? Yes. Have they lost focus? It doesn't seem so. I have had a few issues about RMAs, getting repair parts, etc., but they are gaining on those issues. Their on-line RMA and repair info will help the average person.

Ed's suggestion of signing in for a webinar is good advice...one hour will tell you a lot. It may not be your cup of tea....or it could be.

Check out their private branding option....it can help customer retention.

Good luck.

X-Blue is small enough to personally care about each dealer, something that is pretty much gone from everybody else.

They also have the ability to have TECOM make changes to the software or hardware fairly quickly if they see a need. Ever tried to get Vertical to listen to you, much less change something?

Paul, Ernie and gang are good people and I think a company that can fill the needs for small systems.

Now, if we could ever sell something again. :bang:

--Bill.

I wholeheartly agree with Bill. Plus, the dealer attitude that Vodavi used to have can be found now at Xblue.

Now, if we ever sell anything again too, we expect it will be because of Xblue.

OK... So I am encouraged with the feedback of the company..... there aren't too many companies around these days that garner such positive responses.

What about the technical side? From reading the installation guide it looks easy to install. What about programming? Any issues or concerns there?

What about customer use? Can they navigate through features using the display or do they have to have a cheat sheet with feature codes?

Can the voice mail auto attendant be programmed for one-touch dial transfers... e.g., "Press 1 for sales, press 2 for billing, or dial your party's extension"... (I couldn't find in the installation manual where this kind of programming is done).

X-Blue researched the typical needs for a small business and honed-in upon the most commonly used features in their system offerings. Most small key systems don't need six external paging zones or multiple park locations. Let's face it, these businesses put the call on hold and pick it up at another phone. That being said, X-Blue has reduced the cost of developing extravagant software to provide features that are never used. They pass this onto their dealers.

Be careful though. Don't sell a customer an X-16 and tell them that it will do whatever they want like you can do with other products at a higher price. There are some assumptions that people make, especially with regard to VM and AA. There are certainly limitations in what these systems will do, but you get what you pay for.

They are trying to provide a product that will fit into the typical small office environment at a reasonable cost. This seems to be working.

Let's not forget Larry, the president of X-Blue who also came over from Vodavi. The company is also comprised of some great people who came over from Sprint North Supply. These are all great people to work with.

I installed 1-9 phone x16 system in mid December. Have not had any support calls since then. Perhaps because of the simplicity. I am a little concerned about not being able to program remotely. That feature would probably be nice but add to the cost. Probably against all "sales" principles, I made a Word document list of the limitations and benefits that I perceived and went through them during the demo with the customer. None of them, including name recognition, were a problem for him. He bought on the spot. I think the appearance of the phones, the pricing, and the fact that I had installed two other manufacturer's systems in his other locations helped. He had received other quotes that he ignored, including one from me for other systems. When he saw the x16, he jumped at it.

eriway:

No, the AA only allows you to record a message subsequently allowing the caller to dial an extension. IE "Dial 100 for Sales, 101 for Support"