VoIP Call Recording

One of the challenges faced by call centers and other phone-centric businesses is keeping track of usage patterns and other statistics in a meaningful way. This can be especially troublesome if the company uses a hosted VoIP solution, which may or may not include such capabilities.

 

Detailed call accounting functions are also something that hosted VoIP providers increasingly need to offer their customers, but doing so in an affordable way can prove difficult.

 

This month, CTI Group—a company that specializes in VoIP call recording solutions delivered using a hosted model—announced enhancements to its emPulse solution designed to address the needs of businesses and providers outlined above.

 

Sid Rao, CTO at CTI Group (News - Alert), told TMCnet that the latest enhancements were rolled into a solution developed for Thinking Phones, a company that offers a variety of hosted, next-generation communications applications.

 

In developing the solution for Thinking Phones, CTI was tasked with enabling mangers to easily access information about average length of phone calls and typical usage patterns, as well as monitor the phone system for underutilized lines.

 

“The focus is on telecom managers and call center managers who need statistics about typical usage patterns,” Rao told TMCnet.

 

This solution is just the latest in chapter in CTI Group's strategy of taking its on-premise solutions and converting them to hosted VoIP products.

 

Rao said that, while the type of statistical and usage monitoring the new solution provides may seem fundamental, in fact many of the popular hosted VoIP softswitches available on the market lack basic reporting tools. That's because, in the hosted VoIP softswitch market, manufacturers have tended to focus on providing carrier-grade voice quality. As a result, many manufacturers lost track of basic features.

 

He noted that many companies buy hosted PBXs thinking these solutions will come with basic ACD facilities, but find out that this isn’t the case.

 

When smaller companies (say, those with 40-50 seats) decide whether to go with a hosted or premise-based phone system, they typically think features first, Rao noted. ACD reporting and other metrics-driven tools are usually considered a crucial feature.

 

“Call logs are great at a detail level for a single user,” he noted. But more robust reporting tools are necessary to gather summary-level information.

 

The need for such tools is what CTI Group is now meeting with its newest solution. The new product meets not only the needs of the end-user, but of the hosted VoIP service provider as well.

 

“Call accounting is a feature that helps service providers win business and compete effectively,” Rao noted.

 

That’s just what CTI is helping Thinking Phones do with this latest emPulse deployment.

 

CTI’s emPulse is a Web-based communications management solution equipped with reports designed specifically to meet the needs of the small to medium-sized business (SMB) market. It is interoperable with most PBX systems and can export data to applications such as Microsoft (News - Alert) Excel and Adobe Acrobat.

 

emPulse can be installed on-premise, as with the customized version developed for Thinking Phones, or purchased as a hosted option.

 

To learn more about CTI Group’s hosted communications solutions, please visit the company’s TMCnet.com channel, VoIP Call Recording.