March 1999

Call Accounting Roundup

Editor's Note: When an employee makes or receives a call, the company's phone system (e.g., PBX, key system, PC-PBX) generates a call detail record (CDR). That CDR usually includes information regarding which line, trunk and/or extension was used in the call; which local/long-distance number was called; the calling number (with Caller ID); the called number (with DNIS); the time at which the call began in either an inbound/outbound situation (with or without ANI or DNIS) and how long the call lasted.

Given that this kind of information is available, a call accounting application can help your company:

• Monitor employee telephone use to prevent misuse or abuse,
• Detect toll fraud,
• Determine staffing levels,
• Bill clients for calls made on their behalf,
• Verify long-distance phone bills,
• Measure marketing campaign effectiveness,
• Perform phone system diagnostics to help ensure that all circuits are functioning properly, and
• Assess the effectiveness of your telephone sales force by providing data upon which to base possible correlations between time spent on calls and sales closed. This is a more informal call center application, as your ACD and (predictive) dialer will undoubtedly be able to track this information with a higher degree of accuracy and, through CTI interfaces, automatically correlate that information to customer contact records.

Following is a list of companies that provide solutions in the call accounting space. Remember to exercise due diligence in your buying process and be sure to select a product that solves the immediate challenge, but is sufficiently robust and flexible to scale to future needs.

Active TeleManagement, Inc.
800-706-8706
www.activetel.com
ReView

Call Management Products, Inc.
800-245-9933
www.callmgmtprod.com
Total Recall, CallCost

Cintech
Bruce Plummee
513-731-6000
www.cintech-cti.com
Tele-Series

Connections
714-637-3064
www.callaccounting.com
WinCall

Info Group, The
Tim Galvin
508-628-4500
www.infogrp.com
InfoCall

IntegraTRAK, Inc.
Bethany Beatty
319-373-0093
www.integraTRAK.com
WinTRAK ProPAK

Micro-Tel, Inc.
Paula Cady
770-447-5408
www.microcall.com
Microcall

RBS Computer Corp.
973-379-3957
www.rbscc.com
RBS-CA

Resource Software International Ltd.
905-576-4575
www.telecost.com
TELECOST Suite

SAI
Laurie Waters
800-775-0025
www.saitel.com
Virtual Telemanagement System

Softech Telecom Ltd.
+3531-295-3416
www.softech-telecom.com
Ringmaster

Switchview, Inc.
Penny Walford
519-746-4460
www.switchview.com
InteleControl

Telco Research
Stephen Doster
615-872-9000
www.telcoresearch.com
TRU Enterprise Network Accountant

Teleco, Inc.
864-297-4400
www.teleco.com
PerfectVoice Call Accounting

Telemate Software, Inc.
770-936-3700
www.telemate.net
Telemate.Net

TELS CORP.
Kenith M. Babbs
800-564-9424, ext. 3305
www.telscorp.com
WIN-SENSE

TelSoft Solutions, Inc.
Julie Imburgia
815-545-5680
www.telsoft-solutions.com
MegaCall (for UNIX) and CAS-DB2 (for DOS/Windows)

TMSI Inc.
Scott Winn
888-229-5969
www.tsb.ca
Spectif - PBX Data Acquisition Systems
ORBi-TEL - PBX Network Management Applications

Viking Electronics
Joanne Minke
715-386-8861
www.vikingelectronics.com
Telephone Management Systems, Toll Restrictors

Vitel Software, Inc.
508-831-9700
www.vitelsoftware.com
VISIBill

Vodavi CT
602-443-6000
www.vodavi.com
Callsort Pro

Xiox Corp.
650-375-8188
www.xiox.com
Xiox General Business Software (GBS) for Windows