CTI Group US Blog

Billing & Payment Options: Driving Customers Paperless

2009-12-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

Billing & Payment Options: Driving Customers Paperless
In the past 5 to 10 years, billing and bill payment options have grown tremendously. The emergence of the internet and the extent to which it has infiltrated our everyday lives has been the greatest contributing factor to this change. The world of bill presentment has gone from paper bills delivered via snail mail to email, mobile phone and website/portal delivery. Along with billing, payment options have grown as well. Gone are the days of paying in person or my mail via check or money order. Now, most transactions are done online via check, debit or credit card or electronic funds transfer. In just these last 5 to 10 years, these changes in billing and payment options have changed the way both businesses and individuals handle their bills.
While there has been a tremendous amount of resistance to this change in billing and bill payment, most consumers are now beginning to open their minds to the options. The benefits of online bill payment are now widely understood by consumers. According to a recent study conducted by the Marketing Workshop and Harris Interactive, four out of five households with internet access now use online banking services. And according to Forrester Research, the total number of U.S. online bill payment households will increase from 48 million to 63 million over the next 5 years. It seems that consumer adoption is becoming the real driving force in pushing companies to adopt Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) programs. Historically, many businesses have dragged their feet at the idea, but with customers pushing for increased efficiency and ease of bill payment, those companies had no other option.

The mobile banking services market is quickly becoming the next step in eBilling. It is expected to grow 10 times by 2011. Most of this growth is anticipated to take place in China, India and Western Europe, but there is still some expected growth in the US market. Therefore, many companies are arming themselves with the mobile bill payment tools they need to service their international customers in the short-run and their US customers as they slowly move toward mobile banking.

EBPP - Slow Going

2009-12-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

Recently, The Ascent Group conducted research into billing and payment practices. They found that most companies are adopting some form of EBPP functionality. However adoption is the real problem. An average of 5.8% adoption rate for eBilling (of total bills issued) and 6.9% adoption rate for epayment (of total payments received). While transaction volume is still quite low, the number of businesses paying through the internet has doubled since 2004.

Studies show that most customers still prefer to pay their bills with paper check via the US Postal Service. This includes both business customers and individual consumers. And many still prefer to pay face to face. For many businesses, this research would be just the evidence they need to stick with their current paper billing system. But, this is not a very forward-thinking approach. For businesses that are looking to the future, adding an eBilling system is an obvious choice.

Three Questions Every Utility Company Should Ask Themselves

2009-12-22T09:54:00.000-08:00

1. How can I use my billing process to promote my customer relationship? By providing a reliable bill delivery and payment solution that is secure and provides functionality that enhances the customer’s bill payment experience, a utility company can improve customer loyalty and their brand in the marketplace. In a survey conducted by Fiserv in 2008, 27 percent of online billing consumers reported an improved relationship with their utility company due to the online billing experience, and 30% said that it decreased their likelihood to change providers.

Studies show that nearly 50% of customer service inquiries are related to billing and payment. The customer’s ability to drill down into their bill with the click of a button and to receive automatic bill analysis reports gives the customer the control at their fingertips to answer their billing questions without having to contact customer service. This provides the customer with a more user-friendly billing option, while providing the billing company with a cost savings opportunity in their customer service operational expense.

2. How can I provide my customers with billing options while maintaining control of my billing systems? Since billing is really not the number one concern for most utility companies, it is important that any billing software be easy for the utility company as well as for the end user. The main priority will be to find a good balance by providing their customers with top-notch payment options without having to surrender control over their payment system, without having to sacrifice the ease of their bill processing by partnering with a provider that they can trust to handle all of the details of their billing and payment system for them.

3. What channels do I need to support to provide the best online payment options for my customers? Customers want options. And it is no different will bill payment. Customers want to have options as to how they can pay their bill so they can choose the option that best fits their needs. Understanding your customers and their processes would be the best way to know what options to provide. But, without that information, the best thing to do is to provide several different options. Some examples include online bill payment, mobile phone bill payment, traditional walk-in and US mail bill payment, etc. Your customers will appreciate the options and are more likely to pay their bills efficiently if they are given the option that works best for their business.

Utility companies will benefit from adding an eBilling system because their customer loyalty will increase due to the increase in options provided to them in paying their bill. While many utility companies are concerned with their ability to provide a robust eBilling solution while still maintaining their internal billing efficiency, the best way to achieve a win-win for everyone is to partner with a trusted provider who can maintain their eBilling system for the utility company. This will allow the utility company to provide options to their customers without sacrificing any operational efficiency.

Optimizing Billing and Payment to Deepen Customer Relationships

2009-12-21T08:13:00.000-08:00

Most utility companies are finding that the end consumer wants options as to how they will pay their bill. They want more convenient options that give them more control and the ability to choose how they want to pay their bills. Most consumers have increased their usage of online bill payment and this has created an opportunity for utility companies to capitalize on this changing customer behavior. The utility companies that adopt an eBilling philosophy will be able to increase cash flows due to more efficient bill payment and reduce costs as paper consumption will drop tremendously.

Companies can use the opportunity that online bill payment presents to communicate with their customers. Every time a customer visits their website, they can promote their online bill payment program. Every time an eBill is sent to a customer, a promotion or new service can be easily communicated with little to no expense to the utility company. eBilling can help the company to strengthen their brand recognition while providing them with a readily available avenue to advertise products and services.

Using a Telemanagement System to get the Most From Your Telephone System

2009-12-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

Now that you have verified that the system is working properly, you will want to verify your internal telephone usage. You probably think this is silly – you already know your usage. Well, you might be surprised. Many businesses find that they have an abundance of unused seats throughout their organization. Most businesses are able to save quite a bit by removing these unused seats from their current spend. This cost savings can be fairly significant even in the short term as this cost savings encompasses the service for the seat itself, the phone hardware, and potentially server space. You don’t want to pass up this significant cost savings opportunity.

Since you now have a handle on the quality of your VoIP service as well as your seat usage, you will now want to be sure to manage how your phone system is being used. A countless number of schools, corporations, government offices, financial institutions, insurance companies, etc. have found and addressed employee misuse of phone systems. By integrating a call management system into your day-to-day phone management, you are able to identify call patterns that are out of the ordinary. You might find extensions placing excessive long distance calls or you might find extensions that are dialing 900 numbers on the company’s dime. By eliminating this activity, businesses have really been able to reap the financial rewards.

By properly managing your VoIP phone system, you will see immediate cost savings, both operationally and on your monthly phone bill. It is important to be thorough. Be sure to monitor quality of service, seat usage, and actual extension activity to have a complete picture of your telephony activity. By properly managing all of these components with a call management system, you will save your company both time and money in the short run and in the long run.

Managing Your VoIP Telephone System

2009-12-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

There are many factors involved with managing a VoIP telephone system. You must verify that the system is working properly. You must verify seat usage and need. And finally, you must monitor ongoing activity to verify that the system is used properly to identify potential areas for improvement.

Since VoIP systems have emerged onto the market, there have been concerns regarding the quality of their service. Dropped calls and shaky connections seemed to be a mainstay in the early days of VoIP technology. While the technology has improved since then, there is still the potential for connection issues and it is best for a service provider to have a handle on these issues before they receive a complaint from their customers. Equally, it is important for the customer to be alerted when a problem arises so that there is no interruption in service and therefore no interruption in output.

Luckily, there is software on the market known as VoIP Quality Management Software that is designed specifically to fit this need. It monitors the call activity on your VoIP system and reports back any issues or errors in service. This software can prevent a minor connectivity issue from becoming a much more serious situation. This software is often times deployed in conjunction with a telemanagement system.

Push vs. Pull Billing Strategy

2009-12-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

Businesses need to understand that customers are looking to them to make their online experience easier. It is up to the business providing the eBilling to provide the most user-friendly and beneficial eBilling software available. Rather than simply offering a place to pay your bills, many companies are turning to eBilling software that pushes your billing information out to you on a monthly basis rather than pulling you into their website. Equally, many businesses are turning to eBilling solutions that provide analysis tools that will push graphic representations of specific areas of your bill that you believe need further analysis. This takes even more of the responsibility off of the customer by providing them with the bill analysis that, historically, would have been done in-house.

It is pretty much a no-brainer these days that eBilling needs to be integrated in any business’s billing platform. But, the key to driving adoption and really seeing the benefits of eBilling is to provide your customers with an eBilling solution that makes their lives easier. By providing emailed bills and analytics software to each of your customers, you make their eBilling experience better and encourage wide-spread adoption.

eBilling Benefits Cannot be Ignored in This Rocky Economic Climate

2009-12-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

With the emergence of the internet, the means of communication has changed drastically. People no longer want to fuss with snail mail and sifting through paper. Instead, most people get their day-to-day information on the internet. So, isn’t it just logical that they would handle their accounting and banking there too?

eBilling has some very tangible benefits that cannot be ignored in this rocky economic climate.

* Cuts print and postage costs by up to 85 percent

* Improves cash flow

* Boosts brand

* Enhances the customer experience

* Preserves the environment

Historically, eBilling consisted of making bills available to customers on the billing company’s website and allowing the customer to make a payment via the website. This requires quite a bit of effort on the part of the customer to go to the billing company’s website and navigate through their system. Equally, they have to find a way to remember to go to the website before the bill is due. This puts all of the ownership on the customer to make this eBilling system work, rather than making their billing experience easier.

Increasing eBilling End User Adoption

2009-12-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

Today’s economic climate demands that all businesses reduce their costs at every opportunity to stay in business. In that vein, most companies are reviewing their billing process to see where improvements can be made. Therefore, we see the death of the paper bill looming on the horizon. And operators that provide this paper billing service are likely to begin seeing a significant drop in their market share unless they jump on board too.

What is difficult to understand is why eBilling has not taken off better in the past. eBilling has historically had issues with adoption and we don’t really know why. Some companies struggle to get 20% percent adoption in 5 years while others achieve 30% adoption in 5 months. So, what’s the difference in the adoption strategy of these two companies?

Most businesses find it crucial to communicate as regularly as possible with their customers. And traditionally, the paper bill has been an avenue for that communication. They can announce special offers, changes in service, new services available, etc. simply by placing the information in the bill. The company knows that the customer will most certainly be reading this piece of mail. So, many companies were initially concerned about how to continue to communicate effectively with their customer base with this new eBilling system. If the billing company is leery about the eBilling service, then customers will most certainly be leery too. In fact, the billing company is far less likely to push their customers into switching to the new eBilling system if the billing company itself is not 100% behind the effort.

How Call Accounting Systems Work

2009-12-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

Call accounting systems collect data from a key system, PBX, iPBX, or VoIP gateway. They pull the call detail records (CDRs) from one of the telephone systems listed above and send those call records to the telemanagement software to create reports and analysis of these records. The records can be pulled on all or selective extensions depending on the needs of the end customer. Costs and possibly revenue can be attached to the call activity that is reported, making accounting for telemanagement usage much more efficient.

Call accounting solutions are able to take the call records provided by the customer’s phone system and manage those records for the customer. Customers no longer have to sift through paper records to identify activity and cost allocation. That is done automatically with a call accounting solution making telecommunications cost management and fraud management much easier and more efficient for the end customer.

Centrally Hosted Call Accounting

2009-12-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

Most companies are looking to manage their telecommunications above and beyond any one PBX or communications server. By managing telecommunications at an enterprise level, companies are able to see a much faster return on investment due to the sheer volume of interactions and are able to adhere to one uniform process over all locations. Equally, most PBXs today are able to manage multiple points of presence across an enterprise and are not necessarily as restrictive as they once were. Many companies find the use of a centrally hosted enterprise call accounting solution the most effective for the management of their resources, whereas the traditional stand-alone, geographically limited systems far less effective.

This is where application service providers come into play. With the ability to provide both stand alone and centrally hosted call accounting solutions, most Application Service Providers (ASPs) are able to fit the specific needs of their customers. Application service providers are also often times equipped with other software solutions like call recording and ACD reporting that can be quite effective when used in conjunction with a call accounting solution.

Integrated Call Accounting and Management Solutions

2009-12-09T05:20:00.000-08:00

The most recent news in call accounting is the addition of telemanagement services. Call accounting data or call detail records are often times just presented as raw data and are not nearly as effective as when they are analyzed and evaluated by a telemanagement service. Most call accounting solutions on the market today come equipped with a telemanagement service to make it easier to evaluate the data you pulled with the call accounting software.

By converging voice and data, many call accounting systems are able to provide a wide variety of services and options from billing to provisioning and accounting for broadband services. Much like traditional call accounting systems, these systems can be centralized or distributed. The ability to monitor internet and voice activities in one location makes for efficient management of telecommunications in an organization. Most companies are looking for one solution to cover all of their needs and call accounting systems often times provide that “one stop shop” for customers.

Benefits of eBilling to your customer

2009-12-08T05:18:00.000-08:00

1. Improves Customer Service: By having access to your customers via email, you are able to provide them with other bits of information about your company and their offerings. This provides your customers with the most up-to-date information on your services and specials. Equally, customers are able to review their bill quickly and easily with the analysis already done for them. At a glance, they can review departmental allocations and identify areas for concern. Many of the questions that are so prevalent in reviewing a bill can be alleviated with the detailed drill down functions of eBilling. You can easily drill into the details of your bill without having to sift through hundreds of pages of call logs.

2. Improves organization of past bills: Rather than having to go the cellar to review file cabinet after file cabinet of past bills, bills can be organized electronically for easy retrieval in the future when needed.

3. Decreases Carbon Footprint: eBilling software allows the billing company and the customer alike to become more responsible for the health of the environment. By eliminating the paper on which the bill is printed and the checks with which the bill is paid as well as eliminating the transportation necessary to move the paper bills and checks from place to place, both the billing company and the customer company are able to help in the fight against global warming.
Provide your customers with the advantages of eBilling today!

How eBilling can save the billing company money

2009-12-07T05:16:00.000-08:00

The internet has given us the freedom to conduct business almost exclusively in “the cloud.” We are now communicating almost exclusively via online interactions and yet much of our billing is still done via fax machines and snail mail. With the advances in security and analysis technology, any company that is not utilizing the efficiency and ease of eBilling is missing an opportunity to improve efficiency and accuracy in their billing practices.

1. Saves money on invoicing expense: Historically, businesses have received bills and statements via fax and snail mail. To verify that the invoice was received, the billing company would have to place a follow up call or email to verify delivery. This process is far from efficient and leaves much room for improvement. With eBilling, the bill can be automatically delivered to one or many email boxes. The bill can now come with ready-made departmental allocation and statistical analysis. This not only increases the efficiency and effectiveness of delivery of the bill, but also allows the provider to provide more thorough information about the bill – taking that responsibility off of the end customer. While most companies break even in their first year of implementing an eBilling system, it provides significant return on investment in subsequent years.

2. Receive Payments Quicker: From the time a bill is printed, it has to go through so many processes to get to the recipient. It has to be printed, folded, stuffed in an envelope, stamped, taken to the post office, put on a truck to go to the destination city, unloaded from that truck and put on another truck for delivery. This process can all be alleviated with an eBilling system. The bill is automatically sent via email and received immediately. The lag-time experienced in the traditional delivery system is a thing of the past. Statistically speaking, people pay their bills more quickly when they come via email. It is so easy to just click on the link and hit pay, that most people will just handle it immediately. Whereas, with the traditional billing method, the bill might sit on someone’s desk for weeks before that bill is actually paid – and the check sent back through the same logistical maze that the bill went through in getting to the customer.

Unified Communications to the Enterprise

2009-12-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

UC could potentially be a game changer. This technology could change the way employees communicate with each other and the way enterprises interact with their customers. However, a lot of work needs to be done before we are to that point. UC vendors need to better communicate the potential value to the enterprise. Since the possibilities are endless, it is important that UC vendors provide as many possible scenarios to their enterprise customers because not all of the potential applications for UC will work for each enterprise customer. The uses will be unique to the business itself and every enterprise customer different. Cisco Call Management and Cisco Unified Communications Manager are among the leading UC offerings in the industry.

The Benefits of Unified Communications

2009-12-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

The primary benefit of Unified Communicaitons (UC) is identifying presence which can speed up many kinds of business processes. So, for example, instead of leaving phone messages and playing phone tag with a business associate, employees can look at the presence status of the person that they are trying to reach and if that person is available, they can instant message for an immediate conversation. If that associate is not available, they can contact someone else for help. If this Unified Communications platform included a call accounting system, the associate might be able to immediately tell who is and who is not available. This certainly increases efficiency as employees are spending far less time trying to get a hold of one another and, even more importantly, questions can be answered quickly so that decisions and actions can be taken immediately, rather than delaying until a return phone call is received. This allows business to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.

From the contact center perspective, UC empowers agents to locate experts to resolve customer issues that are beyond their scope. This allows contact centers to increase their first call resolution rates and reduce operating expenses by efficiently answering customer inquiries with one quick transfer. While this immediate access benefits the call center and customer service departments, the engineering and application development departments might not be so keen on being at the call center’s beck and call. And this is a legitimate argument. How would developers and engineers have time to do their jobs if they are constantly being interrupted to handle call center inquiries? And given that the time of the engineer or developer is worth so much more than that of the call center agent, it is difficult to reconcile the interruption. For this reason, there has been some lag in the pick up of UC in many business applications, but the potential is there and once the operational kinks are worked out of the chain, UC is likely to become a mainstay in many businesses.

The World Welcomes Unified Communications

2009-12-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

The internet has become such an integral part of our every days, both at work at home. However, there are applications that still need some work. The internet’s ever-growing and ever-changing technologies seem to be making our lives easier every day, but there is still some room for improvement.

Unified Communications (UC) is a term that describes the combination of applications and technologies to provide on “unified” portfolio to customers. UC has been heralded as the next wave of change to internet applications, such as call recording and call accounting. For one supplier to provide on package of applications that are integrated with one platform and that work together to provide the most robust application set yet. The concept is that of a “one stop shop.” The applications available in UC provide real-time and non-real-time communications services. The services available with UC packaging include, but are not limited to: Internet Protocol (IP) telephony, presence, call control, speech control, instant messaging (IM)/chat, conferencing (voice and video), voicemail, email, SMS and fax.

System Benefits to Owning a Call Management System

2009-12-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Network Optimization
Many companies have been able to reduce their telecommunications expenditures significantly by simply being able to identify underutilized areas of their voice and data networks. Call management systems can be used to monitor network activity and bandwidth and identify trunk usage issues to highlight areas for cost reduction. If a trunk is not being used, why pay for it? Call accounting can help companies more efficiently allocate telecommunications resources and better plan their network changes.

Security
Call management applications enable companies to shield themselves from the wide variety of internal and external security threats out there. By monitoring for intrusions and undo telecom activities, companies are able to monitor for network attacks, thereby making the company and its systems far more secure and far less vulnerable to threats.
Essentially, call management systems provide companies with the tools to provide a safe, highly efficient, cost-effective telecommunications system for the day-to-day operations of their business.

Operational Benefits of Call Management Systems

2009-11-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

Service Billing and Provisioning
Call management systems take the call details from a company’s telephone system and use those detail records to create reports and analyses of the call activity. Records can be pulled from selective extensions, or all extensions, depending on the needs of the company.
For example, many professional services firms use call management systems to tally up client calls for client billing. Most professional services firms bill for their time, so a quick report of time spent speaking to a number can make bill-back far easier and more accurate. Law firms are a prime example of how these firms use call management systems to track their billable hours.
As another example, hotels use call management systems to provide phone services to their guests and to effectively charge back for the guests’ services. This call activity is then billed back to the guest on their final bill. The call management system makes keeping track of this call activity easy for the hotel so they don’t have to dig through the call records manually and instead can depend on the reports sent to them by the call management system.

Departmental and Employee Chargeback
Originally, call management systems were created to be used within a corporation to allocate costs from department to department. Call accounting systems are used to allocate costs back to division, departments and even individual employees. Companies used call management systems to monitor the number of long distance calls placed from a given extension and to charge those departments or employees for those long distance calls. Such systems can also provide data directly to accounting and human resource systems.

Staff Productivity
Call management systems provide visibility of the calling patterns and activities of employees and can be used to improve productivity. By identifying call patterns that might be decreasing productivity or identifying personal calls made during business hours, companies are able to improve productivity and reduce costs at the same time. The reports provided by a call management system can also be used to evaluate the productivity of help desk and customer service staff.

Proteus®: More Than Just a Call Management System

2009-11-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

Proteus® Enterprise/Trader is a call accounting solution which is widely used by major financial institutions, local authorities (governments), health authorities (hospitals) and academic institutions.
Communications management software is the nucleus of effective communications management; collecting call records from communications devices (traditional PBXs, financial trading systems and VoIP switches) to provide management reports that ensure equipment and networks are being used effectively and efficiently.
Key benefits include the following:· Communications cost savings· Increased employee productivity· Improved customer service· Increased network efficiency· Tackling fraud.
· Monitoring VoIP traffic and quality.(Available for Cisco)
Understanding the traffic patterns and the routing of calls through a telephone network allows the customer to maximize their investment, by eliminating congestion and simultaneously checking for excess and unnecessary capacity. Our customers continue to reap savings that have given dramatic returns on their investment, by using the information supplied in Proteus’® reports to optimize their networks.
How many calls terminated and were launched in a network? Where were they from? Which routes did they take? How many used overflow routes? Which network elements/switches are actually being used? Where is congestion and blocking occurring? What are the traffic patterns on a daily basis? Which hours/days of the week/year are busiest?With the move towards newer technologies, networks can be designed using the customer’s actual data and not statistical guesses? How are these questions being answered and how difficult was it to arrive at the answers? Most importantly, is the data accurate? Proteus® provides an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution.

How can SmartRecord® help you to comply with TSR?

2009-11-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

What is the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)?

TSR covers telemarketing - any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through interstate telephone calls. The rule requires telemarketers to make certain disclosures and prohibits lies. It gives state law enforcement officers the authority to prosecute fraudulent telemarketers who operate across state lines. And it gives consumers instructions on how to stop unwanted calls. Just say, "Put me on your DO-NOT-CALL list." Companies use call recording to prove their compliance with the TSR.

Failure to comply:

“Failure to provide any of the required information in a "clear and conspicuous" manner, before the consumer pays for the goods or services offered, is a deceptive telemarketing act or practice that violates the rule, and subjects a seller or telemarketer to a $10,000 fine for each violation.”

How can call recording help your business stay compliant?

By easily keeping precise records of all call communication! A call recording does not lie. You will have picture perfect proof of activities such sales calls, orders and conversations that took place over the phone.

SmartRecord® is the logical choice for call centers everywhere. Our scalable solution is both easy to install, competitively priced, and provides the following benefits:
• Reliable call recording that assists in complying with TSR regulations
• Multiple product permission settings to ensure call recording security
• Powerful encryption functionality to protect confidential information
• Intuitive user interface that helps users find recorded information quickly and easily
• Efficient playback features that can be activated based on different search parameters
•Flexible recording options that enable program administrators to specify unique program configurations

Proteus® integrates with call recording software, SmartRecord®

2009-11-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

Now Proteus® has integrated with Smartrecord®. This cost-effective, user-friendly, any time, anywhere call recording solution ensures that you have the flexibility, scalability, and compliance coverage you need – with no capital investment in hardware or software for our web based solution.

The integration of Proteus® and SmartRecord® allows the customers to generate reports in Proteus® and are able to listen to the voice part of the calls in the reports. Using Proteus’® sophisticated report builder, customers can easily find the calls and listen. These calls may be malicious, emergency, customer dispute, staff training, expensive, long duration or longest response calls.

It has added an extra dimension to the call accounting system reports. Not only Proteus® reports provide valuable management information, now the customers can listen to the calls in the reports.

Insurance Companies Retrieve Calls Using Computerized Records Management Tool

2009-11-20T08:21:00.000-08:00

Within the insurance industry, recording phone calls is now considered standard industry practice. Companies record customer interactions for a variety of reasons. For insurance companies the reasons are many. Most insurance companies are required by law to maintain standards of operation, call recording can help to prove compliance with these regulations. Also, insurance companies record calls to keep a record of witness statements to assist in the claims process. Finally, many insurance companies use call recording to help in training their staff to ensure that clients are being assisted properly and situations are being dealt with effectively.

Computerized records management is a key application for every insurance company and CTI Group revolutionizes the use of call recording by integrating software systems used to manage customer, policy and claim records. Call Records and MP3, phone conversation related to the client’s record are easy to find and attach to a claim file. It is much easier than it is to locate a related fax or email message.

Larger companies must also address security concerns. To prevent loss of data due to hardware problems, redundant hard disks as well as backup for databases, recorded calls and configuration settings are needed. Ability to connect to a UPS offers high reliability and shuts down a system smoothly to prevent corruption of data during power failures.

Call Recording for Mortgage Companies

2009-11-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

As a mortgage professional, your business depends on unique selling positions to differentiate your company from the rest. Competition is intense and the ability to see and monitor calls in real time can be the key to increasing your transaction yield.
Recording phone calls can help to ensure that all contract details are correct. The broker can refer back to the recorded call to verify that he/she has all details correct.
By Integrating Call Recording Software into your system, you can be sure the call is connected to the correct person and handled appropriately. Calls can be monitored in real-time or chosen at random to review the call-flow process and to ensure superior customer care.

Why choose Proteus Enterprise?

2009-11-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

There are a variety of telemanagement systems available on the market. So, why should you use Proteus Enterprise?

Proteus Enterprise captures, records, and reports on various telephone usage events to give organizations a clear picture of their telephony activity. Proteus Enterprise detects outbound and inbound calls, call ring outs, call routings, abandoned calls, and other activities to give companies the best call data in real-time. Our application is designed for organizations looking to save on costs, rapidly respond to business drivers, and gain the optimum efficiency from their voice platforms.

Proteus Enterprise Software Highlights:- Sophisticated Web browser- Highly scalable - International- Compatible with all traditional PBX's and VoIP solutions- Real-time statistics on exact user activity and contact with keyclients- Cost allocation and charge back of true costs- Notification of unusual trends in activity- On-demand and pre-scheduled reporting capability

How to set up calls to be recorded with BroadSoft BroadWorks

2009-11-13T09:47:00.000-08:00

1. Notify your carrier that you want to subscribe to SmartRecord for your IP call recording needs. Your carrier will ask you what phone numbers you want to record.
2. Use your phone
- iPhone – sync your call recording with Sugar CRM directly from the phone.
- Deskphone – sync your call recording with Sugar CRM using the browser-based recording application.
- Use the browser-based SmartRecord recording application to view your recorded calls in a dashboard, categorize calls, annotate calls, place comments in calls, set-up call alerts.

Installing Call Recording on VMware

2009-11-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Finally, Install Call Recording on a virtual server. (http://www.ctigroup.com/us/Call-Recording-System)

Reasons To Install On VMware
- VMware has established, and continues to grow, a large customer base including 100% of the Fortune 100 and 92% of the Fortune 1000.
- Virtualization has proven to lower data center costs through efficient use of hardware and operating expense as well as aid in disaster recovery,
- VMware installations of SmartRecord reduce install time in customer implementations by standardizing installation and reducing manual installation steps.

What versions of VMware are required?
VMware ESXI—
- free version of VMware virtualization software
- supports multiple operating systems on a single server
- ESXi 4(64bit machine)/ESXi 3.5 (32 bit machine)

VMware vSphere
- Paid version of VMware virtualization software
- Offers centralized management of multiple machines and ESXi hosts
- Integrated backup and restore
- Dynamic load balancing of virtual machines
- vSphere VMotion support for instantaneous movement of data between servers
SmartRecord is not supported under VMware Server or VMware Workstation

Minimum Hardware Specifications
Processor: 2 2.8 GHz Virtual Processors
RAM: 4 GB of RAM
Storage: 80 GB of Storage, 15,000 RPM Storage Recommended, Shared Storage Supported
Network Connectivity (Gigabit)

How to install SmartRecord on VMware:
1. Install VMware ESXi on minimum hardware.
2. Copy SmartRecord image file using VMware instructions.
3. Configure SmartRecord.
4. Configure phones to point to the recording server.

What is Proteus Enterprise?

2009-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Proteus Enterprise enables central telemanagement of a company's entire telecommunications network. Unlike other call management products, Proteus Enterprise is technologically agnostic. It integrates seamlessly with analog, digital and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems. Companies with worldwide locations use one Proteus Enterprise installation to manage all sites.

How does Proteus Enterprise work?
Proteus Enterprise collects data for all Private Branch Exchanges (PBX) and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems, from one or multiple sites through RS232 connection, direct IP logging, IP buffer technology, or call log files.

How our customers use Proteus:
Our customers use Proteus Enterprise to
- Allocate costs to people, departments, and cost centers
- Alert when 911 is called
- Alert when there are network or PBX problems (no calls within a time period)
- Provide view of employee productivity, particularly activity of sales people

What is so special about Proteus?

2009-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Robust and targeted reporting
Proteus Enterprise includes advanced filtering that enables telecom managers to easily design and update any number of customized reports. Reporting enables telecom managers to provide costing, traffic analysis, and trending reports. The telecom manager can format the reports as Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel and other common formats. Additionally, data can be exported from Proteus as a comma separated values (csv) file.

Alarms to detect problems, save money
Proteus Enterprise is equipped with a versatile alarm system that alerts key personnel of actions within the call accounting system. Proteus includes a default set of ten alarm templates and can be customized and sent to an individual or group, typically via e-mail or flagged on screen. Alarms provide instant information once a call is terminated.

What are the key business drivers for Proteus Call Management?

2009-11-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

Proteus is a call management system that automatically tracks all events and calculate cost and provides automated reports on these events.
Key Business Drivers for Proteus Applications
Save Communication Costs
· Compare different carriers and choose the most cost effective provider
· Identify excessive personal telephone calls
Increase Employee Productivity
· Highlight busy times when resources need re-allocation
· Identify needless long duration calls
Improve Customer Service
· Set targets for key performance indicators, like time to answer and length of call
· Track Incoming, outgoing and missed calls

Key Features - Proteus Trader - Manage Complexity

2009-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Proteus Trader is ideal for financial institutions which have complex voice networks. It is the preferred solution in trading environments to manage mixed voice architectures consisting of Trading Systems, PABX, and mobile phones worldwide.

Proteus is the only telemanagement product which can log up to 512 sites on a single platform, with up to 70,000 extensions and 5,000 dealer positions.

Proteus’ web based delivery allows voice managers to view and manage telephony costs, usage and response times across any number of sites, while providing local personnel access to view information that is important to them – be it a single department, single site or group of sites.

The alarms package can be configured to provide proactive alarms on premium rate calls, calls to emergency numbers, unanswered calls, high cost calls and many other call types you might wish to specify.

• Private Wire Utilization: up to the minute statistics on the usage and user per private wire

• Carrier Cost Validation: allocates costs to a user and department (or cost center) while taking into account least cost routing (LCR)

• Routed Call Analyzer: cost mapping utility allocates the calls made by the Trader via PABX back to his/her unique identification and/or trading group.

• Traffic Analysis: provides the usage of trunks across multiple sites to ensure that there is 100% availability, while reducing wasteful overcapacity.• Productivity Analysis: provides a database of customers called and analysis of the productivity in contacting those customers.

Geckotech –SmartRecord Call Recording & ACD Reporting CTI Group provides a feature rich bundle for Contact Centers

2009-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Summary

In response to demand from their customers for a call center solution, Gekotech set out to develop a solution of their own. However, they soon found that is was not as feature rich or intuitive as CTI Group’s call recording and ACD reporting solutions: SmartRecord and emPulse. Bundled together, they were the answer to their customer’s needs for a robust call center solution.

“CTI Group’s applications offer user’s a highly intuitive call center solution. Their call recording and ACD applications are not only feature rich, but as a bundled solution, offer our customers a total package for call centers,” said Josh Robbins, Managing Partner of Geckotech.

The Customer

Since 2003, Geckotech has been delivering a flexible and feature-rich Cisco Hosted VoIP service for businesses nationwide over a private MPLS network; designed to solve the complete communication needs of business clients. Geckotech’s service allows companies to avoid capitalizing the high cost of purchasing a phone system, only to watch the technology become obsolete. Geckotech provides clients with voice and data service, phones, hardware, network management and maintenance, on-going end user support, and technology upgrades.

The Requirements

A large segment of Geckotech’s customers are call centers for non-profits, professional services, and healthcare verticals. They made requests to Geckoteck for a call center solution that solution that included both call recording and ACD reporting. While regulatory standards are important and required by their customers, the ability to continuously record multiple extensions, monitor and whisper into live calls, and extensive ACD reporting were the most important requirements that stood out. Geckotech’s customer’s also required to ability to not only monitor, but measure their employees’ work and phone usage.

The Solution

Geckotech’s first instinct was to develop a call center solution in house that they could offer their customers. However, Geckotech soon found that their in house solution lacked the extensive functionality that is offered by the CTI Group’s solution. By bundling CTI Group’s call recording system, SmartRecord, with their ACD reporting product, emPulse, Geckotech is able to offer their customers a call center solution that meets their needs. Geckotech launched the solution externally mid year in 2009and now 20% of their customers are using the call center solution to monitor and measure the employee’s work and usage. The partnership will add value to Geckotech’s core offering by allowing the company to provide a complete call center solution, while at the same time focusing on providing customers with Geckotech’s core service; superior, individualized support, the highest level of network uptime and reliable Hosted VoIP service.

Not only were we able to give our customers exactly what they wanted by bundling CTI Group’s call recording and ACD reporting products, but the ease of doing so can only be directly attributed to CTI Group’s support throughout the process and quality products.

The Benefits

It was not hard for Geckotech to realize that CTI Group’s products offered a complete call center solution. It was very important to Geckotech customers with call centers to have a keen awareness of their business by being able to record and report on all calls from the call center. By bundling CTI Group’s call recording product, SmartRecord, with their ACD Reporting product, emPulse, customers benefit from the following:

· Monitor – customers are able to monitor their employees’ phone calls and usage via recording and call center reports.
· Record – customers can choose to record specific extensions all the time or during certain operating hours, days, etc.
· Report – schedule reports to run at night so that you don’t tie up precious network resources, apply filters so that you see only the information necessary to do your job, or create custom reports that are more meaningful to a particular task.
· Manage – customers can manage their employees and their business from the recordings and reports that are captured and stored in the call center solution.

Our customers report that their businesses have benefited from the use of the call center solution. More specifically, they find the offering to be intuitive and easy to use. They like the pre-packaged reports and having the ability to apply filters to them or to create their own reports when necessary. The most well received features by far have been the ability to Whisper and Barge.

Who needs Call Recording? Insurance adjuster on the road.

2009-11-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

John is a claims adjuster for workers compensation claims. He needs to record a victims account of the incident that caused the workers compensation claim. It is required that he record this interview for his file, but he will be working remotely for the week, so he will be unable to use
the company's in-house call recording software. Thanks to his Recording Card, he is able to complete his interview and move forward with the claim without delay. The ability to record his calls at any time and from any location allowed him the flexibility to conduct this interview and meet his deadline.

Blanket Recording in a Hosted PBX environment at Work:

2009-11-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

Medical Clinic ensuring quality of care Renee works for a non-for-profit clinic at a local hospital. They have a 24 hour call line for emergencies or to answer questions after hours.

Most frequently, parents call in with questions about their children. If a child has a fever or won't stop crying, the parent can call the help line for advice as to what medicine they should give the child or if the child needs to go to the hospital.

To monitor the service provided by the nurses that answer the calls, the clinic requires that all calls be recorded for quality purposes. Since the clinic is privately funded and non-for-profit, large capital investments present a real obstacle. Luckily for this clinic, they can switch to Hosted PBX, save money, and be able to record as well. They get a new full feature Hosted PBX and call recording for less than the cost of a dedicated call recording system. Hosted PBX with Blanket Recording is the perfect solution for them.

The cost and inconvenience of having to create and deliver multiple copies of invoices tobe sent to different offices.

2009-11-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

A WELL KNOWN FINANCIAL INSTITUTION came to CTI Group because they had numerous offices spreadthroughout North America and globally. It was management's objective for each office to receive theirown billing detail, yet headquarters needed a copy to review and pay the invoice. Security and privacystandards dictated that regional managers should not be able to view other managers' invoice information.It was necessary for the long distance carrier to implement several bill invoice levels for theregional offices and to send a complete copy of the bill to headquarters.

Issues: The cost and inconvenience of having to create and deliver multiple copies of invoices tobe sent to different offices.

The Goal: Allocate invoice detail to regional offices, maintain autonomy for each regional officeand provide one master invoice to headquarters for complete review and control

THE RESULT: CTI Group's eBilling Software
Combination Billing: CTI Group's platform allowed the service provider to combine invoices thatroll-up to a master invoice level while still maintaining the unique account structures within eachinvoice. As invoices are received throughout the monthly billing cycles, they are matched backto the master invoice level and combined for presentment. All reports and totals can be run andreviewed at this new master level. This eliminates the need to create multiple invoices for thesame corporate customers.Web Access: Corporate customers are able to view their invoices using their Web browsereliminating the need for paper bills, CDs, or installation f client billing software.

They wanted to turn their Telecom department into a profit center.

2009-10-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Over the years our eBilling solution has had more than its share of happy customers.

A TOP-TEN GLOBAL ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURERS needed the ability to allocate invoice information with different rates from the carrier, based upon the international dialed number.

They wanted to turn their Telecom department into a profit center by increasing the rate of a call when it was billed back to the individual departments. They specifically wanted to be able to increase the calls by a specified percentage to certain international countries which would vary depending on the country called.

Issues: Allocating invoice detail with different costs was very labor intensive. Excel did not provide sufficient reporting to accomplish this task.

The Goal: To see increased revenue based upon the dialed location.

THE RESULT: OUR eBILLING SOLUTION
Recosting: by using the recosting feature, an electronics manufacturer was able to create multiple rate entries for each international location with different percentage mark-ups.

These rate entries were then applied to regional in packages allowing different offices to call different international locations with unique rate plans.

Smart Solutions for Small Businesses: Call Accounting System

2009-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

When looking for ways to cut costs, smart business owners utilize effective systems that can simplify costly or time consuming tasks. This is a business strategy not limited to large corporations, because small businesses especially need ways to simplify daily processes and reduce wasteful spending.

One example of a smart solution for small businesses is a call accounting system.

About Call Accounting Systems

You may have heard of a call accounting system, which is also commonly referred to as telecommunications software, or a call management program (and other variations of these phrases). Internationally, it may be known as a call logging system.

Regardless of where you are, call accounting systems offer similar benefits and features, each working together to simplify telecommunications within businesses of any size, resulting in improved workflow and reduced wasteful spending.

Call accounting systems are a computer based program that detects incoming and outgoing phone calls, call ring outs, call routings, abandoned calls, and all other activities involving phone usage.

The Benefits of Call Accounting Systems for Small Businesses

Technically, call accounting systems are beneficial to any size business. But with the economic recession, small businesses especially are looking for ways to cut costs (and improve profit) just to stay afloat.

Call accounting systems help reduce wasteful spending by recording and analyzing extended long distance phone calls or personal phone usage, as well as abandoned calls and other costly problems, and then displaying this information in an easy to understand overview. In other words, you can see any problems right away and quickly nip them in the bud.

Maybe it takes a little longer to develop new telecommunication strategies and policies that are more cost effective, but utilizing a call accounting system is the easiest way to track and monitor telecommunications, and the quickest way to identify any problems.

Compare the 5 seconds it can take to find important information against the 5 hours it can take digging through old records, and you’ve got another way that a call accounting system saves money.

With accurate documentation of phone records, you can easily retrieve information needed to resolve a customer dispute or to confront an employee about violating phone usage privileges.

The bottom line is simple, call accounting systems are the one and only way to stay in control of telecommunications in your business, and it’s worth the investment for the money you save in the long run!

Even More Benefits to a Call Accounting System

Before you get too excited and start shopping, there are even more benefits for businesses (of any size) that you should know to better appreciate the need for a call accounting system.

• A smarter and easier way to track your telecommunications spending. In case this wasn’t clarified previously, call accounting systems provide all vital information in an easy to understand overview so you can see exactly where your money is going and how effective that investment has been.

• Welcome to the 21st century! If your business hasn’t been using a call accounting system before today, you will just love how easy the software can be to introduce into (and improve) the current system.

• Identify and correct any flaws in your telecommunications. Not that your current system is flawed, but there’s always room to improve and a call accounting system can help.

Track Wasteful Telecommunications Spending with a Call Management System

2009-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Regardless of your business size, the current economic situation has presented a big reminder to business owners (as well as consumers) that excessive or wasteful spending is a bad thing. As a result, business owners are tightening up purse strings and cutting costs in some of the worst areas to stop spending, such as marketing or advertising.

However, there is an easier way to reduce wasteful spending by reducing costs spent on areas that don’t work to increase profit.

The easiest way to do this is to analyze and evaluate the money and time spent on all areas of your business. Many areas shouldn’t be eliminated, such as advertising or marketing… and that also includes telecommunications.

Although it should not be eliminated, telecommunication costs should be strictly evaluated because they can be one of the problem areas for a business. Whether phone usage is a large part of how you do business, or just a small fraction of daily processes… the extra money wasted on telecommunications can be spend more wisely.

How do you know if you are spending too much on telecommunications?

If you asked that question, then you aren’t using a call management system… which just might become the answer to all of your problems (or, at least the telecommunication related problems).

What is a Call Management System?

Simply put, a call management system is a computer based program (software or hardware) that tracks and monitors all things related to phone usage. From lengthy or excessive long distance or personal calls to abandoned calls and ring time, call management systems work to analyze important information and display the information you need in a quick and easy format.

See, it really is that simple. Instead of wasting 5 hours digging through old phone records, you can spend 5 seconds to quickly settle a customer dispute. With a call management system, you can print an accurate record to confront an employee about violating personal phone usage policies.

However, there is so much more to it than just that!

With an easy to use interface that can be introduced to your current telecommunication methods with minimal effort, a call management system will also work to improve your current telecommunications strategy.

It can’t get any easier to track exactly where your money is going into telecommunications, and how effective the investment has been for returning profit.

There isn’t a cookie cutter approach or one size fits all description to give about a call management system. Hotel owners can use this software to print up phone records when billing a customer, while off-hours call centers can use a call management system to track calls (which are about 95% of business.)

Although, even a pizza shop or hair salon can simplify daily processes and reduce wasteful spending just by incorporating a call management system. When calls go unanswered, this is often a potential client lost to a competitor. When calls are abandoned, this is seen as poor customer service. Or if outgoing calls are longer than they should be, this too can be costly.

Your business can ignore the recession and thrive in the current economy. Maybe a call management system won’t be the answer to all of your prayers, but it is certainly a start to develop a cost effective strategy and head in a more profitable direction.

Think about this: 70% of school administrators have been threatened by a parent.

2009-10-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Teacher victimization by aggressive parents is the reason that 40% to 50% of new teachers leave the profession within five years.

What happens when the safety of your teachers becomes a he said/she said situation?
Although there has been an enormous amount of attention, funding and research regarding school safety since the late 1990s, there has been very little given to the issue of problem parents in the school setting. School personnel interact with parents on a daily basis and fortunately, most of these interactions are pleasant. However, instances of parental aggression do occur and are, in fact, on the rise. Teachers are constantly concerned about an increasing number of problem parents who question grades and often harass teachers regarding the treatment their child is receiving at school.

There are those that have experienced situations in which parents cornered a teacher, sent harassing emails and threatened their jobs or bodily injury, but the most prevalent behavior is verbal victimization. And while parents have the right to question teachers in regards to their child, they never have the right to make threats or become aggressive.

In this day and age it is rare that a teacher does not have a direct line or two in their classroom, making it easy for parents to reach them. Because most parents work, it is easier for them to communicate by phone. A simple phone call questioning a teacher’s professional judgment can quickly turn into verbal abuse and threats being made towards the teacher.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it is becomes the teacher’s word against the parent’s.
Threats can happen at anytime and to any school; therefore, the time to prepare the administrators, teachers, students, and parents of your school system for threats is now. Not only must telephones be available in every classroom, but other areas frequented by teachers and students, for emergency use as well.

The ability to validate a threat or harassment is invaluable that is why schools must turn to a comprehensive campus-wide IP phone system to provide for teacher and student safety. Make the smart choice and integrate SmartRecord IP into your safety preparedness practices this year.

SmartRecord IP is available in VoIP Call Recording, Hosted Call Recording, IP Call Recording and in almost any type of Call Recording System you could want.

Threats of violence can be delivered via a variety of mediums but the telephone remains the most common means of delivery.

2009-10-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

Threats of violence can be delivered via a variety of mediums but the telephone remains the Based on our review of the published law enforcement guidelines to schools for handling a threatening phone call, our determination is that our call recording software obviates 5 of the 7 guidelines.

1.Keep the caller on the phone as long as possible and do not hang up.

2.Write down the caller ID number and the exact time of the call. SmartRecord eliminates the need to do this.

3.If a student is answering the phones, have an adult take the call.

4.Signal someone to alert the building administrator or security. SmartRecord allows for one button alerting configurable to your crisis protocols.

5.Write down everything the caller said. SmartRecord eliminates the need to do this.

6.Make an educated guess as to the caller’s sex, age, race, and accent. SmartRecord allows for playback of the call which enables experts in this type of analysis to evaluate and make this determination.

7.Identify any background noises. SmartRecord allows for playback of the call which enables experts in this type of analysis to evaluate and make this determination.

The benefits go far beyond the tangible items above however. In moments of panic, trying to remember details of the call or caller are easier said than done. Schools invest time and money in training teachers and staff on the best methods to execute the actions above while under duress of a live threat situation. This requirement is now eliminated.

Most importantly, we believe that call.

The following are some specifics about CTI Group’s SmartRecord call recording solution that resonate with our users world wide:

•Not only records the call information such as number, time, and location, but it also records the actual content of the call.
•Call recordings can be immediately emailed to the police, security staff, and administrators to start their investigation in hopes of catching the perpetrator. No special playback software is required.
•Alerts can be set so that when 911 is called from your school, teachers are notified immediately and can take appropriate steps in securing their classrooms.
•The same alerting system can be configured to trigger the downstream activities highlighted as part of your crisis plan.

How can safety be a priority in your school when call recording is not a part of your preparedness plan?

2009-10-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to open the newspaper or turn on the news these days without hearing of a story about school violence or the mention of a poignant anniversary of school violence. What does it say about our society when the first thing a child is greeted by each school day is a security guard and a metal detector? As a parent you should feel comfortable leaving your child at school. As a student, you should feel comfortable being at school. What has gone so wrong?

Up until recently school violence was generally perpetrated by the students. No one ever considered parents as a safety issue for teachers and administrators. But bullying by parents towards teachers has become an all too familiar trend and administrators are being forced to find additional methods to safeguard their schools.your school when call recording system is not a part of your preparedness plan?

Or take for instance a mother and a father of a student embattled in a vicious divorce and custody battle. Who would ever think such a thing could create an unsafe situation for a teacher or school administrator? What happens when one parent calls saying one thing and the other calls contradicting the previous statement? Who do you believe, how do you resolve the issue and protect the student, teacher, and school?

In many instances, managing verbal outbursts and even attacks comes down to the teacher since they are normally the target. While maintaining a certain level of professionalism, the teacher must listen and empathize as well as he or she can with the parent’s issues. Very often, those same skills a teacher brings to the job are more than enough to reduce the tension. But what happens when they aren’t? What happens when the parent begins making threats and it comes down to a he said she said type argument?

What if you had all of the conversations recorded? What if you were able to go back and search a database of recordings and listen to what each parent said or listen to the threats a parent made against a teacher? The issue of school safety, whether a bomb threat, bullying parent, or divorcing parents is what makes CTI Group’s SmartRecord product an ideal partner in fighting these crimes.

SmartRecord allows all incoming and outgoing calls to be recorded and saved. It has a user friendly interface that enables users of the application to search and find specific recordings. Schools can even email recordings to the parents or legal and law enforcement personnel, providing firm proof of what occurred.

Why wouldn’t you want something so simple and affordable as SmartRecord as part of your school system’s arsenal towards ensuring the safety of the students, teachers, and administrators of your schools?

The Benefits of Telemanagement

2009-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a way to reduce wasteful spending while at the same time simplify telecommunication operations within your business? That’s exactly what telemanagement systems are used for… and this is a service highly recommended for businesses of any size.

What, Exactly, Is Telemanagement?
Telemanagement is a computer based system that tracks and monitors phone usage throughout your company, (whether it is a small business or a large corporation) analyzes all information, and even allows you to bill back phone usage.

Also known as call accounting software, telemanagement systems are being implemented in a number of businesses as a way to reduce costs and simplify specific operations.

How Can I Save Money With Telemanagement?
The first way that telemanagement saves you money is by minimizing the time wasted searching for specific information relating to your telecommunications.

The information you need will be analyzed and recorded in an easy to use, easy to find interface. Whether you currently spend five minutes searching for a specific phone record, or 50 minutes analyzing ring time statistics—telemanagement makes this information available immediately, so your time can be better spent on other tasks that matter.

But that's not a good enough answer, is it?

When somebody says “you can save a ton of money by implementing this service” your first response may be “yeah, right.” Of course telemanagement will be a business expense…and you may not trust that this is an expense worth investing in.

Unfortunately, there is no free call accounting software worth exploring, but the investment itself does pay for itself with the time saved on analyzing telecommunications within your business.

However, that’s not the only way that telemanagement saves money…

Apart from minimizing the time you spend analyzing telecommunications, call accounting software also works to reduce wasteful spending.

With an instant overview of extensive long distance calls, personal phone usage, and abandoned calls… you can quickly “nip these in the bud” and watch your savings grow immediately.

With precise, printable documentation of phone records…telemanagement systems can help you monitor where your telecommunication expenses are going, and cut back on any related excessive spending.

Besides Saving Money, What Are the Other Benefits of Telemanagement?
Cutting back costs is the biggest benefit to call accounting software, but there are other reasons to try a telemanagement system as well:
• Telemanagement is a better, and easier way to track spending! – It doesn’t take an economic recession to know that operating a successful business, regardless of business size or nature, involves very close monitoring of what you spend…down to the penny. A telemanagement system is the most effective way to track telecommunication related expenses…allowing you to develop new strategies for a more profitable business.
• Simplifying important processes and operations couldn’t be any easier!—Telemanagement is a user-friendly computer based program. Welcome to the 21st century!
• Telemanagement helps you identify and correct “flaws” in your telecommunication strategy! - Call accounting software provides a visual understanding of wasteful spending, dropped calls, and other relevant issues. Not that your strategy is flawed to begin with…but there’s always a way to improve!

Learn more about telemanagement, and put it to the test today!

“Go Green” Business Strategy: eBilling

2009-10-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

These days, more and more business owners are implementing more environmentally conscious strategies into the way they do business. Naturally, there are many reasons to go green and many consumers are more likely to choose a vendor based on their choice to go green.

The easiest way for a business of any size to go green is to stop wasting tons of paper and start using eBilling services. After all, it is the 21st century!

Not only will this green business strategy look good for your company and build customer loyalty, but you will also save money by reducing the cost of paper, postal expenses, and other wasteful business expenses.

Yes, eBilling Saves Your Business Money!
Someday, children will learn in history class about the days when businesses would need to spend money on costly invoicing systems…like sending an invoice via fax or “snail mail.” Then, business owners needed to contact clients and confirm receipt of an invoice, and that could be rather costly as well.

Luckily, gas was under $2 back then. The method of requesting, and receiving, payment for services/products was improved with the technology brought on in the late 20th century. Smart business owners began to utilize eBilling…a fix-it-all solution to the time and money wasted with outdated invoicing services. The world was a much happier place.

In all seriousness, eBilling does save your business money and if you’re not using it yet—what are you doing to beat both the recession and consumer mistrust?

Simplify Business Processes with eBilling
Truly a wonderful, magical service—eBilling makes it easier than ever to monitor specific information as well as general information about your income and expenses. Who pays what on time, and who is always a little behind on their payments?

More importantly—eBilling is a hassle free solution for organizing. All information is already stored for you, so if there is a billing dispute you can quickly access any relevant files without digging through stacks of paperwork.

eBilling Speeds Along Important Financial Transactions
While nobody waits anxiously for a bill to arrive in the mail, it’s another story when waiting for payment to arrive. eBilling speeds along the payment process by allowing your customers to pay quickly online. It’s less hassle for you, and less stress for your clients.In the long run, eBilling also improves overall customer satisfaction with your business!

Should You Enforce eBilling as the Only Invoicing Method You Use?
Depending on the nature of your business, it might be appropriate to take a bold new step into a new direction and “do away” with the old. eBilling allows you to simplify, speed up, and improve invoicing and payment methods…so why not make the switch all the way?

However, certain companies should introduce eBillng and offer incentives for clients to sign up for this service. In some cases, you might have a client who is unable to pay their bill online or receive an invoice. At the same time, you’ll be surprised at the percentage of your customers who will gladly accept the organized and effective solution once you offer eBilling.

Learn more about what eBilling can do for your business, and start benefiting today!

Webinar: Accelerating & Augmenting VoIP Sales

2009-10-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

We recently participated in a webinar designed for carriers...
Play Now

About the presentation, "Accelerating & Augmenting VoIP Sales"
Successful carriers are delivering VoIP solutions that include new and profitable applications and enable the sales channel with powerful tools to generate new and enhanced revenue streams from a subset of vertical markets.

If you are a carrier who wants to be successful, you and your channels should be asking:
• What verticals are gaining and losing and what packaging strategies work?
• What are the most critical sales tools to help my channel close more business?
• How does layering applications add value and increase average revenue per user (ARPU)?

Meet the team of panelists:
Jeanne Sauer, Principal, Marketing MattersLed by industry expert and Sylantro alumni Jeanne Sauer, this webinar will address these questions and discuss how proven tools can be used to expedite the sales process.

Sid Rao, Chief Technology Officer, CTI Group, IncAlso, spend time with CTI Group’s Chief Technology Officer, Sid Rao on discovering the flexibility and scalability of centrally managed call recording system and call reporting applications in a distributed workforce environment.

The seminars will be moderated by Lisa Hoesel, Director of Customer Conversation and Social Media DJ for References-Online.

Finding a Bill Analysis and eBilling Solutions Company

2009-10-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

If you’re thinking of implementing eBilling software and bill analysis into your business, you probably already know there are more than a few choices out there. Is all eBilling software the same? Are all the companies who provide bill analysis solutions the same too? The answer to both questions is a resounding “no.” The company you choose to handle your transition into eBilling absolutely plays a crucial role in your future success.For this reason, you should follow these tips when choosing an eBilling software company.

• Analyze their experience—You want to be certain the company you choose to handle your eBilling system has a wealth of experience in the field. The more experienced they are, the likelier it is they can create a solution that meets your needs. The best eBilling and bill analysis companies have years of experience providing telecom billing analysis solutions. They also have experience installing thousands of these systems for businesses throughout the world.
• Read up on their reputation—Before you settle on an eBilling services provider, you need to see what their current and former clients have to say about them. By gleaning from the unique insight of their customers, you’ll be able to cut through the marketing hype to truly determine if the company’s products and services are right for your needs. Of course, you need to remember not to put too much stock in a single customer review (whether positive or negative). Instead, consider common themes throughout many reviews to get a full picture of the company’s performance.
• Check out their customer service—When you’re implementing a new computer-based system for eBilling, you’re probably going to have a few questions. That’s perfectly normal with any new technical system. When you have these questions, you want to make sure you have access to quality customer service and expert help. That’s why you should check out the eBilling software and bill analysis services provider’s customer service long before you decide to do business with them. If their customer service doesn’t seem helpful, it’s probably best not to purchase their products and services.
• Don’t ignore price—While you don’t want to shop for eBilling software and bill analysis services on price alone, the simple truth is everyone has a budget to consider. Remember, the ultimate goal of these solutions is to save you money and give you a return on your investment. So, spend time comparing prices among service providers to make sure you’re getting good bang for your buck.

There are many benefits to acquiring a bill analysis product for your business. Everything is automated, saving you time and making sure no invoicing mistakes occur. It also saves you money as you no longer have to print and mail invoices. Furthermore, it’s completely secure as billing data is stored on a remote, off-location secured server.By following these tips when choosing an eBilling software company, you can be sure to maximize these benefits for your business!

Hosted Call Recording

2009-10-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

SmartRecord is a white label hosted call recording solution. Using the patented technology, SmartRecord eliminates the need for on-site equipment or packet-sniffing technologies.
SmartRecord Online is our pay-per-use service designed to help both end user and service provider customers slowly acclimatise to the benefits of call recording without the burden of a high initial capital investment. CTI Group can easily provision our call recording service for either a traditional phone system or softswitch. We work with your existing phone equipment and phone service provider. The call recording service is configured via SIP or TDM, but rest assured, the steps to adding our call recording service is uncomplicated and straightforward.

Ideal for…Testing the waters. In recent years, call recording has become a mainstay in corporate America. But for many service providers, the initial investment deters them from adding this feature. With CTI Group’s new SmartRecord Online, service providers can build their call recording software base on our hosted platform and then move to their own platform once their client base supports the investment.

The Benefits of eBilling Software

2009-10-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

In this digital age, new technologies are always being developed to save time and money. For many businesses, one of the most useful technologies is that of eBilling software. Like its name implies, eBilling software allows companies to invoice their customers digitally, eliminating the old, time-consuming method of faxing or snail mailing an invoice. If you’re thinking of implementing eBilling software into your business process, consider these benefits that you’ll enjoy.

1. Saves money on sending invoices—In the past, sending an invoice to a customer meant mailing or faxing it to them. Then, you’d have to spend time following up on the invoice to make sure they received it and to determine when they’ll send over the payment. With eBilling software, you’ll save time and money as everything is handled digitally. Bill production (paper and printing) and distribution (postage) costs will be a fraction of what they once were. Most companies break even with their eBilling software in a year or less, and after that, you start seeing a true return on your investment.

2. Expedites payment—Not only is the traditional way of distributing bills costly, but it also takes up too much time. By the time you print up, send the invoice, and wait for payment to return, a couple of weeks could easily pass by. eBilling allows you to instantly invoice your customers no matter where they’re located. Customers can quickly pay their bill online, making the entire process fast and easy. As a business owner, you can certainly appreciate the reduced hassle and stress of getting paid quickly and on time.

3. Improves customer relationship management—One of the keys to keep customers coming back time and time again is to have a sound customer relationship management strategy in place. This allows you to stay in regular contact with your customers, to avoid having anyone slip through the cracks, and to improve your overall customer service. eBilling software allows you to easily manage all of your customers and their accounts on your computer. This eliminates billing errors and ensures a solid relationship is maintained.

4. Keeps billing records organized—Before eBilling was created, records of past invoices were typically stored away in a filing cabinet somewhere. If any discrepancies popped up, you had to go digging through the old paper records to sort out the billing dispute. With new digital billing software, all the records of your transactions are easily accessible from your computer. Paid and owed invoices for each customer can be examined quickly and easily, making it faster than ever before to sort out any discrepancies or disputes.

5. It’s environmentally friendly—Using eBilling software isn’t just good for your business; it’s also good for the environment. No longer will you have to use tons of paper every single year just for printing and sending invoices. It’s a simple way to reduce your environmental impact while making a change that also improves the overall efficiency of your business.

Increase your productivity and save money by using eBilling software today!

emPulse – Automated Call Distribution (ACD) Reporting

2009-10-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

CTI Group goes all-out to provide superior scalable applications for every communication manager's needs. emPulse provides modes of reporting and monitoring that benefit contact centers and businesses with heavy phone traffic to improve their efficiency. emPulse ACD Reporting is a carrier-class, multi-tenant application that allows the service provider to offer call accounting to their customers as a hosted service.

Contact centers need to know when agents are available, their queue times and lengths: service level visibility is critical to quality helpdesk service. emPulse provides this visibility. Management needs reports for hold times, accepted calls, and abandoned calls, to efficiently staff the call center. emPulse reports provide the needed information, filtered and tailored to the customers’ needs.

Whether located in a centralized location or globally distributed, ACD reporting provides a comprehensive view of agent activity and presence.

emPulse is a competitively priced, easy-to-use, web-based communications management solution that is accessed remotely, making it the most convenient solution on the market. emPulse is equipped with comprehensive reports to deliver the most-often requested telecom usage information to small and medium-sized businesses. ROI can occur immediately, but most often a true return is realized in 3-4 months. This quick ROI is achieved by identifying and eliminating external fraud, unnecessary telecom expenditures, employee time abuse, employee telephone misuse and lost business opportunities. Bottom line: emPulse allows your business to manage communication costs more effectively.

Understanding Telemanagement Systems and Their Benefits

2009-10-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

Whether you run a small business or a multinational organization, keeping costs low and reducing wasteful spending is always a priority. To better track telephone usage and to identify opportunities for reducing costs, many businesses are implementing telemanagement systems and call accounting software. The result is an investment that often more than pays for itself with the savings and increased productivity it creates.

So, just what are telemanagement systems?
Telemanagement systems are computer-based programs that allow you to track, monitor, analyze, and bill back all phone usage in your business. This allows you to closely monitor where your money for telecommunications is going. Many times, businesses find there is wasteful spending on excessive long distance usage, personal calls from employees, and wasted time on abandoned calls. You can also track ring time, which phones are being used, and other important telephone traffic stats.

Here’s an easy-to-understand example of how a telemanagement system can be used:
Suppose you manage a hotel. A telemanagment system can be used to track which guests are using the telephone, how long they’re using it for, and the numbers they’re calling. This allows you to accurately bill your customers for their telephone usage so that your company isn’t eating those costs. Because it’s all computer-based, you’ll have precise, printable reports that serve as records to document this phone usage.

Of course, you might not manage a hotel. That’s okay. You can still use telemanagement systems in your business and enjoy a wide range of benefits. What kind of benefits? Here are just a few.

Track your spending better—Tracking every dollar your business spends is more important now than ever before due to the mercurial nature of the economy. Telemanagement systems allow you to see exactly where your money is going as it relates to telecommunications costs. This enables you to identify costly phone usage trends as well as implement new strategies for reducing overall telecommunications costs.
Identify and correct wasteful spending—Because call accounting software allows you to see exactly who’s making the calls and how long they’re talking, you can pinpoint where the wasteful spending is coming from. This allows you to eliminate in-house problems so you don’t waste a single dollar of revenue. And going forward, having such a system in place will prevent more misusage from occurring.
Simplify your operations—These user-friendly telemanagement systems make tracking telephone usage simpler than ever before. No more annoying paperwork to sift through. No more guesswork. Everything is laid out and organized as neatly as possible for you. This saves you time and money.

The bottom line is this: you can’t afford to waste money on telephone misusage or due to a lack of proper bill back information. Telemanagement systems help eliminate misuse and wasteful spending as well as more accurately track how your company is using its phones. The result is a more efficient and productive business that wastes less money.
Learn more about what telemanagement systems can do for your business today!

Top 5 Benefits of Using Call Recording Software

2009-09-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

If your business isn’t using call recording software, you’re not only missing out on several key benefits, but you’re also opening up the door to wasteful spending and poor customer service. Simply put, you can’t truly know how your incoming and outgoing calls are being handled unless you have clear audio recordings of them.

Here are 5 benefits you can enjoy if you implement call recording software in your business.

1. Evaluate an employee’s performance—For those employees who deal with customers over the phone, it’s important to know they’re handling these interactions professionally and in a way that leaves the customer satisfied. Call recording software allows you to access audio recordings of every phone conversation so you can accurately grade the employee’s performance. Based on these recordings, you can provide constructive criticism showing the employee where he or she needs to improve as well as highlight the things he or she did well. In the unfortunate event that a particular employee is constantly providing poor customer service, this can help you nip these problems in the bud to protect your brand.

2. Use recordings to train staff—Recordings of both excellent phone interactions and poor ones can be used to train your staff to properly handle calls. This allows you to show your employees exactly what you expect of them, and it sets a standard across the board. The better trained an employee is the better he or she will perform.

3. Accurately transcribe customer orders—Call recording software helps eliminate mistakes and miscommunications. If you don’t have an audio recording, an employee can either forget exactly what the customer ordered or have misunderstood and entered the wrong information. Recordings allow your employees to double check the order to ensure your customers receive what they ordered, leaving them satisfied.

4. Have physical records of complaints and disputes—Unfortunately complaints and disputes are an inevitable part of running a business. Customers will occasionally call in to make a complaint about your products, services, an employee, or something else. Or a dispute might arise during a conversation between your employee and a customer. Having an audio recording of every conversation will allow you to identify complaints and eliminate the he-said-she-said from any disputes.

5. Eliminate phone misusage—Your employees are there to work. This means you probably don’t want them making personal calls all day long or using expensive long distance services. Call recording software allows you to instantly identify and eliminate phone misusage. Having physical records means the employee cannot dispute your claims of misuse. Once employees understand they’re being monitored, they’ll focus on the job at hand and improve your company’s overall productivity.

The simple truth is your business can’t afford not to have call recording software. It’s the only way you can be certain you’re giving your customers the level of service they deserve and that your employees are performing up to your expectations. Don’t jeopardize your business’ fate. Get reliable, call recording software for better customer service today!

Who Determines Call Recording Legal Jurisdictions?

2009-09-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

IP call recording regulations are complicated—and the penalties for infringement strict—it’s vitally important for organizations considering call recording to arm themselves with the knowledge and resources to legally protect their interests.

Because there are three separate entities (i.e., the federal government, state governments, and the FCC) that determine call recording regulations, it’s important to understand the jurisdictions of each.
• The Federal Government.
The Federal Government does not define a large amount of specific legislation for call recording. It does, however, require one-party consent.
• State Governments.
State governments generally have more well-defined call recording laws and penalties. With the exception of calls involving felonies or threats, only 13 states require all-party consent.
• The FCC.
The FCC requires that all parties in a recorded interstate call be notified either verbally or through an intermittent beep of the recording. Lawsuits involving interstate telephone calls have been judged in both the originating state and in the receiving state, so it’s recommended that the stricter state guidelines are followed when recording interstate calls.

eBilling Adoption: Pros and Cons for the Service Provider

2009-09-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

The costs of providing online and telephone customer support are increasing, while the cost pressures on Service Providers mean that the number of staff working in this area are decreasing. Anything that helps end users ‘help themselves’ can deliver direct savings to the Service Provider. The case for eBilling has, however, suffered from over exposure, being promoted as something of a ‘cure all.’

For all the hype, eBilling does have undeniable strengths, particularly within one of the most competitive market sectors- telecoms. With the promise of a fast ROI, the decision should be an easy one. Particularly, if as an example, you consider the experience of one large multi-national service provider that exceeded 40% eBilling adoptions in less than 36 months – more than 20% paper turned off and 70% of consumers paying electronically.

A sweep of the internet around the subject of eBilling and Service Providers comes up with a real mixed bag, ranging from thinly disguised promotional material to reports of poor take-up. The most disturbing message is that of poor take-up. If it’s so good, why wait? We started by asking our customers what they believed were the concerns – valid or otherwise – that were inhibiting some Service Providers from adopting an eBilling strategy. Ranked in order of importance, they are as follows:

1. Increased transparency of charges will lose the Service Provider revenue. By delivering an eBilling and analytics solution, the Service Provider makes it easier for its customers to understand their spend, and potentially highlight areas where cost savings can be identified. These savings translate into a loss of revenue for the Service Provider. This has been a big issue for Service Providers and often cited as a reason not to deploy an eBilling and analytics service. In fact, it does not stand up to scrutiny. Most large organizations already invest time analyzing their spend, whether paper or electronic bills. By offering a solution that makes it easier and cheaper for customers to perform analysis, the Service Provider in fact gains credibility and loyalty.

2. No immediate cost savings. eBilling is perceived as additional overhead, with no immediate return. In fact, most Service Providers do make significant cost cuts, with some even selling the service as added value (see appendix case study). Others that have undertaken successful implementations have reported remarkable indirect returns. The secret is to make a full evaluation of peripheral and incremental savings – see our example guide to assessing ROI at the end of this report.

3. The cost and hassle of integration. Many Service Providers, particularly following convergence, are suffering from a plethora of legacy systems that frustrate the production of a consolidated bill. Integration can be a huge hurdle. It can also become an excuse for doing nothing – the “let’s wait until we have a common system before addressing eBilling” syndrome. In practice, companies have found that eBilling can become the quickest mechanism for integration, giving customers a single view across multiple invoicing systems.

4. The poor performance of DIY solutions. In-house developed eBilling systems have a mixed history. This is not a reflection on the concept of eBilling – more a comment on the practical issues involved with in-house development. Most internal IT departments are suffering overload from maintaining legacy systems. Having to cover the whole spectrum of IT development and maintenance, they often do not have the opportunity of meeting the whole range of issues and potential solutions associated with eBilling. Longer term, they suffer from people that have moved on to delivering the next project, resulting in skills becoming dispersed or even lost. Ongoing development and maintenance of the eBilling applications inevitably suffer.

5. The ‘too busy’ syndrome. With new services to provide and possibly, legacy systems to replace, IT departments can be excused for sidelining projects they believe do not create extra chargeable revenue. Projects end up at the bottom of the pile. What they often don’t recognize is the strong business case that can deliver quick bottom line savings and fast incremental revenue from eBilling. And it can be achieved without any impact to the corporate IT strategy. For many companies, the solution is outsourcing – whether employing a fully hosted solution or an outsourced managed solution on-site.

6. Poor adoption rates. This is the most frustrating rationale for doing nothing. A self-fulfilling prophesy based on long outdated information and a lack of knowledge of adoption rates. Our research has found that Service Providers adopting an eBilling strategy ranked ‘customer adoption rates’ as the most important issue they needed to address.

The truth is that eBilling and associated analysis is delivering significant benefits for Service Providers of all sizes, across both their consumer and business sectors. However, the two environments are very different. The consumer marketplace faces particular challenges, not least of which is the reluctance of some customers to adopt an online lifestyle. It has been the reluctance of the consumer sector that has clouded the industry’s perception of eBilling.
The business sector represents the more straightforward case – where it is faster to convert and easier to articulate customer benefits. For most Service Providers, the corporate space represents a significant part of their revenue, or it is an area of potential growth in a highly competitive market.

How to choose a good telecommunications channel partner

2009-09-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Many companies in the telecommunications industry claim to have a channel partners program, but there are great differentiators in the programs available from company to company. The question you have to ask yourself is “Does this program provide the complete support and product diversity that I would want from a partner?” And often times the answer to this question is no.

So, what should you look for in a channel partner? There are several components that any good channel partner will bring to the table. First and foremost, a good channel partner must come equipped with a diverse product portfolio. Working with one supplier is always easier than working with many different suppliers. When you get used to working with a good supplier, it makes running your business much easier. One telecommunications company offers both call accounting and call recording in the VoIP and traditional markets. This product portfolio is quite diverse for a telecommunications channel partner because regardless of who you get on the phone or what kind of system they are working on, you know that your partner provides the solutions that that customer needs. A diverse portfolio of products that integrate well together and in your niche market is key.

Second, they must provide some sort of “launch” program that will introduce your team to the product portfolio now available. This launch program will be complete with onsite and online training programs, ready-made, white-labeled literature, and sales support information. During the onsite and online training programs, sales associates are trained on how the product works, the vertical markets that might the best suited for these products, and provided with use cases as to how these products are currently being used by existing customers.

The ready-made, white-labeled literature provides the sales team with flyers, collateral, powerpoints, etc. that make the sales process much easier and make adding these products to their product portfolio instantaneous. Other marketing support programs would also be made available to engage current and new markets in trying these new products. A channel partner should provide you with the resources you need to get these products launched in the marketplace successfully.

Finally, during this launch program, the channel partner should provide you with detailed sales support information. Most channel partners will go as far as to provide all of the quoting, contract, and billing support that you need, again, making the transition to these new products easy and seamless.

But, the support should not stop there. You have trained your sales team on the product and target markets, you have targeted those markets with white-labeled campaigns and literature, and you have complete pre-sales support, but what now? What happens once you get an interested customer? A good channel partner will continue to provide customer training and support once you have sold the product. Offering online and onsite training courses for your new customer and help desk support for any future questions that arise.

By choosing your telecommunications service providers carefully, you will be pleasantly surprised by how many sales opportunities and support you will get from the relationship. Don’t settle for a second rate channel partner experience – it will pay off in the end.

How does SmartRecord IP v2.0 archive integrate with SalesForce.com?

2009-09-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

SmartRecord IP v2.0 comes equipped with a feature that provides a direct link to SalesForce enabling the archiving of IP call recording call details and/or audio files. The use of the feature is optional on the SmartRecord IP v2.0 platform.

This feature is easy to use. Once the call detail or audio file has been created, simply archive the file to the CRM contact or account record, the same way that you would archive an email file. This allows sales and customer service to gather all communications with their customer contacts in one easy to access place.

IP Telemanagement Systems: Monitoring the Quality of Your IP Telephony While Managing Its Usage Within Your Organization

2009-09-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

IP solutions can give businesses significant advantages over traditional voice technologies, but maintaining the performance and availability of IP applications can be daunting for voice managers because of their complexity and the critical role they play.
Monitoring IP networks is particularly vital as even the slightest changes in performance can have a dramatic impact on the quality of service end users experience. When caused by network problems, lost or dropped packets can result in highly noticeable performance issues or jitter with IP and will affect all other network applications to a degree.
It is important to monitor IP telephony networks as it is impossible to determine in advance when problems will occur. Many businesses are starting to turn to IP telemanagement systems to help manage the quality of their service as well as employee use of telecom equipment. IP telemanagement systems are designed for organizations demanding a better performance from their IP network. It is differentiated by its ability to reliably monitor large volumes of IP traffic across many sites helping managers to effectively understand the traffic characteristics of their networks so that high quality service levels are ensured.
IP telemanagement enables customers to successfully manage their IP telephony solutions, assuring the infrastructure is available and monitoring the end user experience and call quality. IP telemanagement measures and reports on metrics and service levels while mitigating security risks.
IP telemanagement systems are designed to allow customers to review the call quality on IPT systems. Such a system would report QoS data (such as jitter, latency and packet loss) experienced by users. With this information customers can begin troubleshooting and isolating problems while holding their service providers responsible for the quality of their IP service. This helps encourage service providers to deliver consistently superior and high quality IP telephony service.
Reports, used in conjunction with a comprehensive filtering interface, enable reporting on virtually any data element and allow customers to monitor service levels, call quality, overall performance, usage trends and capacity planning.
An IP telemanagement system enables users to design any number of customized reports, all of which can be output to Excel, Word, Crystal Reports, Adobe PDF or HTML. These reports provide the business user with the information specific to their business needs. The best IP telemanagement systems give the administrator the ability to control the information that they receive. Each business has different needs and requirements.
Additionally, by providing auto-scheduling, which produces reports automatically at predefined intervals, to a chosen output or e-mail distribution list, these IP telemanagement systems are able to provide administrators with the reports they need immediately. This minimizes a user’s intervention and guarantees that vital business information is delivered accurately and on time. Since the reports are auto-scheduled, the user does not have to enter the system for any reason and can just wait for the reports to be delivered directly to them.
Incorporating an IP telemanagement system into telecom management enables businesses to monitor the quality of their IP service, while also monitoring their employee activity and removing the opportunity for overspend and telecom fraud.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: How eBilling Can Help Your Company Join the Green Movement

2009-09-14T07:40:00.000-07:00

Reduce, reuse, recycle. This is the slogan for “going green” and the lesson we are all supposed to take from the green movement. But, what does it mean?

Most green experts agree that these three actions should be integrated into your day-to-day business and personal life in this specific order. In other words, we must first try to reduce the amount of materials that we use to begin with. It is actually fairly easy to do. Instead of printing every document on paper, think first if it is necessary or if you can work with it electronically. Is it really necessary to buy a new printer or can your current printer be repaired? Choosing to reduce the materials we consume is not only green, but also friendly on the finances.

Next we come to reuse. Instead of throwing away a document that was printed incorrectly, reuse the back of each sheet of paper as scratch paper. Instead of buying a bottle of soda each day, buy one large bottle and drink out of a reusable cup or glass. These are small changes that we can each make every day that can really make a huge impact on the planet in the long run.

If we are unable to avoid using reusing materials that we already use, we can turn to recycling. Most offices have an abundance of paper, cans, bottles, etc. that can be recycled fairly easily and because of the quantity of recyclables, an initiative like this can really make a significant impact on the amount of garbage going to landfills from your place of business.

The biggest problem is that most people only consider the latter option…recycling. Most companies and individuals do not first consider where they can cut back on consumption. It really is in the best interest of the company to train people to think about their consumables – it is financially beneficial. But, by first identifying the areas in which you can cut back on consumption all together, you are reducing carbon emissions to transport consumables as well the energy required to recycle that product. While recycling keeps that product from ending up in a landfill, that does not mean it is the BEST green alternative.

One place in particular where a company can reduce the amount of materials used is to move to electronic billing rather than paper billing. The process to recycle and recreate paper does create waste and use energy, so it is in everyone’s best interest to simply reduce the amount of paper that we use. Most companies receive hundreds of pages of paper from their telecom service provider documenting their usage. Not only can electronic billing help you to improve your carbon footprint, but it can also allow you to find more efficient ways of analyzing and allocating bills. Many of the best eBilling software solutions also come equipped with analysis and customized reporting functionality that helps accounting and department heads to quickly and efficiently allocate expenses rather than tediously flipping through hundreds of pages of paper bills. This is just one example of how your company can incorporate a green initiative into your day-to-day business activities by REDUCING your consumption of materials.

Reduce first, then reuse, then recycle.

2009-09-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

When industry regulations necessitate recorded phone calls, we’ve got you covered. Remaining legally compliant is vital to your business success, and our call recording feature substantially lowers your risk. In addition, our easy-to-use solution improves your customer experience so you can build proactive, powerful consumer relationships. Our cost-effective, user-friendly call
recording solution ensures that you have the flexibility, scalability, and compliance coverage you need – with no capital investment in hardware or software.

Your business requires superior VoIP call recording services, and we provide a flexible solution to meet your unique needs. Whether you’re a retailer depending on phone order confirmations or an insurance provider that relies on claims recordings, we support you with an industry-leading solution – one that’s changing the face of call recording and VoIP services by employing customer-focused innovation.

We understand how important data security is to your business. A superior data encryption process ensures your calls are well protected. In addition, recorded calls required for legal, regulatory, or compliance purposes can be safely transferred from our web-based system to your proprietary system individually or in batches.

Catching and combating telephony misuse and fraud

2009-09-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Businesses of all sizes are always looking for simple but effective ways to cut costs and where possible, streamline and improve the services they offer - even more so in the current economic situation. In many cases, the tough economic climate has; unfortunately, forced workers to take advantage of work telephony systems and use either a work mobile handset or a desktop telephone for personal use and, in more severe cases, to call premium rates.

This is forcing businesses to review the way in which staff actually use their telephone systems. Ultimately, this is a positive step and can result in a business streamlining its procedures to gain instant cost savings while improving customer service. Over the past 12 months, inquiries from companies that have fallen victim to telephony fraud, hacking and misuse have increased. Workers have been known to use the desktop phone for personal purposes or to call premium rate 900 numbers, with their unknowing employer footing the bill.

This extends to outsourced staff, including cleaning teams that often operate outside of standard office hours and more often than not are left to their own devices. We saw in once instance, premium rate number companies paying cleaners to dial a number and leave it hanging while they were in the office, only hanging up at the end of the evening when they left the building. Without close attention, this kind of activity can slip through the net with the company left to deal with the consequences and costs.

Invariably, threats can also come from international criminals as well as internal sources. Organized gangs have comprehensive software that enables a company's obsolete numbers to be hacked into and then used to dial out to premium and foreign extensions. This ‘toll fraud' is executed in a way that means calls can be left open, leaving an extremely large telephone bill, if not caught and combated. Telephone fraud is not a new issue, but it remains a topical one and one not to be taken lightly. In these stringent economic times, we would recommend that businesses, regardless of size, address policies and procedures in the workplace to ensure that staff know and understand what acceptable telephony use is and what is not. In hand with this, businesses should contact their telephony provider to gauge how they can work together to better manage and evaluate their telephony use.

This should not be a lengthy or complicated process, nor should the analysis procedure be laborious. In most cases, telephony providers will recommend that companies look to adopt a telemanagement and call recording solution. In doing so, businesses can obtain a comprehensive breakdown of the complete communications system and also have the ability to cap calls depending on length, rate and total cost. The presence of such a solution often puts the onus on the employee to improve the way they conduct themselves on the corporate telephone before senior management even address the reports such an application generates. Additionally having the ability to pull off ad-hoc detailed reports and highlight anomalous call activity ensures that directors can slice bills and prevent similar occurrences of telephone misuse from happening in the future.The call recording element of such a tool is key to the bigger picture as it provides directors with the evidence they need to drill down to the real issue, post-event. Not only can it be used as a means to document incidences when mitigating fraud, but it can also act as a way to train staff and strengthen the level of service offered to customers. By monitoring call activity, businesses can gain substantial savings while also improving processes, safe in the knowledge that their system is not being abused by those inside or outside the organization.

eBilling: The truth about Corporate Responsibility and ‘physical’ cost reductions – addressing the green agenda

2009-09-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

In the CTI Group survey of UK Service Providers (May 2009), the ‘benefits to the environment’ of turning off paper bills were rated second only to cutting costs - and more important than helping to win new clients.
Environmental issues are grabbing headlines and are exercising the minds of consumers. A whopping 79% of UK respondents in Landor’s 2008 ImagePower Green Brands Survey say they will maintain or increase their level of spending on green products or services in the coming year.
It comes as no surprise that Service Providers are waking up to the Green Agenda, the most recent example being Nokia’s unveiling of the world’s first recyclable phone.
So, how strong an argument is Service Provider eBilling in the debate? And what business benefits translate to the Service Provider and their corporate users?
It has nothing to do with saving rain forests (most – though not all – paper comes from sustainable forests), but it is to do with pollution. Paper manufacturing is a remarkably filthy, polluting process, even when recycling is added to the equation.
· The paper industry is a major source of toxic chemical pollution, especially toxic solvents and chlorine compounds used to bleach and delignify pulp.
· Worldwide, the pulp and paper industry is the fifth largest consumer of energy, accounting for 4% of the world's energy use – a significant contributor to air pollution.
· The pulp and paper industry uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry.
· There are associated hidden damages due to fuel extraction at source - oil drilling, coal mining, transmission lines, etc.
· Discarded paper is a major component of many landfill sites, accounting for about 35% by weight of municipal solid waste (before recycling).
· Most of the above arguments are just as true for recycled paper as for new.
Probably more than most ‘green’ initiatives, the reduction of paper usage and the associated logistics of physical delivery are easily associated with protection of the environment (in our next ‘truth’ we look at the volumes of paper associated with telecom billing).
We believe that such strong arguments, properly articulated by telecom suppliers, could become a potent marketing factor in three areas:
Improving adoption rates for eBilling with both consumers and corporate users (boosting ROI further/faster).
Providing a powerful Corporate Responsibility message to investors and customers (boosting public relations initiatives).
Adding similar value for business users, helping them to meet their Corporate Social Responsibility objectives.
It is easy to make the case for eBilling in the corporate environment, with the cost reductions achieved by delivering documents online rather than the traditional print and post method.
SMEs frequently receive over 100 pages for itemized telecom bills and statements, with large businesses often receiving thousands of pages. Once the cost of postage is added, ‘hard’ cost savings can quickly justify the move to eBilling. The industry quoted figures for reduction in ‘operating costs’ of mailing and manual processing between 65% and 85% - with some eBilling suppliers going so far as to suggest 90%.
So, what is the problem?
We have already touched on this. Potentially, the problem relates to the rate of customer uptake. Figures bandied around the industry suggest an average of just 15%. Is this true and how long does it take to achieve this figure?
In fact, uptake figures are muddied by the consumer sector. In the business sector, rates vary enormously by company – a reflection of how seriously Service Providers have applied themselves to promoting the service to business users.
At one end of the spectrum, some service providers have simply switched customers completely. Others take a phased approach.
From our experience, with strong marketing initiatives in place, even with a phased introduction companies are able to achieve 60% adoption over a 2-3 year period.

Resellers Find that Offering Proteus Gives Them a Leg Up in the Market

2009-09-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Proteus Enterprise is a telemanagement solution that allows companies to monitor their telecommunications expenditures and usages. This solution can provide a tremendous cost saving opportunity to any company regardless of its size or telecommunications needs.

In a recent study, we found that roughly 50% of all resellers that provide Proteus as part of their product offering are able to obtain new customers in new vertical markets because of the addition of Proteus to their portfolio. The other 50% of resellers offering Proteus found that, by offering this call accounting solution, they were able to keep up with their competition in a very competitive economic climate.

Laying Applications to VoIP Platform Offers Increased Revenue Potential Per Seat

2009-09-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

By layering applications onto an existing VoIP platform, service providers are able to upgrade their customers’ service, thereby increasing revenue and decreasing costs. In a recent study, we found that over 90% of service provider customers are able to recognize an increase in revenue from their existing customer base simply by adding much needed business applications to their platform.

IP call recording, call accounting, and ACD reporting are among the applications that provided the best return. By adding any or all of these applications to their platform, our customers were able to see an increase in revenue per seat, thus increasing overall revenue potential.

eBilling Found to be Key Non-Price Differentiator

2009-08-31T10:51:00.000-07:00

In a recent study, we found that 83% of our customers are able to keep up with their competition by providing an eBilling and analytics solution to their customers. This would lead one to believe that by providing eBilling and analytics to business customers can be a non-price differentiator for any company. By offering key analytical reporting and drill down along with the eBilling software, we have found great success in providing our customers with an even more robust solution than is customary in the eBilling market.

Proteus VoIP QMS: VoIP Call Accounting Solution

2009-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Proteus VoIP QMS is a call accounting solution that collects and reports on the call records produced by VoIP telephony systems. These records contain information such as call origination, destination, duration and termination status. Usefully, they can also contain user ID (extension mobility), IP address and MAC address information for users and devices on VoIP networks. Most VoIP systems also provide information about the quality of the calls they process, including metrics such as jitter and latency, as well as the number of packets that were sent, received and lost.

Reducing Customer Churn by Adding eBilling System

2009-08-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

eBilling and associated analysis is delivering significant benefits for Service Providers of all sizes, across both their consumer and business sectors. However, the two environments are very different. The consumer marketplace faces particular challenges, not least of which is the reluctance of some customers to adopt an online lifestyle. It has been the reluctance of the consumer sector that has clouded the industry’s perception of eBilling. The business sector represents the more straightforward case – where it is faster to convert and easier to articulate customer benefits. For most Service Providers, the corporate space represents a significant part of their revenue, or it is an area of potential growth in a highly competitive market.

As the Service Provider marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, customers are more willing to exercise their purchasing power. Around 75% of the 17 to 20 million subscribers signing up each year with wireless carriers have transferred from competitive carriers – customer churn. - source: Dunn and Bradstreet

In 2006, the Customer Respect group conducted a survey of UK telecom companies and reported ‘customer churn’ as one of the most pressing issues for the industry.
Unfortunately, there is little consistency in the measurement of churn and, because of the potential impact on share price, rates are sometimes ‘massaged’ to make them appear more positive. - source: Yankee Group

According to Dunn and Bradstreet, annual churn rates for telecommunication companies sit in a range of between 10% and 67%. The generally accepted industry average is around 35%.
There are two big hits associated with churn – lost future revenue and the cost of customer acquisition. Claude Borna, senior consultant in the communications industry, Deloitte Consulting, used to cite customer acquisition costs for carriers ranging between $300 and $600 in sales support, marketing and commissions – and that was almost a decade ago.

In 2001, Yankee Group estimated the cost of acquiring a new client at seven times more than the annual cost of retaining an existing subscriber. Bain & Co suggests a 9:1 ratio. Take your pick.
A recent benchmark survey (2008) of UK Service Providers, conducted by TM Forum, cites frustration with billing systems, especially for mobile services, as a major contributor to customer loss rates.

Benchmarking showed a large gap between the top and average billing inquiry rates among service providers. Average performers logged 16.21% of inquiries as billing related while leading companies reported billing inquiries at 1% of all inquiries. Significantly, good performers in this area show lower customer loss rates with less effective performers showing high loss rates.

The report noted: “Since the largest cause of customer service calls for mobile subscribers is for billing-related issues, investments in streamlined billing plans can generate a good rate of return.”
The McKinsey Quarterly went further, putting a figure to the value of self-care. They suggest that an average increase in customer retention for service providers of 1-2% can be derived directly from online self-care. – source ‘Automated Self-Service Comes to Service Providers’, McKinsey Quarterly, 2005

By using eBilling software and incorporating an eBilling system into their business practices, service providers are able to reduce customer churn and, in the long run, hold onto their existing customer base. The best way to increase revenue for any company is to hold onto existing business while increasing new business. Reducing customer churn is imperative in achieving this goal.

What to Consider When Deciding which Call Recording Solution to Purchase

2009-08-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

Today’s market is saturated with call recording applications that can record calls for “quality and training purposes”. So, deciding on which system to implement is quite complicated. Many managers would tell you to purchase the most inexpensive solution and that might actually be the right answer, but there are some other factors to consider.

There are a few questions that you must ask yourself before you start your search for the best call recording solution for your business. First, are you looking for a user-friendly solution that anyone can easily access and utilize? Or will this system be operated by an IT expert that would be able to navigate any system out there? It is important to identify which category your company falls into before beginning to search for a solution so you know the right questions to ask.

Another question you might ask yourself before jumping into the investment of a new call recording system is how would you like to retrieve your records? Do you have the internal resources to sift through thousands of call records and organize them for you or would you prefer a system with a search/filter and filing system that will easily organize the archived records for point and click retrieval.

Equally important to consider is the method that your company would want to use to listen to these recorded calls. Would your company prefer to use proprietary software that may make sharing these files difficult in the case of a legal or regulatory compliance situation or would your company prefer to use a free non-proprietary media player that is available to anyone online? Most companies would prefer the non-proprietary media player option as this makes it easy to analyze and send files so that others can listen to and use your files as needed.

Another crucial question to consider is the scalability of the call recording system that you decide to purchase. In other words, would this new system be able to handle growth in your business? If you purchase a system with unlimited scalability, you can rest assured that this system will not have to be replaced as your business grows.

Finally, it is important to ask yourself where you would like to use this system. Will you only need to use this system on premises or would it be useful to be able to record calls in other offices or on mobile devices? Many companies have agents and/or offices distributed all over the world and need to record calls regardless of geography. Many systems available in the market require that you purchase hardware for each location, while other systems are geographically redundant and will support all locations on one system.

Before purchasing a hosted call recording system, it is imperative that you consider these questions first. After considering these factors, you will be in a much better position to make an educated decision about which call recording solution would be best for your business. Every business is different and every business has different needs, so it is important to answer these questions while considering your business’s unique situation.

How quickly can the Proteus call accounting solution provide commercial value?

2009-08-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Proteus Enterprise is a call management system that facilitates the management of a company's entire spectrum of communications. Cost savings can be visible immediately through carrier comparison and bill verification, let alone by subconsciously making employees more accountable for their personal telephone usage. Unfortunately, "time theft" or personal abuse of communication facilities is now widespread in most businesses. Most customers realize a payback period of four to six months, after which the cost reductions and improved productivity increase the company's operating margin. Businesses use the Proteus call accounting solution to identify and eliminate unnecessary telecom expenditures, manage employee productivity, stop employee telephone misuse, and identify unanswered calls to key groups such as sales.

What's new with CTI Group's Analysis 7 eBilling Solution?

2009-08-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Building on our existing, highly regarded Analysis eBilling software and more than 15 years developing analytics products, Analysis 7 offers service providers and end users even more benefits. We offer unparalleled levels of integration and deployment options for service providers of all sizes. Complying with the “JSR168 standard portlets” can be deployed into an existing portal technology e.g. BEA Weblogic, IBM websphere or open source portals like Liferay. Analysis 7 can be further enhanced and developed by the service provider’s own IT departments or systems integrators. Supplied with an API & SDK, deployment is quick and cost effective, creating a truly unique offering to your customers.
Analysis mirrors the user’s own business structure, so that phone usage can be easily managed. A range of reports are available within the application and are presented as charts, making them easier for users to read and understand.

What is Call Recording Consent?

2009-08-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

Because call recording regulations are complicated—and the penalties for infringement strict—it’s vitally important for organizations considering call recording to arm themselves with the knowledge and resources to legally protect their interests.

As a provider of hosted call recording, we wanted to provide some information on the laws of call recording consent.

Call recording consent falls into one of the following two categories:
One-party consent implies that at least one person within the conversation is aware of the call recording—even if that person is the one actually conducting the recording.In all-party consent, everyone within the conversation must be informed of the call recording either by verbal notification or with an intermittent beep. Therefore, if two people are conducting a conversation and a third person joins in, the third person must be notified of the call recording to comply with regulation.

Medical Hotline Uses Hosted Call Recording For Quality and Training Purposes

2009-08-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Renee works for a non-for-profit clinic at a local hospital. They have a 24 hour call line for emergencies or to answer questions after hours. Most frequently, parents call in with questions about their children. If a child has a fever or won’t stop crying, the parent can call the help line for advice as to what medicine they should give the child or if the child needs to go to the hospital. To monitor the service provided by the nurses that answer the calls, the clinic requires that all calls be recorded for quality and training purposes. Since the clinic is privately funded and non-for-profit, large capital investments present a real obstacle. Luckily for this clinic, they are able to purchase hosted call recording through their service provider on a per-use basis, making acquiring call recording much more affordable for their limited budget.

Call Management System Saves Small Trader Organization $46,500

2009-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

A small UK based trader organization was interested in maximizing their telecommunications investments and identifying areas of possible improvement. First, they wanted to identify unused PSTN and private line circuits. They also wanted to easily allocate voice service expenses and provide historical trending reports on telecom activity. And finally, to better track telecommunications charges to protect themselves from duplicate charges and/or payments.

This small trader organization decided to install a call accounting system to track their telecommunications usage and provide trending reports. The system they chose gives total visibility of their telephone costs and usage. It is the only solution available that integrates dealer board data and fixed line, mobile, internet, email, and voice recording usage, under a single system with secure web-browser. Equally, this call management system is geographically redundant; able to support a single site or a global network of hundreds of remote branches.

This particular call management system was designed specifically for investment banks and to connect with turret and dealer board systems and interfaces with both traditional and VoIP telephony systems. It is crucial for investment companies to get solutions that were created specifically to fit their needs. The turret system integration is the key component in making a really complete call management system for investment banks and trader companies. Equally, finding a system with the flexibility to work with any telephony system makes integration easy and painless for the business customer.

By investing in this call management system, this trader organization was able to immediately identify five unused private wire lines. They were able to terminate these five lines and cease paying for lines that they were not using. Identification of a trunk outage from the LCR operator to more expensive PSTN calls. These PSTN calls are billed at a 15% inflated cost. Due to this outage, the company was paying an inflated charge for these bills. They were also able to identify errors in telecommunications charges from their carriers. This billing error amounted to roughly 5% percent per month. They were also able to identify that they were not receiving the discount structure that was agreed upon in their contract. In all, the company was able to save $46,500 in the first year after implementing the call management system. They were able to recoup their investment in the system in less than 8 months after purchase.

This call management system offered some additional benefits as well. It offered a sophisticated web browser based, dashboard-style interface with drilldown reporting. It also came equipped with highly granular access policies, defined and limited by the system administrator, allowing secure access from any point. And most importantly, it allows managers to evaluate real time statistics on trader activity as it happens – most and least active traders by day of the week, etc.

This small UK trading company was able to realize real returns on their investment in a call management system. Not only did they see immediate returns, but they were also about to monitor their costs and the activities of their traders on an ongoing basis. A call management system can help investment banks and trading companies to cut costs and improve efficiencies with an almost immediate return on investment.

Converting from Paper Bills to an Online Billing System

2009-08-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

Today, many companies are getting pressure to convert their traditional paper billing systems to online billing systems for many reasons. Whether it be environmentalism, convenience (or inconvenience of sifting through hundreds of pages of bills), or to acquire the added functionality available with online bill presentment, the trend is consistently leaning toward eBilling.

In addition to the above advantages to online billing, there are some other advantages that you might not have considered. For example, with many online bill presentment software packages you can advertise on the online bill. Online bill presentment will also drive traffic to your website, increasing customer awareness. And finally, all bill presentment can be specifically branded for your company as if there were no outsourced billing system, as if it were your internal system itself. Free marketing to your existing customer base provides a significant revenue opportunity to those customers that are already loyal to your company.

For the end user, there are some advantages that you might not have considered as well. Bills are delivered directly to the person that will be handling them – whereas paper bills usually are sent to a general mail box and are delayed in being delivered to the person responsible for processing them. This processing person can also look forward to immediate updates, trending analysis, and monitors that can keep them on top of their bill usage rather than having to backtrack when the bill finally arrives. No more sifting through hundreds of pages of bills…eBilling make bill processing easy and efficient.

Some companies have found transitioning from paper to online billing a daunting task. The providers might have trouble converting some of their business customers to online billing either because they have a current process that includes paper billing or they see no real benefit in switching. Some providers have taken the approach that they will put all customers on online billing and then charge those customers that require a paper bill a small nominal fee for the cost of printing the bill. This works if your customer base is largely comprised of customers that are already convinced to switch to online billing, but could cause some issues if the bulk of your customers are not on board.

Other providers have taken the approach to convert a segment of their customer base to their online billing system. Then, they provide case studies and success stories to the late adopters to try to persuade them to change over. When you are able to provide real numbers as to dollars saved, efficiencies achieved, etc. in real customers on this particular system, it can have some pull in convincing customers to switch over.

The biggest issue, by far, is convincing business customers to educate themselves on the system and think outside their normal processes. It is easy to get bogged down in day-to-day activities, making it far more difficult to see the big picture. It is difficult to see how this new system could save time and money. It just seems like a gimmick to save the service provider money, but the fact is that, in the end, it will save the business customer time and money as well. So, the biggest obstacle in online billing adoption is convincing business customers to learn how to use the product and then to try to think outside their current processes to find a way to incorporate this new software in a manner that can actually benefit them in the long run.

Costs and Benefits to Consider When Analyzing New eBilling System

2009-08-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

The trend in billing today is certainly toward online solutions. Many businesses and consumers alike are insisting that their providers offer online options. To that end, many providers are looking for systems to fit their needs and are finding that there is such a vast array of choices out there, it is hard to narrow down which would be the best solution. Sadly, there is not an easy answer to this question.

First the provider must evaluate what its needs are to determine how robust a system it needs. The knee-jerk reaction of most businesses is to strictly compare the cost of the options available. This could prove to be a mistake in the long run. The cost of the system itself is not the only cost to consider. Many systems will help to alleviate some costs that you never even considered eliminating. These cost savings can help to outweigh the initial cost differential. For those companies willing to consider the more robust systems that include bill analysis as well as bill presentment, they will be pleasantly surprised to find how much time and money these analysis tools can save them.

For example, a leading mobile phone provider recently installed such a system. The new eBilling system included both bill presentment and analysis. The eBilling system they were replacing was spread over three separate vendors; eBilling, corporate accounting, and CD export, requiring a dedicated team to constantly monitor the daily data loads. This mobile provider purchased a new eBilling system with bill presentment and analysis which allowed them to cut their eBilling outsourcing down to ONE vendor rather than three. The mobile provider’s requirements were for an online solution to deliver increased performance efficiency, reduce manual report production and to be scalable in order to satisfy the billing needs of both SMBs and corporate customers.

The system that they decided to purchase was not the cheapest system on the market, but after a full analysis of the system, they found it to be the best long term financial decision because of the added benefits it offered to the business.

This new eBilling system allows the mobile provider to offer a comprehensive billing tool with minimum impact upon company personnel. This is achieved by providing an online, customized, formatted solution for bill management. Through the implementation of the one single powerful system instead of three co-existing ones, the mobile provider saves time and effort by eliminating any communication difficulties and stream-lining the service. The new eBilling system offers the customer total control over the management and analysis of expenditure, as well as call details on their mobile accounts.

The ability for customers to create and save customized reports for their business requirements has eliminated the need for the mobile provider to produce specific ones for key accounts, reducing the mobile providers overhead cost for those accounts. The new eBilling system has lead to fewer billing queries, reducing the number of calls to customer service.

Customers also profit from this new eBilling product. The clear presentation of phone usage and the time saved by the reduction of paperwork and administration associated with managing a company’s mobile handling and spend was clear to the mobile customers themselves.

It is important to review all of the possible cost benefits of adding an eBilling system before making a final decision as to which one to purchase. While the initial cost of a system might appear to be less, it may not offer the operational cost benefits to both you and your customer that a more robust system could offer.

How Call Centers Can Benefit From a Geographically Redundant VoIP Call Management System

2009-08-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Call centers have special telecommunications needs. In order to effectively run their business and manage their employees they need to be able to monitor when agents are available, average queue times, number of calls in queue, and service level in real-time in order to provide the highest quality service to their customers.

Most call centers have turned to call management systems to help them to manage and monitor their workforce effectively. These call management systems offer the ability to monitor real-time activities, such as those listed above, as well as do historical reporting on hold times, accepted calls, abandoned calls, etc. Both real-time and historical reporting are crucial to the ability for a call center manager to be able to effectively manage the success of his/her team.

In the past, these call management systems required that all agents log into the system on site, as these systems were linked directly to the traditional PBX system and could only be utilized on the premises. These restrictions were found to be far too limiting. They didn’t allow the call center to take advantage of the cost savings available by implementing a home-based agent program.

Since the onset of VoIP telephony, the options of call management systems available have really expanded. Whether located in a centralized location or globally distributed, a well designed VoIP call management system can provide all of the real-time and historical reporting functionality previously only available on premise.

This new VoIP technology allows call centers the flexibility to run a home-based agent program, thereby reducing their costs. A manager in Utah can monitor and report on activities of an agent in Ohio as if they were sitting next to each other. A recent Frost and Sullivan research report (“The Hosted Model: Why it’s Revolutionizing the Contact Center Industry”), compared the total cost of ownership for hosted VoIP services platforms to that of premise-based alternatives. According to Frost and Sullivan, a hosted platform will yield a 64% cost savings in the first year, 36% in the third year, and 23% in the fifth year.

While the cost advantages are clear, many call center managers are still skeptical about switching systems. A system change causes so much upheaval in an organization there is no wonder they are hesitant. But, in the long run, the benefits far outweigh the costs.

So, how do these VoIP call management systems work exactly? When a call is completed, these call records are fed directly from the VoIP service provider’s switch into the call management system. Call events from the switch platform are fed directly into the call management systems ACD reporting tool. These call events represent the parts of the complete call detail record including call initiation, transfers, holds, and agent presence. Account information is transmitted to the emPulse ACD reporting system from the switch platform via the web services API.

The call center agent then logs into the application, via a web interface, and are presented with a browser-based dashboard that allows them to view the call events in real-time from the moment the call is initiated, through the queue process, and through call termination. The call center manager can view the status of an agent regardless of the geographic location of that agent. The call center manager is also able report on the historical agent activity regardless of the agent’s geographic location. This makes managing a home-based agent a much easier prospect.

By adding a VoIP call accounting system to monitor call center agents, the call center is purchasing flexibility, free maintenance, and little to no replacement cost without sacrificing the functionality crucial to managing a call center effectively.

CTI Group Call Recording in Action

2009-08-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

There are many examples of business regulations and safeguards that require that all calls be recorded and archived. CTI Group offers more flexible options for businesses trying to comply with these regulations.

Credit Card Company Complying with Regulations

Joe works for a credit card company. According to new regulations, all sales calls and calls for collection must be recorded for quality purposes. Joe’s company can either utilize the PBX switches they already have and integrate a call recording feature with this hardware or they can opt to discard this hardware that they have already invested in for a new blanket recording system. Well, obviously, Joe’s company wants to be able to use the hardware they have already purchased, but they need to comply with the new regulations. So, Joe’s company chooses to add the IP call recording function to their regular VoIP service, so they can amortize the expense over a long period of time. The service provider gets to add additional business and to expand their package with Joe’s company and now Joe’s company will be compliant with the new regulation. Win/Win.

Home-based Call Centers Provide Flexible Work Options and Virtualization

2009-07-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

Contact centers implementing geographically distributed branches and home-based agents are finding the traditional premise-based PBX far too limiting. With the call recorder moved into the network, applications developers no longer have to deal with the geographic restrictions created by hardware located on-sight.

Recording "in the cloud" provides them with the flexibility they need to place their agents wherever the business needs them to be. CTI Group's SmartRecord IP, can easily integrate with a virtual PBX to provide real time, blanket and selective call recording for all agents regardless of their geographic location, providing superior quality call monitoring support for all branch and home locations.

Company Sees Significant Measurable Savings By Adding

2009-07-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

In this time of economic uncertainty, one thing is certain – cutting costs is the only way to stay afloat. Since increasing revenue is an unlikely goal in this penny-pinching economy, most companies are focusing in on ways to cut their costs or “trim the fat.” Call management solutions are one sure way to identify unnecessary costs and opportunities for streamlining telecommunications systems and cracking down on policy enforcement.As an example of how call accounting solutions can help companies increase efficiencies and lower costs, we have a specific customer testimonial. A second party facilitator for insurance companies needed to find a way to manage and properly allocate the costs for their long distance service. They could no longer expend the resources necessary to manually track all in and outbound calls for a large multi-national company.

Previously, this company had allocated five full-time resources that were strictly assigned to scouring through telephone bills page by page and line by line for each facility. They would then allocate the appropriate costs for each location and compile their findings into an excel spreadsheet. Not only was the company providing staffing to do these tedious analysis, they were also experiencing a significant delay in this analysis. It was nearly a month after the bill was received that the final reports and allocations were submitted. This means it could have been as much as two months after the actual calls were made. With this significant delay, going back and questioning activities that seem out of the ordinary was pretty much out of the question. The delay made going back and tracking these activities virtually impossible. This customer was able to install a call management solution to bill back both internally and externally for long distance service and maintenance. With 16,000 employees in 300 offices worldwide, they needed to not only track the calls, but to easily summarize the usage for proper allocation. The regularly scheduled reports provided the customer with an efficient way to summarize the usage associated with each affiliate and therefore allocate their expenses. Equally, they were able to quickly and efficiently review their telecommunications activities and address any issues quickly. The most exciting surprise that the customer experienced by integrating a call management solution was in actual, realized cost savings. In 1991, when they first began using the new call management system, they were able to realign and regroup their long distance lines and cut 2 to 3 T1s in the process. From this, they incurred an annual savings of $12,000 per location by eliminating unneeded bandwidth. Given that cost savings are hard to come by these days, this was quite a welcomed surprise.

Additionally, this company was able to reallocate the five full-time resources that they had previously dedicated to bill allocation and analysis to other projects, thereby efficiently and effectively using the resources they already had without having to add any additional resources. This allowed the company to cut their new hire budget significantly and therefore, allowed them to see even further cost savings.

By simply adding a call management solution, this company was able to realize real cost savings. As many companies struggle to keep their doors open, these types of investments may seem like bad idea, but the potential cost savings available far out way the initial cost of a call accounting system.

Adding Applications to VoIP Offerings Encourages Customer Loyalty

2009-07-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

The value added to any VoIP offering by adding applications is clear. Many VoIP providers are opting to outsource this application development by purchasing ready to use applications packages that are developed specifically to integrate with their switches. Along with eliminating research and development costs, this generally results in a better product by allowing the service provider to focus on providing service and allowing the applications provider to focus on developing the most robust, integrated applications possible. It’s a win/win.

The key component that many service providers are missing in this equation is that the most successful applications are those that are directly integrated at the switch level. Sure, there are multitudes of inexpensive, plug-and-play applications out there that can be added onto a service provider’s platform, but if the application is not developed specifically to integrate with the switch, there will be issues. Some issues that can arise are dropped calls and entire system outages due to call flow paths, incomplete switch communication with the application resulting in incomplete data, and security issues due to lowered integration integrity. These are just a few of the issues that service providers experience when they try to take the easy way out and add an application that has not been sufficiently integrated at the switch level.

By layering applications that are integrated with the switch, the service provider is able to provide the applications that their customers need to run their business while also maintaining the security and service integrity that they are so well known for. Applications offerings is quickly becoming the real differentiator in the VoIP service provider market. Since the VoIP architecture provides such a unique and optimal environment for developing applications, these applications are far superior then those provided in the traditional telephony space and therefore make VoIP service far more enticing to the enterprise customer. And this is where the service provider has the chance to provide the top of the line applications to their customers. The quality of applications available in the VoIP market is just so feature-rich and robust that it really does behoove the service provider to provide the best solutions possible.

The long term benefits of integrating feature-rich applications into your VoIP product portfolio are immeasurable. Enterprise customers are hesitant to change systems once they have integrated a system into their work processes, so once the service provider has integrated their applications into the operations of their business customers, they can all but guarantee those customers as long term customers. Once a service provider integrates into a customer’s business practices, it can depend on that revenue for years and maybe even decades to come.

By adding robust and feature-rich applications such as hosted call recording to a VoIP product portfolio, a service provider can instill long term customer loyalty. Since VoIP is such a perfect architecture for creating the best and most robust applications, these applications can be such a differentiator for getting customers to switch to VoIP. Then, once they have switched to the new VoIP service, they are able to integrate these much improved VoIP applications into their operations. These applications become such an integral part of the customer’s every day business practices that they are unwilling or unable to move…thus, instilling customer loyalty.

Hosted Call Recording with Superior Security

2009-07-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

With SmartRecord IP, your contact center records can be archived and maintained by CTI Group. In the event of a natural disaster, fire or some other unforeseen event, your call records remain safe.

SmartRecord IP comes equipped with superior security designed to defeat and deflect internet assaults. The archives and records maintained on the SmartRecord IP web interface are completely secure from outside intrusion, allowing contact centers to enjoy the benefits of hosted call recording without concerns about security.

It is imperative that contact centers have a safe haven for their records. CTI Group offers a safe archiving and retrieval system for all recorded calls. SmartRecord IP offers peace of mind that all call records are being maintained off-site and that those records are safe and secure.

SmartRecord IP easily integrates into existing telephone networks and equipment; transition to CTI Group’s hosted call recording solution will be transparent to your users. Installation, maintenance, and configuration of SmartRecored IP is CTI Group’s responsibility.

eBilling: Carrier Challenges to New eBilling Software Adoption

2009-07-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

While most companies and individual consumers alike are turning more to eBilling as their bill presentment and payment avenue of choice, that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges to getting people to adopt an eBilling platform. Most barriers to entry in the past had been based on customer demand. That’s not really the case any longer, but there are still issues that eBilling platform providers face.

First, carrier adoption is a big barrier to entry in the sale of an eBilling platform. It is difficult to get a carrier to adopt a new program when the one they are using “works just fine.” How do you get a company to invest in a system that they don’t even know they need? Many carriers are also concerned with the control they would have over their billing system. Many of them have been using the same systems for so long and they are able to handle issues and problems that arise with that system easily and efficiently. Handing over that control to a new vendor is a very scary proposition for many carriers and could leave them apprehensive about adopting something new even if that “something new” is the system their customers want and need them to implement.

Second, many carriers are faced with local telephone regulations which require that they provide a paper bill. Many state and local governments have these regulations in affect to protect the consumer and have not considered the environmental and financial consequences of this legislation. For those carriers, it is important to identify the needs of the companies and individuals in that market. If enough people request eBilling instead of paper billing, legislation is likely to be overturned.

Third, carriers are working with incredibly outdated and unintelligible billing systems as it is, so switching to a new system sounds like an even bigger headache than the one they are currently facing. This is a problem with software switch. You know that switching software will come with some bumps in the road and finding the right timing to endure that pain is very difficult for any company. It is always difficult to change systems and no transition is seamless, but an easier and more effective system could be in place sooner than later, if you install quickly. Procrastinating is only prolonging the inevitable.

Finally, many business leaders have a very conservative mindset and don’t want to get off task. If their plan for a new billing system involved adding x, y, and z, they will not want to discuss any more advanced system options. However, the advantages of push presentation, eBilling software far outweigh the perceived hassle of installing a different solution.

While there are these barriers to entry for adding an eBilling solution, the benefits of adding the right eBilling solution, sooner rather than later, far outweigh the perceived issues/problems with implementing a new system. Carriers have the ability to improve their current billing systems, and provide their customers with a more robust billing and analysis solution while contributing their part to the green movement.

VoIP is Alive and Well; As Long As You Are Willing to Pad Your Offerings With Applications

2009-07-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Many bloggers and industry experts have been in deep discussion this year about whether or not VoIP is dead. This question might be a little bit more complicated than some might think. Most would think of VoIP as simply providing dial tone and long distance, but VoIP telephony is so much more than that. And while many VoIP providers may not be seeing the quick adoption to VoIP that was expected, that may have more to do with their applications offerings than their delivery of dial tone and long distance service.

Issues with VoIP adoption have centered largely on service quality. These issues have turned many early adopters away from VoIP and they have gone back to their traditional wire-line service. And they were right. There were issues with phone line service quality as well as customer service quality in a large segment of the VoIP market. But, here we are talking about VoIP as if it is as simple as providing a dial-tone.

The beauty of VoIP, and the reason that VoIP is not and will not be dead in the near future, is simply that VoIP provides an excellent building block to providing business-critical applications that are more flexible, scalable, and geographically redundant than was possible with traditional wire-line technology. By VoIP’s very nature, given that it is service providers via the web, it is easily integrated into a more flexible portfolio. VoIP telephony is not limited by physical telephone wires and the markets are much easier to infiltrate because the internet is its backbone…and the internet is everywhere.

VoIP is a technology, like a floppy disk drive or an iPod. It’s the content that you put on those disks and iPods that make them useful. Similarly, the content (applications) you build on a VoIP platform is what makes VoIP technology useful. Such applications could include hosted call recording, telemanagement, or ACD reporting software. The more top of the line applications a carrier offers its customers, the more desirable its service will be. It is the applications that make the VoIP service, not the service itself, and the future opportunities in VoIP will be in providing the most advanced applications options to customers. This will be the future differentiator.

So, to say that VoIP is dead might be a bit premature. The way that VoIP technology was originally delivered is becoming a thing of the past and better ways of deploying VoIP service are emerging, but VoIP itself is alive and well. VoIP’s future success rests on the fact that it is easily deployable and that the best and most robust business-critical applications are available and will continue to be available in the VoIP framework. Applications providers have more options and more flexibility in the VoIP architecture to provide that flexibility, and business customers are going to continue to require that these applications options be available. The real question that we should be asking ourselves is, who will be providing the best and most diverse applications feature-set to their customers? Because these are the VoIP providers of the future.

What is Proteus Trader and How Can It Work For You?

2009-07-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

Proteus Trader is an advanced telemanagement software solution that gives financial institutions total visibility of their phone costs and usage. It is the only solution available that integrates dealerboard data and fixed line, mobile, internet, email and voice recording usage under a single organizational database and a secure web interface. Proteus Trader can collect data from either a single site or a global network with hundreds of remote branches/locations.

Proteus Trader can monitor traffic across unlimited remote sites enabling control of all communications from a central location. Proteus Trader has a superior reporting function providing over 50 standard report formats while allowing tailor made reports. Its web browser interface means you can collect data and schedule reports whenever you like, wherever you are. This can include a telephone bill comparison to ensure you are always getting the best carrier rates or response time efficiency allowing you to manage call center activity and customer service levels. Proteus Trader can operate in both a fixed and free-seating environment. Additionally, communication costs can be reduced by creating employee accountability for personal use of business communication tools, such as company mobile phones and unnecessary calls to high cost numbers. Proteus Trader can also measure response and handling times along with identifying missed and unanswered calls.

Simplifying Telecommunications Management with PBX Plug-and-Play Telemanagement Systems

2009-07-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

In a world of expanding communication systems, it is necessary to be able to manage the entire spectrum of communications from landlines to Internet and mobile phones to email. In addition to being able to manage the cost of communication systems, it is important to manage staff productivity, network efficiency and bandwidth utilization. Having information about the ways employees are using communication systems empowers managers to make decisions that can improve productivity and profitability for the company.

Companies with worldwide office locations find the task of managing communication devices particularly difficult. PBX-integrated call management systems can seamlessly integrate communication devices in real time across multiple office locations and deliver reports, trend analysis and proactive alerts around system use. Regardless of whether the company is using VoIP, regular telephone service or a combination of both, the results are based on how various types of communication are being used and the cost of that communication. The information in these reports provides managers with vital business intelligence they need to run a streamlined, cost-effective communications systems.

PBX-integrated call management systems are equipped with a range of standard and custom reports that are easily automated with output on screen, print or email. They have many standard report templates designed to meet the typical needs of a communications management solution. These template reports include cost analysis, traffic times, and trend reports. But if these templates do not fully cover the exact needs of the end user, an advanced filtering system can also be included that enables end users to easily design and update any number of customized reports, saving valuable time while fitting the needs of the end user.

These PBX-integrated telemanagement systems are also equipped with a versatile alarm system that alerts key personnel of actions of particular interest within the communications system. Alarms can be customized and sent to an individual or a group, typically via e-mail or flagged on screen. Alarms are instant, providing information in real time once a call has been terminated. Many times, default alarm templates are available, including one that identifies when and from where a 911 call was placed. One company found this function particularly helpful in their multi-level office building to identify if an emergency call was in fact an emergency or if it was an accidental misdial. Alarms can also be scheduled to show when no calls are received within a certain time period or when the length of the call is more or less than the specified parameters. Alarms can also be used for immediate detection of fraud and security breaches as well as alerting the end user of telecom equipment failures. All of these alerts can quickly and efficiently provide the end user with the information necessary to keep the business running smoothly and efficiently while providing a safe and secure environment for their employees.

Companies use these PBX-integrated call management systems to monitor their employee activity and telecommunications usage. They are able to spot fraud at its onset and able to identify cost saving opportunities sooner rather than later. These systems allow companies to properly manage their telecommunications systems with consistent return on investment within three to four months of installation.

What does Web 2.0 mean for Telephony Service Providers?

2009-07-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

In a 2007 Study by IBM (“Web 2.0 Meets Telecom”), they found that, in the telecom industry, changes in basic business models were the number one key indicator of future success. In other words, industry leaders in the telecom industry are planning to change their business models to be more collaborative and more robust so that they can be competitive in the future.

In long term business planning, leading telecom companies are looking toward collaborating with external partners to provide a more robust offering. They are realizing that they have the ability to provide a more diverse product offering. Historically, they had offered traditional services like call waiting and voicemail, but it was becoming increasingly clear that enterprise customers were looking for more from their telecommunications providers. They were looking for more overall business management and monitoring tools, which were not historically offered at the provider level.

This new, more collaborative approach to providing telecommunications service is sometimes referred to as part of the Web 2.0 revolution. It is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design [1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web (www.wikipedia.com). So, it makes sense in the telecommunications arena that Web 2.0 would refer to partnering and sharing as well, especially when we talk about the VoIP telecommunications arena. Since VoIP telephony runs entirely over the internet, it only stands to reason that it, too, would be somehow involved in the Web 2.0 revolution.

With major players in the telecommunications arena looking for partnering opportunities to stay competitive in the new Web 2.0 environment, applications providers are finding themselves in pretty high demand. Service providers, hardware manufacturers, and resellers alike are all looking for an easy way to integrate management and monitoring tools into their portfolios to fulfill the growing needs of their enterprise customers.

The variety of offerings by applications providers is endless. From high quality, highly integrated management software to plug-in trunks added to existing systems. Originally, many telecommunications leaders were turning to the plug-in trunk applications. They saw these applications as the easiest and most cost effective way to provide their enterprise customers with the applications they needed.

However, they eventually found that these applications lacked feature functionality, consistency, and security. Some of the higher quality and highly integrated management software packages provide point and click online interfaces, geographic redundancy (available anywhere in the world), and scalability; features that many of their enterprise customers found that they needed to effectively utilize management software.

Some of the most popular management software packages being utilized in the new Web 2.0 revolution are IP call recording, ACD reporting, and Call Management Software packages. Those that are integrated at the switch level seem to provide the highest level of security and scalability, while also being more reliable overall.

The Web 2.0 revolution has motivated telecommunications industry leaders to rethink their business philosophy and expand their portfolios to include external partner integrated software that can provide the solutions that enterprise customers need. This new integrated software provides management tools that allow these enterprise customers to take a more hands on roll in managing their telecommunications usage and expenses.

Proteus gives you total visibility of your communication costs and usage.

2009-07-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

In the world of expanding communication systems, it is increasingly necessary to be able to manage the entire spectrum of communications from landlines to Internet and mobile phones. In addition to being able to manage the cost of communication systems, it is important to manage staff productivity. Possessing information about the ways employees are using communication systems empowers managers to make decisions that can improve productivity and, ultimately, profitability for the company.

Proteus is an easy-to-use call accounting system that captures and records data on incoming and outgoing communications directly from the PBX switch. By automatically collecting information into professional management reports in real time, Proteus provides analysis of your total communications arsenal including cost allocation throughout the company, bill verification, traffic monitoring, efficiency analysis and system abuse identification.

Proteus quickly demonstrates commercial value. ROI can be recognized to the enterprise immediately, but most often a true return is realized in 3 to 4 months. That means you are simply growing revenue 4 months after installation, as a result of more efficient communications expense management. This quick ROI is achieved by identifying and eliminating external fraud, unnecessary telecom expenditures, employee time abuse, employee telephone misuse and lost business opportunities. Bottom line: Proteus allows your business to manage communication costs more effectively.

Analysis – Save Time and Money in Billing Processes

2009-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Analysis provides a vital service to business customers while saving time on account management and billing print fulfillment costs for the service provider. The customer can understand and manage spending by creating their own reports and allocating costs with the option to access their bill. Reports are available instantly at every level of analysis – from trend summaries to individual line items.

Cut customer service costs by providing tools for customers to resolve their own billing queries.
Maintain proactive customer relationships; by encouraging online activity, service providers can develop a better understanding of consumer behavior.

Fast, powerful cost analysis. Clients can set up watchpoints in this electronic invoice presentation software to view succinct, customized summaries of the reports that matter to them. The ‘click and drill down’ design can produce chart summaries in more detail with just a few clicks.

Cost effective IP Call Recording with Internationalization and Super Security

2009-07-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

When industry regulations necessitate recorded phone calls, we’ve got you covered. Remaining legally compliant is vital to your business success, and our call recording feature substantially lowers your risk. In addition, our easy-to-use solution improves your customer experience so you can build proactive, powerful consumer relationships. Our cost-effective, user-friendly IP call recording solution ensures that you have the flexibility, scalability, and compliance coverage you need – with no capital investment in hardware or software.

Your business requires superior call recording services, and we provide a flexible solution to meet your unique needs. Whether you’re a retailer depending on phone order confirmations or an insurance provider that relies on claims recordings, we support you with an industry-leading solution – one that’s changing the face of call recording and VoIP services by employing customer-focused innovation.

Bringing you internationalization and superior security - language and time zone barriers are now a thing of the past. Our advanced internationalization features guarantee that you can fully benefit from our call recording solution, regardless of your geographic location. We understand how important data security is to your business. A superior data encryption process ensures your calls are well protected. In addition, recorded calls required for legal, regulatory, or compliance purposes can be safely transferred from our web-based system to your proprietary system individually or in batches.

Law Firm Uses Proteus Enterprise to Invoice for Billable Hours

2009-07-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

An International Law Firm uses CTI Group’s Proteus Enterprise to invoice customers. Since lawyers track their billable hours, this law firm is able to take the call data directly from Proteus Enterprise into an in house application that in turn makes all of the call data available to the attorneys via a web interface. Then, the lawyers can mark their calls to keep track of the clients that should be charged for those call hours.

Human error is eliminated from this process of tracking billable hours. Because all calls made are automatically uploaded to the web interface, so all call hours are accounted for. Many law firms use systems that require that the attorney front load the information and log all of their calls. This leaves a lot of room for error in forgetting to log calls. However, by using this telemanagement system to document all call hours, the attorney simply has to categorize that call and the invoice is processed.

Will You be Competitive When eBilling Becomes the Normal Business Practice?

2009-06-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

Forrester recently released a survey indicating that by 2012 online bill payment will surpass direct billing for the first time. From this we can deduce that the online billing market is growing rapidly. Are you growing with it or are you being left in the dust? (http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=20141)

In another recent study by Aspen Analytics, it was found that customers that pay their bills online were 76% less likely to leave their bank. It only makes sense that those customers are also less likely to leave their service providers and utility companies that offer eBilling solutions.

What does this mean to the average utility company or service provider? It means that your online billing solution choice is going to become even more of a differentiator as eBilling becomes the normal business practice for bill payment. In other words, simply having an eBilling solution will no longer be enough to differentiate your company. If you choose a cheap, difficult to use eBilling solution, you are likely to be left in the wake of your competition. It is time to start looking for a quality solution that fully meets your customers’ needs; before your competition does.

In the study by Aspen Analytics, they found that companies that pay their bills online are over 15% more profitable than those who pay using traditional direct billing. How does bill payment affect overall profitability? Online bill payment adds efficiency to bill payment and companies are far more likely to pay their bills on time or early, therefore, avoiding fees, if they pay online. So, by simply providing an eBilling option to your customers, you are promoting their long term success and their ability to be a long term customer.

Today’s top of the line solutions provide both eBilling and analysis functionality. By providing one of the more robust eBilling solutions that offer both eBilling and analytics, that percentage of increased profitability is more than likely going to rise to a much higher number. Bill analysis solutions allow customers to easily and efficiently allocate expenses and review trending reports that can lead to higher efficiency in business processes; allowing companies to identify areas for improvement.

Many businesses are utilizing the bill management systems offered by their service providers to enhance efficiency and improve resource management. Businesses are also using the automated analytics tools offered by many service providers to do their allocation management and trend reporting for them – rather than having an internal resource dedicated to that activity. Long gone are the days of 200 page paper bills and spreadsheet analysis. More robust tools are now available.

Many of these programs provide feature rich functionality that empowers business customers from large SMEs to multi-national businesses to produce the reports they need to conduct business, increasing customer satisfaction. Some of these programs even provide sophisticated levels of functionality that allow users to design customized reports that can be stored and run on demand. Reports are quickly generated and can be easily exported for distribution or use in other packages. Structures, reflecting that of the organization, enable users to allocate costs easily to account codes. The ability to allow the individual user to identify their personal and business costs is also available in many of the top of the line eBilling solutions.

In the process of providing your customers with a solution that can help them to be more efficient in analyzing and allocating their bills, you will also be helping them to become more profitable overall. Considering the added customer loyalty that comes with providing eBilling and now the increased profitability that your advanced eBilling system will afford them, they are likely to be your customers for a very long time.

Paper Checks: Where did they go?

2009-06-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, every business and individual consumer paid their bills by pulling out a checkbook, writing a check, attaching the bill stub and putting it in the mail with an envelope and stamp. This six step process was common practice because there was really no other way to securely pay bills without going to the service provider’s location and paying in person. Checks were the only convenient means of bill payment.

Since then, the check industry has experienced quite a downturn in demand due to the many new bill payment options available to businesses and consumers. Service providers are working tirelessly to find new and more convenient ways for people to pay their bills. This does not bode well for the check printing industry, but certainly does make life a lot easier for the rest of us.

So, now that most Americans are no longer using checks and “snailmail” to pay our bills, what are we using? Over the last decade, there has been an onslaught of new bill payment options made available online. These range from payment by credit card online to automated bank transfers. They can include robust bill management systems or simply bill payment online. The differences are vast but they all lead to the same end result, easier bill processing and payment for everyone involved.

However, these vast differences do make a substantial impact. Many businesses are utilizing the bill management systems offered by their service providers to enhance efficiency and improve resource management. Business are also using the automated analytics tools offered by many service providers to do their allocation management and trend reporting for them – rather than having an internal resource dedicated to that activity. Long gone are the days of 200 page paper bills and excel spreadsheet analysis. More robust tools are now available.

Many of these programs provide feature rich functionality that empowers business customers from large SMEs to multi-national businesses to produce the reports they need to conduct business, increasing customer satisfaction. Some of these programs even provide sophisticated levels of functionality that allow users to design customized reports that can be stored and run on demand. Reports are quickly generated and can be easily exported for distribution or use in other packages. Structures, reflecting that of the organization, enable users to allocate costs easily to account codes. The ability to allow the individual user to identify their personal and business costs is also available in many of the top of the line eBilling solutions.

The bill payment options available today are endless. Some people are only concerned about making a simple online payment, while others are looking for more. Regardless of your needs, the solution is out there for you. Luckily, you no longer have to turn to the checkbook and postal service to fill your bill payment needs. The potential cost savings available by using a robust eBilling system are endless: improving efficiency, maximizing accuracy, timely reporting and allocation. Talk to your service providers today to discuss how they can provide you with the bill payment options that best suit your needs.

Telemanagement System Used to Avoid Costly Legal Action

2009-06-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

With today’s financial challenges, it’s pretty difficult to find a company not working to find ways to plug the holes in their organization. Employees are working harder and faster. Often times, one employee is doing the work of two. It is crucial for companies to pinpoint all of the areas they can successfully cut back without affecting their quality of service.

To that end, many companies are installing software solutions that can track and monitor employee activity and investment usage. Telemanagement systems are just one solution that companies are utilizing to improve their return on investment in telecom and in their employees. Telemanagement systems vary greatly. Some provide a brief summary of usage while others provide customizable scheduled reports and alerts to unusual activity.

No industry has been hit harder in the past couple of years than the trading industry. Not unlike other businesses, they are working to weather this storm by cutting inefficiencies and improving their processes. In so doing, a small trading firm, active on the NYSE, added a telemanagement system to their turret system to track telecommunications activity. This is becoming more and more common practice among trading companies in the wake of the financial downturn.

In the first month or two, they noticed small changes here and there that they could make to improve their telecom usage and day to day efficiency. But, after about 4 months of using their telemanagement system they noticed something in the trending report. There was one trader that was making significantly less phone calls from the turret system than the other two traders they had on the floor. They found this curious because there was no difference in job function or reported trades. How could that trader have the same number of trades with only half the calls?

After further investigation, they found that the trader in question was not making all of the trades he was reporting. This presented two issues to the trading company. First, there was clearly a human resources issue to be confronted regarding the trader that was not making the trades he was being paid to make. But, second, and almost more importantly, they were faced with a legal liability issue. They were under the impression that these trades were being made and were charging their customers for these fraudulent trades. After taking a closer look, they were able to reconcile the situation with their customers before legal action was taken. But, this could have been a potentially costly and embarrassing situation that was avoided due to the installation of a telemanagement system.

This is just one vital example of how a telemanagement system can help a company to improve efficiency while possibly uncovering more than they expected. More times than not, companies find that there is one way or another that telecommunications systems are being used in a fraudulent manner. They are not always as serious as this example, but they are always costly. By alleviating these costs, companies are able to save money and improve business processes.

How does SmartRecord IP differ from competitors?

2009-06-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

We can barge, whisper, and monitor into the call, because the recorder actually participates in the call. This is essential call center functionality. Competitive call recording solutions can only playback the call as it is in progress. And it enables playback only off the web, where as with CTI Group's solution, monitoring and whispering will actually initiate a phone call to the supervisor... far more usable, convenient, and what the call center manager expects. For example, if Andrea wanted to listen in on Liz's calls, and she's on the beach, all she has to do is put her cell phone number in and she can participate/whisper/or just monitor the phone call.
Competitive call recording solutions require modifications to the network architecture to record phone calls.
Competitive VoIP call recording solutions also won't work if the media/voice (RTP) pathway is different than the signalling (SIP) pathway. Competitive VoIP call recording solutions are sold on a seat based license model (annual cost). This pricing model means that the provider has a harder hurdle to sell over. They've got to sell more in order to make a margin.

High Definition IP Call Recording Captures Communications with Superior Voice Quality; Becomes Interoperable with the Next Generation of VoIP Telephon

2009-06-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, VoIP call recording and VoIP high definition phone service announced that they were joining forces to provide high definition IP call recording. This new high definition VoIP telephony offers end users their final proof that VoIP telephony is able to support their needs not only in convenience and price, but also in higher quality voice communication. By adding the ability to record these higher quality communications, the complete package is now available.

Since the release of VoIP phone service, the number one user complaint has been surrounding the voice quality. A few industry leading VoIP hardware vendors have found a way to solve this issue by incorporating the G.722 codec into their VoIP telephones. If the voice quality is improved with G.722 codec, so then will be the voice that is recorded with any given IP call recording solution, or so many would assume. Well, the fact is that most IP call recording solutions do not support the G.722 codec yet and therefore these calls are simply not recordable on those solutions. Recently it was announced that one call recording does support the G.722 codec and is now able to provide high definition call recording, offering many benefits to the provider and to the end user.

By successfully achieving interoperability with the G.722 codec, this unique IP call recording solution is able to provide high definition call recording with the new audio standard for internal PBX communication. This means that only the IP call recording solutions that are compatible with the G.722 codec can work effectively with the new Cisco Unified Communications Manager, the next generation of Cisco phones, and the new Polycom phones. If the call recording solution is not compatible with G.722, the calls will be listed as “empty” meaning that the solution is unable to record the call. As the next generation VoIP phones become the standard, more and more calls are going to be listed as “empty” and user’s satisfaction with their service is going to drastically decline. UNLESS, your call recording solution is able to foresee this change and act now to become interoperable with the G.722 codec.

Another obvious perk of high definition call recording is that it enables a higher fidelity of audio recording, enabling other third party applications which perform word-spotting, compliance checking, and call center quality assurance to work better without requiring a larger MP3 because these calls are recordable in the same compression quality as earlier IP call recordings. In other words, you get the quality enhancement of high definition call recording without adding any additional storage nightmares.

And finally, it has been proven that the G.722 codec enables VoIP conversations to be clearer than traditional digital line/PSTN calls. This provides another level of differentiation against digital line (PBX) solutions or traditional POTS conversations. Since the number one criticism of VoIP has been the voice quality, this is a huge victory for the VoIP industry. Not only are they now able to provide higher quality voice communication than previously available in the VoIP market, they are now able to provide even higher quality than traditional phone systems, removing that last and final obstacle to converting to VoIP telephony.

Choosing an eBilling Solution: Making the Right Choice

2009-06-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

While the adoption of eBilling systems is becoming more and more popular in the telecom industry, it is important that we not underestimate the importance of differentiating between solutions. eBilling solutions range from a simple internet accessible bill, through the providers web portal, to sophisticated bill analysis software that delivers reports directly to your email box. So, it is very important that you know what you want and understand the advantages and disadvantages of each end of that spectrum.

Does your company simply need a simple electronic bill presentment solution to make bills available online? These solutions are a dime a dozen. In fact, if you don’t at least have this bare bones solution at this time, your billing system is grossly outdated and in need of some serious review. But, some companies find that this is all that they need. Or BELIEVE that this is all that they need. But, is providing the same service as your competitors your goal or is providing superior service your goal? This is obviously a question you have to ask yourself and not one that I can answer for you…but, certainly should be considered.

In understanding which eBilling solution you should offer, you must first consider the needs of your customers. A simple survey should do the trick. How many man hours do your customers spend on reviewing, analyzing and allocating their bills? How much does that really cost them in operational expense and therefore how much would they be willing to pay to alleviate that expense? This is really the first step on your journey to find the perfect eBilling solution. You must first understand the needs of your customer base. By making assumptions about their needs, you may be missing a large piece of the puzzle.

Second, you must understand how different eBilling solutions work and what services they provide. If you think you want a plug-and-play web portal solution, you have to ask yourself a few questions. Will your customers be able to pay their bills via the web portal? Studies have shown that consumers that can are more likely to pay their bills BEFORE they are due rather than paying them on the due date or late. Will your customers be able to drill down into their bill to answer detailed questions about extensions, departments, expense allocation, etc.? Studies have shown that by allowing the individual consumer to research their own billing statements, telecom companies are able to reduce churn (customer service expense) by 10% annually. Do you have customers that receive bills that are 100+ pages each month? If so, have you calculated the expense in printing and mailing these lengthy bills? Not only can you save on paper and postage expense, but you can also save on operational expense – someone has to compile, print and mail these bills.

The real question that you have to address when searching for eBilling solution is what are your needs and the needs of your customers. It is simple, really. You can opt for a solution that provides the bare bones of eBilling and stay competitive with your competition OR you can differentiate yourself from your competition and provide a more robust, analytical tool that can save both you and your customer time and money in bill analysis and bill payment.

Proteus VoIP QMS Provide Call Management for VoIP Telephony

2009-06-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

Proteus VoIP Quality Management System (QMS) is a monitoring and reporting tool that aids voice and network managers to troubleshoot Voice over IP (VoIP) calls for failures and quality of service deterioration
Proteus VoIP QMS is an add-on module for the Proteus family of call accounting systems designed for businesses demanding a better performance from their VoIP network. It is differentiated by its ability to reliably monitor large volumes of VoIP traffic across many sites, helping managers to effectively understand the traffic characteristics of their networks.
So that high quality service levels are ensured:
· IP telephony servers must be available
· Data networks must continue to operate at maximum performance
· Call quality must meet end-users' expectations
· VoIP security must be monitored to ensure availability and integrity

Proteus VoIP QMS is a call accounting system that offers high-quality, real time, graphical monitoring of QoS and call information such as jitter, latency, packet-loss, MOS, call count, average call duration and bandwidth utilization.

Key Business Drivers
VoIP solutions can give businesses significant advantages over traditional voice technologies, but maintaining the performance and availability of VoIP applications can be daunting for voice managers because of their complexity and the critical role they play.
Monitoring VoIP networks is particularly vital as even the slightest changes in performance can have a dramatic impact on the quality of service end-users experience, especially when compared with other network applications, such as Web and e-mail services, which are not real time applications. Users are much more likely to complain about delays on their phone conversations than about momentary delays in receiving emails.
Simplifies VoIP Management
Proteus VoIP QMS is a call accounting system that reduces the skills required for VoIP troubleshooting by automating each step during troubleshooting, identifying problems and prioritising them.
Application Benefits
· Sophisticated web browser based, dashboard-style interface
· Highly granular access policies, defined and limited by the system administrator, allowing secure access
· ITU standard E-Model based MOS calculation
· Monitors multiple systems
· Powerful reporting and filtering features
· Auto scheduling of reports
· Export reports to Word, Excel, CSV, PDF, etc.
· Immediate, proactive warning of call quality issues
· End point identification and reporting based on MAC or IO address
· Identifies gateways that are handling the largest amount of bandwidth or call volumes
· Identify the specific E1/T1 trunks used on the gateway
· Confirm that switches are functioning correctly

Proteus VoIP QMS collects and reports on the call records produced by VoIP telephony systems. These records contain information such as call origination, destination, duration and termination status. Usefully, they can also contain user ID (extension mobility), IP address and MAC address information for users and devices on VoIP networks. Most VoIP systems also provide information about the quality of the calls they process, including metrics such as jitter and latency, as well as the number of packets that were sent, received and lost.

The Challenges of Promiscuous Packet Capture Methods for Recording Hosted VoIP Conversations

2009-06-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

The need to record and monitor phone conversations has been a key requirement of telephony, whether for law enforcement or monitoring the effectiveness of a call center agent. In the days of traditional TDM telephony, this process was quite easy: to perform surveillance or recording, the physical wire was actually spliced and joined. The conversation could then be intercepted and recorded, hence the terminology “wiretap.” In the year 2000 alone, over 2.1 million conversations were tapped in the United States. Over 50% of call centers intend on recording phone conversations for quality assurance purposes. As society becomes increasingly litigious, the demand for keeping an active record of phone conversations has risen.

When H.323 became a de-facto standard for enterprise VoIP communications, a niche market arose for recording VoIP conversations within the enterprise space. In a VoIP environment, unlike a TDM environment, the voice traffic shares the same modicum of transport as traditional computer data. This makes recording the phone conversation more sophisticated than simply splicing a cable. This sophistication was inherently linked to value, and as a result, organizations paid significant monies to record voice conversations across an IP network.

The technology premise behind intercepting enterprise VoIP conversations is simple. The voice, when it gets transformed into digital data, will pass through a single gateway or network “choke-point.” When it passes through this central point, it can be detected by an always monitoring interception device that will detect the presence of voice data, copy the data, and make it available for future retrieval, monitoring, or playback. This technology is simple and usually quite effective under normal PBX type load conditions, although not compliant with many surveillance standards.

As VoIP conversations become increasingly distributed, with softphones on PCs or PDAs and peer-to-peer within an enterprise, the voice data does not pass through a single chokepoint, making it virtually impossible or totally uneconomic to record extension-to-extension phone conversations.

As an added twist to the complexity of recording conversations, organizations have started to embrace the concept of outsourcing their communications platform and infrastructure to third parties for management and maintenance, including the ability to record phone conversations. The primary driver for an organization to embrace the service is to limit and reduce capital and operational expenditures. This traction has launched the IP Centrex market which is projected to grow ten-fold within the next 3 years, by being offered by providers as varied as traditional bell operating companies to Best Buy, a large North American consumer electronics retailer.

This economic trend has a new implication for recording VoIP conversations: the network has become infinitely more complex. This could ultimately have the same effect on the PBX market that peer to peer PC networks had on the mini-computer.

IP Centrex providers have several key business requirements that make recording phone conversations through legacy packet capturing mechanisms either very difficult or inordinately expensive:
(a) Distributed Architectures: IP Centrex providers completely differentiate the technology of controlling and routing calls from the actual path the digital voice data will take. For example, in the United States, many IP Centrex providers never even see the audio for telephone calls – the audio is directly routed to backbone carriers for origination and termination, making it impossible to record. Extension to extension calls occur within an organization’s intranet – giving the provider no access to the audio. As a result, organizations who leverage legacy recording technologies cannot record internal helpdesk conversations. Resolving this requires significant and costly changes to the service provider’s network architecture.
(b) Redundancy: IP Centrex providers are required to provide enterprise services at carrier-grade reliability and service levels. As a result, they are often geographically distributed to deliver five-nines redundancy and failover facilities. This means that voice data traffic can be routed to multiple nodes in multiple locations, making it extremely difficult to correlate and combine for recording and surveillance purposes using packet sniffing technology.
(c) Scalability and Privacy: IP Centrex providers leverage a single capital hosting asset to provide services to many organizations. This is what makes it profitable to deliver low-cost, capital-light service to end-customers. This means that the same platform is shared by tens of thousands of end-users in a multi-tenanted environment, who may or may not want to have their phone conversations recorded. By leveraging legacy methods, all packets must be inspected, regardless of whether the conversation is to be recorded or not. This introduces numerous privacy and legal considerations. Finally, the scalability of legacy technologies fail due to the sheer volume of traffic.
Consider the following: most IP Centrex providers have backbone connectivity approaching 50 megabits. In order to maintain profitability, over 40% of that pipe has to be full of voice traffic, while typically only 10% of voice traffic may need to be recorded. For legacy technologies this means that 90% of traffic has to be inspected and discarded, creating significant waste and inefficiencies.
The next generation of recording technology cannot rely upon promiscuous packet capturing as legacy technologies did. Instead, it relies on being a value adding component of the IP Centrex provider’s distributed network architecture.

How does this next generation technology architecture achieve this?
• Become a Routing Endpoint for Recorded Calls:
Rather than capture all traffic, text generation IP call recording acts as a standards interoperable endpoint within the network architecture. Selective calls are routed to this endpoint for interception and recording – not all calls. In the world of SIP, the recording endpoint is nothing more than a back-to-back user agent (B2BUA). By doing this, calls, including their voice data, are routed to a highly redundant and secure endpoint that captures the call (voice or video) in its entirety, whether they are internal, to an end-customer or not. Further, the provider can rest easy knowing that only the conversations that need to be recorded are being recorded.
• Make it Easy to Turn on the Features:
Using next generation routing technology standards such as CPL (call processing language), selectively route calls to this endpoint – without making a single modification to the end-customer or provider’s environments.
• Central Recording Platform:
Providers can create a central recording environment that accepts incoming conversations that can originate from any of the provider’s redundant network facilities, eliminating the need to have separate devices in multiple-locations and attempting to correlate the entire conversation. This offers a huge cost saving when providing facilities for large distributed campus networks.

When searching for recording, monitoring, and surveillance technologies, legacy packet capture methods are proven solutions in the traditional PBX and IPBX installations, where all calls and calling information pass through a single node. However, they are a poor choice for a distributed IP or IP Centrex environment. As with all applications the technology must be weighed against the key business requirements. With the next generation of IP call recording, customers are no longer required to choose the next best thing, they can now choose the very best call recording application for their needs.

Bill Analysis Tools – Benefits to User and to Service Provider

2009-06-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Bill analysis tools provide a vital service to business customers while saving time on account management and billing print fulfillment costs for the service provider. The customer can understand and manage their expenditures by creating their own reports and allocating costs with the option to access their bill. Reports are available instantly at every level of analysis – from trend summaries to individual line items.

What’s new in bill analysis tools?
Some cutting edge companies now offer multi-level integration and deployment options for service providers of all sizes. Complying with the “JSR168 standard portlets” helps electronic bill presentment companies deploy into existing portal technologies such as BEA Weblogic, IBM Websphere or open source portals like Liferay. These bill analysis tools can be supplied with an API & SDK, making deployment quick and cost effective while creating a truly unique offering to your customers. Some of the best bill analysis tools mirror the user’s own business structure, so that phone usage can be easily managed. They provide a range of reports that are presented as charts, making them easier for users to read and understand.

Why would a service provider decide to provide bill analytics?
For one thing, bill analytics allows the service provider to cut customer service costs by providing tools for customers to resolve their own billing queries. They also allow service providers to maintain proactive customer relationships; by encouraging online activity, service providers can develop a better understanding of consumer behavior. With these fast, powerful cost analysis tools, clients can set up watchpoints to view succinct, customized summaries of the reports that matter to them. And allow them the ability to access the exact level of analysis to fit their needs.

Self-service – Electronic bill presentment tools empower customers to answer their own billing queries, therefore, you will benefit from savings in time and money. Win new customers – as the variety of telecom services grow and billing becomes more complex, bill analysis tools are becoming more and more necessary.
Differentiate from the competition – Bill analysis tools provide a nonprice related service that adds value to users.
Complements existing systems – Bill analysis tools can be delivered online as a stand alone solution or as a part of your portal or third party hosting.
Hosting – Some of the most cutting edge bill analysis tools now offer flexible deployment, meaning it can be applications provider hosted, hosted by your company, or hosted by a third party.
Scalable – Bill analysis tools are available in all shapes and sizes and are made to meet the needs of any business size…it’s just a matter of finding the right solution.

Why would the end user opt to use a bill analysis tool?
Makes information more accessible – with reports, graphs and data concisely summing up expense and usage trends.
Saves time & cost – standard reports are instantly available, and even customized reports can be run within seconds – so the user gets just what they need, when they need it. Compare this to competitor solutions that can take hours or even days to download!
Customizable reports – standard reports with wizard features are generally available with the best bill analysis solutions.
Cost allocation – the best electronic bill presentment tools enable administrators to allocate usage to hierarchy or cost centre structures that reflect their business.
Greater transparency – The recipient benefits from transparent bill information, allowing them to examine usage at department, team and individual levels.

Bill analysis tools make allocation and reporting a snap. Making these tools available to the end user improves the end user experience while reducing their need for customer service support. It makes real business sense to integrate a tool like this into your business processes. It can help you to cut costs, while providing a non-cost related differentiator to your customers. If you make their life easier, they are more likely to stick with you.

The True Saving Potential Available by Going Green with eBilling

2009-05-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Environmentalism takes many forms. Some environmentalists choose recycling as their cause; some choose closing coal plants while others choose reducing our dependence on oil. However, it’s the simplest things that have the largest impact. And more often than not, the small steps that we take translate into dollars in our pockets as well. For example, if you replace five incandescent light bulbs with florescent bulbs in your house, you will see an estimated $2500 savings over 60,000 hours of usage (http://www.easywebcalculators.com/cf.htm). So, while using far less energy from coal plants, you are also saving money for your family.

These simple steps make the biggest difference both in the environment and in your wallet. If, as an individual consumer, you receive and pay 10 bills via traditional first class mail per month, you have the potential to help the environment greatly by switching to eBilling. You will save 3.7 pounds of paper, 36 gallons of wastewater going into our waterways, 4.8 gallons of gasoline, 148 pounds of greenhouse gases, and 20 square feet of forest (http://www.payitgreen.com/). Who knew there were so many environmental savings simply in paying your bills online, but what about the cost savings? Right off the bat, you will save over $50 in postage in one year by paying 10 bills online - that’s a no brainer. And on top of that is the cost of envelopes and checks. Most families are looking for ways to do their part for the environment and tighten their budgets, and eBilling is one simple way to do that.

And these savings are not exclusive to individuals - companies can reap the same benefits. By implementing programs like eBilling, companies can achieve real savings while improving their image with their new “Green” initiatives. Not only will the company save on paper and postage costs, which can be astronomical, but also on labor costs in the billing department, customer service churn, and overall customer satisfaction. Not only to eBilling products produce and send the bills for you automatically but many also allow for drill down and analysis of the bill, so the customer has the resources at their finger tips to look into their bill and easily answer questions without having to call into customer service. This makes the bill pay process much easier and more efficient for your customers as well…making them much happier customers.

eBilling allows companies to go “Green” by saving forests, waterways and reducing our dependence on oil, while also saving money for the company and for their customers. The choice is clear, Go Green with eBilling.

Trading Companies Instilling Security in the Minds of Investors

2009-05-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

In this current economic climate, financial brokers and traders are under significantly more scrutiny than in the past and that is not likely to go away any time soon. Due to the recent downturn in the markets, restrictions on the financial sector are certainly on the rise. Many trading companies are looking for ways to proactively manage their exposure to the financial crisis by investing in systems to track trader activity and position themselves as a trustworthy and reliable source of financial expertise.

One way that many companies are dealing with this crisis is by implementing a call management system that can monitor and analyze call traffic. These systems monitor phone activity to and from the trading floor to ensure that the traders’ actions are supervised and, therefore, compliant with regulations. In other words, this technology allows companies to insure that their traders are acting with the highest ethical code while on the job.

A call management system gives trading companies credibility, and after the market downturn we have recently faced, credibility is PRICELESS. It says to customers “We are not one of the companies that approved questionable trading activities. We are above that. We are a safe place to invest in your money.”

Many economists say that the biggest issue facing our economy today is the perception of the individual investor. Investors are afraid to jump back into the market and are only going to do so slowly and with reservation. Investors are not going to dive in head first and just “believe” that you are a reputable trading company. Some of the largest and most reputable banks and trading companies in the country have been under fire - having a reputable name is no longer good enough. It is imperative to give your customers a reason to believe that your trading company will be the best place to invest their money.

By adding a call management system to your operations, you are insuring credibility and giving your investors a reason to believe that your company is one of the good ones – free of fraudulent and questionable trading practices. Instilling peace of mind for your investors is more than half the battle to full market recovery.

Service Providers, Large and Small, Must Find Ways to Cut Costs and Stay Relevant in an Ever-Changing Market

2009-05-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

For tier one and tier two service providers, finding one complete, efficient system to fit all of their needs can be a tall order. For many of these providers, they are working with many separate vendors to create a unique system that fits their specific needs because they have been unable to find one complete outsourced system. The management of these various systems often requires a dedicated team to manage and constantly monitor the daily data loads.

The best solution is to find one outsourced billing product that will fulfill the growing billing needs of a company. By growing needs, I am referring to the increased demand for electronic billing presentation. Many companies simply will not work with a company that does not offer this efficient billing option. Therefore, many tier one and tier two service providers are on the hunt for an online solution to deliver increased performance efficiency, reduce manual report production and be scalable in order to satisfy the billing needs of both SME and corporate customers.

To fit these needs, many service providers are turning to comprehensive, “out of the box” outsourced billing solutions with different levels of functionality to suit the differing needs of their SME and corporate customers. The most competitive solutions are complete with trend and exception reports, presented as charts to make them easy to understand, with “drill-down” functionality for more detailed information. Additionally, they offer report wizards that are customizable to fit the specific needs of the individual SME or corporate customer. Customers (or end user customers) also receive the added functionality of allocating costs to a visual representation of their company hierarchy, thereby linking each individual department to its personal phone usage and costs.

Through the implementation of one single, powerful eBilling system instead of multiple co-existing ones, many tier one and tier two providers are able to eliminate bill-related communication difficulties and streamline bill presentation allowing for easier housekeeping for their subscribers. The top eBilling systems also offer the customer total control over the management and analysis of expenditure, as well as call details on their accounts. The ability for customers to create and save customized reports for their business requirements can eliminate the need for many providers to produce one-off, customer-specific reports for key accounts, increasing efficiency and scalability.

Installing one unified eBilling system can also lead to fewer billing queries, reducing the number of calls to customer service. Providers are also able to reduce costs by reducing print, fulfillment, and postage costs, while all the while making the bill more easily navigated and customizable for their customer needs. In order to stay competitive in today’s market, it is growing increasingly important that service providers, large and small, cut costs and stay relevant.

How a Telemanagement System Can Help you Eliminate Employee Phone Fraud

2009-05-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Fraud Guard is an add-on module for the Proteus family of call accounting systems. With comprehensive monitoring and reporting, it provides a flexible way to control voice costs and guard against the misuse and abuse of voice systems.

Fraud Guard offers high quality, real time monitoring of activities such as incoming, outgoing, international and out of hours calls, together with 24x7 monitoring of a voice network’s status. Its rich graphical representation and easy interpretation lends itself to a wallboard presentation.

Even businesses that are already enjoying the benefits of a call accounting system will appreciate the enhanced monitoring and control provided by Fraud Guard. Traditionally, call accounting systems are used to analyze historical call traffic, for example investigating calls made by individual departments at the end of each month. This means that businesses don’t always have the immediate, hands-on control they need to manage their ongoing communication costs. Small to medium enterprises to large multi-nationals across a wide range of vertical markets, including public sector, finance, professional services and manufacturing, appreciate the additional level of awareness provided by Fraud Guard. By setting limits on costs for individuals, departments and cost centers, they are notified as those limits are approached and if they are subsequently breached.