Law Firms Can Take Advantage of Improved Efficiency and Productivity with Call Accounting Solutions

Law firms – just like any other profit-making business – are concerned about efficiency and productivity when it comes to telecom technology.

Now with tablets, smartphones and other wireless technology, lawyers can more easily work outside of the office – whether they are traveling, waiting in a courtroom for a case to be heard or working from home. But law firms also need to manage telecom costs, improve their productivity, and increase revenue via such methods as call accounting. Law firms, like other professional service firms, need to measure phone-related billable costs accurately. Without the right technology, thousands of dollars can be lost a year due to inaccurately billed clients.

In general, call accounting and reporting solutions capture call detail records (CDR) from telephones. Law firms can then get reports on telecom use and costs, as well as granular employee use of communication technologies.

One example of a well-suited product for law firms is Infortel Select, ISI's call accounting and reporting application. It provides collection and processing of CDR from on-premise PBX (News - Alert) and VoIP servers, Centrex and other hosted services, local and long distance carriers, conference services and wireless handsets, the company said. One interesting feature is Infortel Select’s Web user interface. It provides users secure access to a dashboard, access to select reports or custom reports, and traffic analysis. There is also reporting and analysis of the voice network. In addition, Infortel Select Professional Services Package (Infortel Select PSP) combines onsite software and outsourced services. It can be used as an onsite application, a web-based ASP solution or as an outsourced service, the company said. In addition, ISI (News - Alert) offers law firms telecom management tools for data and voice optimization, client billing, and voice and immersive video recording.

In the specific case of law firms, they often use contractors or consultants. They have to be able to bill back telecom costs and connect with a time and billing system. Infortel Select can do both of these. Billable hours can be tracked for landline and wireless calls by employee, by a department, or by an entire firm. Infortel Select can interface with most billing and time systems.

Accurate and secure recordings are also very important to law firms. That includes recording depositions and conversations with clients. Lawyers also need to be able to search archived interviews quickly. ISI and Verba’s Voice and Immersive Video Recording system captures voice, immersive video, telepresence calls and agent images. Features include full, selective and on-demand recording, and they can be used with Cisco, Avaya (News - Alert), Microsoft and Broadsoft technology.

Law firms, like other businesses, also need to manage devices, and optimize voice and data plans, allowing them to keep up to date on which devices are being used by lawyers, paralegals and other staff members. ISI’s Enhanced Wireless Service manages the devices law firms provide employees and optimize office rate plans, while Infortel Wireless Manager looks for potential savings.  For instance, if a cell phone is no longer being used, ISI will try to deactivate a contract. Plans are optimized to eliminate overages, as well.

Another feature, Web Call Edit, lets users search, retrieve and edit call records from any computer using an Internet browser. Typically, law firms have legal assistants print hard copies for lawyers, requiring a lot of manual labor and introducing potential for mistakes. But a quick-search feature means specific calls can be found quickly. Calls are marked, making it easier to locate and fix records. Moreover, calls are validated before getting entered into the billing system.

Law firms need to be run efficiently and competitively, and ISI helps firm management achieve their financial and communication goals with the right technology.