Some call accounting systems may seem cheaper at first glance but for what are you really paying? What other costs must be taken into account? What do you NOT get
with your 'cheaper' call accounting package?
PBX, SMDR and CDR
Call accounting starts at your PBX (telephone system). When a phone call completes
your PBX may generate a message that can be recorded by a computer.
The message can include information about the date and time of the phone call, duration
of the call, the phone number dialed and the telephone extension that made the phone
call.
Each record may look something like the following
09/04/10 12:25 101 00:00:10 O
09/04/10 13:04 102 00:10:12 I
09/04/10 13:45 101 01:01:09 O5551234
09/04/10 14:46 101 00:17:42 I
Installation of typical systems
Using an existing PC for your call accounting system sounds fine, it makes sense, to a point. Installing software on something like
the reception's computer is great. Until the PC is rebooted or the receptionist goes home and does 'the right thing' and
switches the PC off. No more calls are recorded.
Installation on an out of the way machine or a PC near the PABX makes sense. Until you go to run
reports and discover the machine has not been running for a month.
If the machine is in an out of the way place how do you know it's not working?
Accessing a legacy call accounting system
Smaller and even 'advanced' call accounting systems are not designed for real multi-user, multi-location access.
Sure
you might be able to access the system by a remote desktop connection. Perhaps adding a remote access or 'web module'
allows you to access the office system from home. But guess what?
That's more software and hardware (PCs, cabling, routers, firewalls)
for you to purchase, install and manage.
Smaller call accounting software systems
Running some reports on smaller systems, or even starting the reporting module, can ruin your day.
Instructions for some systems will even warn you NOT to run certain reports because they take too long or use too many system resources.
That is not a call accounting system, that is a school project.
Management and maintenance
Having been sold an 'advanced' call accounting system you'll find there are many things that like 'basic' call accounting
systems are still missing.
You still need people to manage the system, don't forget to add the call accounting
system to your daily backup procedure and system monitoring and management to your policies and procedures manual.
Remember to periodically check your supplier for system and telephone exchange updates, download them and install them.
You do have personnel experienced in database performance tuning and system management don't you? A line in the manual
that says something like 'run this tool if your system is slow' may offer some short term relief.
Another common 'fix' is the user guide instruction 'delete older records'. Please, that does NOT count as performance management,
that's known as deleting information - if you want to do that why bother making daily backups anyway?
How do you access historical records? How do you compare statistics verses the same time last month or last year?
Some issues will be simply PC related but you've already got those under control. You monitor those systems,
back them up, perform operating system updates, defragment the hard drives on a daily or weekly basis, manage security and connectivity issues.
At least this area of your new call accounting system is not a problem for you.
Features missing from so called 'advanced' call accounting systems
- Daily off-site backups
- Daily system testing (by a human)
- Daily system monitoring (by a human)
- Database maintenance and performance tuning (by a human trained to do just that)
- Automatic alerts to you via email or SMS when your PABX has a problem talking to your call accounting system
- Set-and-forget custom reports emailed to you on your schedule
Options
- Read the manuals before you pay, ask your supplier for a copy. Even better ask for a free copy, a limited time license.
Take it for a test drive, try the free version.
- Having purchased an 'advanced' call accounting system all is not lost. You will enjoy many years of not using it.
Typical systems require you to log in to see what's been happening and consequently only get used when you
need it. It is
only then that you discover that your system maintenance, management and cost saving plans have been a 'worth-while' decision.
- There's really only one solution. Consider a hosted call accounting
system. Ensure it's a real hosted call accounting system designed from the ground up
to be a hosted system and not a legacy system with a web interface. A real hosted system is not hosted at your office,
you do NOT have to install a database or webserver of any sort.
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