Call Accounting Featured Article

Infortel Traffic Analysis Provides Valuable Call Accounting Metrics

  By Laura Stotler, TMCnet Contributing Editor

The only way companies can be sure they aren’t wasting valuable money and resources on their phone systems is through detailed traffic analysis. Guessing at bandwidth needs or how many trunk circuits need to be purchased can spell out disaster, creating a call accounting nightmare if too many resources are allocated or a traffic and quality nightmare if not enough resources are available.

The only way to cost effectively allocate phone system resources is through a detailed traffic analysis based on call details and a variety of important traffic metrics. ISI Telemanagement Solutions (News - Alert) specializes in this area, and the company’s Infortel Select Traffic Analysis Reporting solution enables companies of any size to accurately determine their circuit and bandwidth requirements through a hosted and fully managed network usage analysis service.

Last week, ISI announced an upgrade to the service, including a new graphical interface and predefined report styles for results. The updated GUI makes it easy to interpret standard traffic metrics, and users may add additional metrics and report constraints as well. The solution analyzes usage and traffic patterns across the entire enterprise, offering flexibility and ease of use in assessing network requirements and generating reports on traffic activity.

New features include expanded user customization tools, which enable customers to tailor standard reporting templates to their specific business requirements. Basic reports include Erlang B, Bandwidth (News - Alert) and Concurrent Calls, and users may build on these to modify the display fields, format and summary points. Users also have the option of limiting traffic analytics to a single department within a multi-department organization, and may also automate weekly concurrent call reports.

Additional updated features include the ability to routinely analyze route usage when using a primary rate interface (PRI), ensuring the network is properly sized for call traffic. Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert) (SIP) conversations are also handled smoothly, with metrics from multiple offices and carriers summarized into a single document. This aids in determining concurrent call patterns so that traffic from all locations may be accommodated using a single, centralized SIP trunk facility. And metrics may now be displayed through text, graphics or a combination of formats on tablets.

Businesses should not have to guess or estimate the parameters of their phone systems and service. The only way to get an accurate picture of traffic and requirements is through a call accounting solution that includes detailed traffic analysis. The Infortel Select offering delivers just that, through a flexible SaaS (News - Alert) model that makes it a good fit for any size business.