Cost Allocation a Critical and Valuable Part of Any Call Accounting Solution
January 07, 2016
By Laura Stotler
TMCnet Contributing Editor
Cost allocation is one of the most important and yet most overlooked components of call accounting and reporting. While enterprises and SMBs alike understand the benefits and importance of adopting call accounting solutions, the ability to drill down into call detail records to implement proper cost allocation is a surprisingly vital feature.
Typically, call accounting systems extract call detail records from phone systems, breaking down specifics on usage, costs and general employee calling activity. In the case of ISI’s (News - Alert) Infortel Select application, call details from all telecom sources are aggregated to offer consolidated reporting and analysis of an entire voice network. This can include on-premise servers like VoIP and PBX (News - Alert) as well as hosted and wireless systems.
In the case of the Infortel Select solution, one of the key benefits is cost allocation. The offering features a series of reports users can run, pinpointing which telecom costs should be associated with specific employees, departments or franchises. Organizations can drill down into each call made or received, filtering by employee or department, to make the proper assignments and associations.
A critical benefit of cost allocation within the broader area of call accounting is being able to search on a wide variety of parameters to ensure calls and costs are allocated to the appropriate parties. These can include dates and times, duration of call, specific call costs, destinations, digits dialed and the trunk facilities used. The last parameter is especially important, since that key information can be used by businesses to better and more efficiently manage their trunk facilities and routes or even individual circuits within their phone systems.
Additional features of ISI’s call allocation component include a general ledger interface that automates the transmission of telecom charges directly to accounting departments, along with a variety of predefined cost allocation report options. The solution also supports user definable fixed costs along with one-time costs and overhead costs, enabling businesses to adequately allocate for non-usage expenses.
When considering a comprehensive call accounting and reporting solution, businesses shouldn’t overlook the important cost allocation feature. Being able to drill down into call detail records to appropriate the right costs to the right parties is a critical feature for any company trying to operate efficiently and streamline telecom expenditures.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi