Why You Shouldn't Ignore the Potential in Call Accounting
March 09, 2016
By Susan J. Campbell
TMCnet Contributing Editor
How important is it to track calls within your organization? If your operation is small, with just a few individuals ever using the phones and your monthly bills are minimal, it may not make sense to implement call accounting. You really only have one department to focus on if costs go up and you’re likely aware of every call taking place.
In a larger environment, however, that generally isn’t the case. Several individuals within multiple departments are responsible for calls and those calls could generate a hefty bill. Without call accounting in place, you won’t know what calls are being generated and why and if the bills you receive from your carrier are accurate. It’s not a case of Big Brother trying to keep tabs on everything the employee base is doing, but rather a smart way to monitor activity and spending.
How does it work? Call accounting and reporting systems such as those designed by ISI (News - Alert) Telemanagement Systems (ISI), capture Call Detail Records (CDR) from telephone systems to report on telecom costs, usage and employee activity. The call accounting and reporting application from ISI, the Infortel Select, supports collection and processing of all CDR from telecom sources such as VoIP servers, on-premise PBX (News - Alert), Centrex and other hosted offerings.
The solution will also gather information from local and long distance carriers, wireless handsets and conference services. The goal in this information collection is to facilitate the consolidation of reporting and analysis of the entire voice network. The secure web user interface offered by Infortel Select provides authorized users with the necessary access to a customizable dashboard, custom report designer, an extensive menu of pre-defined reports and an on-demand traffic analysis tool to address reporting needs. Decision makers can use this data to make informed decisions.
Such insight enables administrators to better understand the communication traffic within the organization so as to make better decisions on solutions, apps and devices. It also helps to boost employee productivity, while abuse and misuse is easily detected so it can be immediately remedied. The solution also enables the capture of contact center metrics, historic call archive, carrier bill reconciliation, cost allocation and reduction, as well as tenant billing.
In all, communications can be an expensive part of running a business. Without a clear handle on where those costs are occurring and how they impact the organization, those costs can quickly get out of hand. Call accounting helps to keep a close eye on activity and costs so that everything is running as it should be for optimal benefit across the board.