Top 10 IP telephony solutions for businesses in 2023

Are you looking to set up IP telephony in your company? You are in the right place with our list of the best voice over IP solutions on the market. Firstly, here is a little reminder about what IP telephony or VOIP is: IP telephony (Internet Protocol) allows telephone calls to be made via an Internet connection rather than a telephone line.

For further reading: IP telephony: why has it become essential?

In this article, we will introduce you to a non-exhaustive list of different VOIP solutions available to help you choose.

1. XiVO, the open source and 100% French IP telephony solution

In 2005, XiVO developed its first open-source version in Paris.

In October 2020, XiVO, integrated and maintained by the company Avencall joined the Wisper group. Wisper is then strengthened by a partnership with Free-Pro (ex : Jaguar Network) on May 2021.

Being an enterprise VoIP telephony tool fully virtual (if needed) and scalable, as well as powerful and open source. XIVO solutions enable simple architectures to be built for all types of organizations : from 150 to over 5000 users.

For more than 18 years, XiVO has been supporting businesses public or private in their transition to VoiP, by offering them a reliable solution and adapted to their needs.

Today, more than 400 companies and 200 public organizations trust XiVO and use it daily.

XiVO proposes 2 solutions:

• XiVO UC (Unified communication) which offers a unified and collaborative communication solution for companies with softphony interfaces, hosting, chat, video conferencing and mobile application interfaces for fixed and mobile personnel.
• XiVO CC (Contact Center) which is the right solution for call centers with Agent and Manager interfaces to optimize call times and statistical tools to analyze call flows.

2. Teams, the Microsoft telephony solution

Most people have heard about Microsoft Teams, an American collaborative solution offering collaborative platform integrated to Microsoft 365.

Launched in 2016, Teams was formerly part of the Skype solution.  Being a US solution, Teams is a solution that can be submitted to the Cloud Act. The CLOUD Act (Clarifyng Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) is a US law that allows US courts to obtain electronic data stored abroad by US companies in legal proceedings.

Instead, it is recommended to use European solutions as the one previously mentioned in the article, to have a guarantee of digital sovereignty.

3. 3CX, the classical and performant tool

Created in 2005 by Nick Galea, 3CX has its main offices in Cyprus. This solution is well known to users of IP telephony with VoIP IPBX software.

It is present in many countries: Australia, Cyprus, Dubai, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

3CX offers a free solution for up to 10 users, but pricing starting at 145€ for 4 calls at the same time.

The solution is mostly an interesting solution for small businesses which have very specific needs.

4. Mitel, the easy-to-use Canadian solution

Founded in 1972, Mitel is one of the oldest player on our list. Indeed, this Canadian solution created by Michael Cowpland et Terry Matthews offers a range of products including IP phone solution, instant messaging solutions, collaboration tools in real-time and systems of customer relationship management.

It is possible to do a free trial, but Mitel provided mainly prices on demand.

Mitel offers, as does Avaya and Alcatel Lucent (below), a licensed enterprise telephony solution and Unified On Premise solution.

The solution sells relatively high cost software updates and upgrades. This will, therefore, lead to high support and maintenance costs for Mitel users.

5. Avaya, an important player in communication

Born in Santa Clara, California, Avaya offers since the year 2000 communication solutions. This includes solutions for unified communications, IP telephony and call centre solutions.

As an American solution, it is subject to Cloud Act, which can have a negative impact if you want to use a sovereign solution alligned with European standards.

Avaya offers a solution from 10,99€/month/user with a limited number of features.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that Avaya is currently experiencing a new difficult situation with a new bankruptcy.

Avaya offers enterprise telephony and unified communications solution with On Premise technology, subject to licensing.

The solution offers relatively high cost software updates and upgrades. This will lead to high support and maintenance costs for users.

6. Alcatel-Lucent, a historical player in IP telephony

Alcatel Lucent is a French company born from the merger between Alcatel (French company) and Lucent Technologies (American company) in 2006. It was then acquired by Nokia in the year 2015.

The organization in one of the leading providers of IP telephony, but does not necessarily offer the advantages and flexibility of companies that are more human-sized and meet higher safety and visibility standards. It offers a classical VoiP solution which is “suitable for corporate environments and contact centres” as indicated in its product sheet.

The offer “Rainbow“ is available for unified communication: starting at 10€ for 100 posts.

7. Enreach, the Mobile First solution

Enreach, so called since 2021 but initially called Centile Telecom Applications, offers telephony solutions as well as voice mail, call transfer, conference calls, etc. The company focuses its efforts around three pillars which are productivity, collaboration and onboarding.

It is a European solution that bases its efforts mainly on "mobile first”.

Despite all its advantages, Enreach does not offer many tools like chat, knowledge base or FAQ, according to Capterra.

Enreach is a relevant solution for quite small companies which have very specific needs.

8. Axialys, a French Tech solution

Axialys is a French company that offers a SaaS software. Axialys is a VoiP solution, a call center solution and a commercial tool.

With the label “French Tech” of Axialys, Axialys is a solution hosted in France, but available only in french and english.

Also, Axialys proposes only one format which is a cloud solution and unfortunately no “On Premise” solution that would allow corporate clients to have a total control over their data.

9. Ringover, the business trend of IP telephony

In 2005 is created BJT Partners, then renamed Ringovera solution that is also well known for voice over Internet Protocol.

Ringover is a a SaaS software integrating classical options of IP telephony.

The solution has gone from a free version with application restriction to a paid version at €19 excl. tax/ user/ month integrating features such as calls to 110 contacts, landline number, videoconference, telephone reception or call recording.

We note that Ringover is not an open-source solution. Open-source solutions allow a gain of flexibility, ease of access, dynamism and relatively low costs.

10. Aircall, the scale up business IP solution

Aircall is a solution founded in 2014 by Olivier Pailhes, Jonathan Anguelov, Pierre-Baptiste Béchu and Xavier Durand.

This software is a cloud-based IP telephony system.

The company has since moved to the United States and is therefore subject to the Cloud Act, which does not make it a tool that respects the digital sovereignty of its users. The company is listed with American investors like Goldman Sachs.

Aircall sells a solution from 30€ per user with a minimum of 3 users.

You now have all the information you need to choose the software that suits you best.

There are many differences between the solutions mentioned above, as security, the type of software (SaaS or On Premise, open-source or ownership), of tarification, geographical area etc.

Please do not hesitate to join one of our experts to deepen your market analysis.