White Paper/Brief | Understanding Call Accounting Benefits The cost of acquiring a new customer is five times the cost of retaining an old one. And hence it is important that your customer interaction is managed in the best possible way. Because telephone charges are commonly the third largest business expense after payroll and rent, it makes sense to use a call accounting system to monitor and manage those costs. Many managers are familiar with how call accounting can verify telephone bills, but do not always realize that this is only the beginning of its benefits. Properly used, call accounting systems can help managers define employee productivity expectations, allow businesses to reconcile phone bills, and even identify possible abuse of the telephone network. While any company can use call accounting, managing phone costs is all the more important in telemarketing or customer service organizations, where business is conducted almost exclusively over the telephone. Behind The Call Accounting Screen Call accounting software collects call records from a PBX switch, or in some cases, from a Centrex service. Call records provide information regarding what telephone numbers were dialed, what extensions are making calls and the phone numbers they've called, the length of the calls made, the date and time of the calls, and what each call costs. From that data, comprehensive reports can be produced that help businesses analyze the information according to their needs. Reports offered in call accounting systems vary, but may include: detail reports for each employee or telephone extension; summary reports for various levels of the organizational hierarchy; ad hoc reports for identifying specific calls made; long-duration and expensive call reports; traffic reports; and system usage (facilities) reports. These reports summarize, in both text and graphical formats, where costs are incurred and if the distribution of telephone expenses across the organization are as expected. They can also be used to demonstrate examples of system abuse, either from inside the organization, or from an outside source -- such as from a telephone hacker. Hard (& Soft) Considerations In Choosing A Call Accounting Solution Call accounting systems are available in stand-alone units, or as PC-based applications, for the MS-DOS, Windows or UNIX operating environments. There are also some call accounting products for hybrid operating environments that monitor centralized data from more than one PBX switch or Centrex device. Data storage in call accounting is commonly handled in one of two ways. Data is either stored continuously, or it can be deleted after it has been output in a report. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options. Continuous storage systems allow stored data to be compared against new data, but can be difficult to administer when the computer's hard disk capacity is reached. Systems that delete call detail records after a report has been output do not need a great deal of storage capacity, but do require paper records to be maintained for comparison purposes. Some of the newer systems combine the best of both worlds by employing an archive database. An archive database uses compressed data to reduce the strain and limitations of the hard disk, yet makes the data available as needed. Telemarketing Advantages Any telephone-intensive organization, whether it has a sales or customer support function, can benefit from a call accounting system. Both inbound and outbound calling services can use the information provided in call accounting reports to monitor telephone use and perform traffic analysis. How does call accounting improve employee efficiency? Ad hoc and organizational reports provide detailed information on every call made or received by a specific extension. In telemarketing organizations, the sales or support results of individual employees can be compared to the number of calls completed. In addition, demographic data can be obtained to determine whether a specific telemarketing area is receiving too much attention or not getting enough. Managers can also use call accounting reports to compare the amount of time employees are spending on the phone versus the number of accounts that are being served or the new business that is won. Why monitor traffic data? In addition to using call accounting reports to increase employee or departmental productivity, the system's extensive reporting capabilities can be used to optimize telephone networks by monitoring trunk utilization. By reviewing detailed facilities usage reports, telemarketing departments and MIS managers can determine if the telephone network is being used as expected. For example, are expenditures for facilities equipment and services in line with the income generated by their use? Or, can savings be obtained through more efficient use of these services? Finally, using call accounting reports, businesses can determine their busiest hours and associated network usage. This information is essential to ensuring that employees always have access to outbound lines, and that customers can always reach support personnel. Professional Service Advantages In most professional service organizations, employees are required to keep a manual running log of the time they spend on the phone with their clients, or on their client's behalf. Inevitably, the finance and/or billing departments are then required to manually post the time and corresponding costs. With a call accounting system, this entire process is automated. First, each active customer is assigned an account code, which is entered into the phone at the end of a telephone call and recorded by the call accounting system. Then account code or ad hoc reports can be run to verify the time spent on the telephone for that account. Some call accounting systems also allow you to add mark-ups or surcharges to any call made for a specific client. Later, a detailed report can be printed and used as a bill for services, which eliminates the need for a bill to be created manually. If your telemarketing organization treats departments or individuals as separate businesses that are each responsible for maintaining a profit margin, you may want to charge-back telecom costs to them, just as you might charge a client. With call accounting, office managers can allocate telecommunications costs throughout the organization by pinpointing which departments (or extensions) are making what calls, and then produce individual reports that document the usage. Using organizational or ad hoc reports from a call accounting system enables you to accurately charge each group for their expenditures. Identifying Abuse Or Misuse Of The Telephone Network Telecommunications systems are costly. As an employer or manager, you probably do not want to monitor every aspect of your employees' day-to-day activities. Yet, you do have the right to protect your telecom investment. If, for example, your call accounting system showed that the telemarketing department was incurring 60 percent of the outbound telephone calling expenses in your organization, you would probably not be surprised. On the other hand, if you found that the manufacturing department was making 30 percent of the outbound calls, there may be misuse of the telephone system and you would most likely investigate it. Call accounting systems often have an amazing effect on employees' use of the telephone network. In fact, many companies see a significant reduction in the number of personal telephone calls as soon as they make employees aware a call accounting system is in use. Many businesses do not realize it is the responsibility of the switch owner, and not the long-distance provider(s), to protect itself from security breaches. By its very nature, a call accounting system protects against the most common type of security breaches, because even the most basic application enables you to monitor and verify the validity of the longest and most expensive calls made. Some products also have specific functionality to combat against toll fraud. To detect toll fraud, the call accounting system can be set up to alert the systems administrator when certain criteria do not follow what has been defined as normal calling activity. These products often alert system administrators remotely by pager, fax or voice mail; or can print reports immediately upon completion of any call that seems suspicious. Having access to this information gives systems administrators the opportunity to take preventive measures. Like most computer products, the price of a call accounting system depends, in part, on the number and type of features offered. Before you invest in a call accounting system, it is important to understand what specific reports are available and to compare the features of each system. While this article gives an overview of the general features inherent in most call accounting systems, it is important to review your specific needs with your vendor. Justifying A Call Accounting System Benefits The key benefits of using our customer interaction services include: Improved customer service levels |
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