According to an article in Billing World and OSS Magazine, telecom service providers have still not fully complied with Federal Communications Commission's Truth in Billing (TIB) policies. The battle to obtain clear and concise items in billing is part of a heated battle that goes all the way back to 1998, and billing is still subject to manipulation by regulators, carriers and special interest groups. For corporations, many of which spend hundreds of thousands yearly in telecom expenses, this means that call accounting is vital.
"With telecom billing still subject to ambiguously-worded items, it is crucial that companies have a cost-effective and foolproof method of cross-checking their billing," says Don Simons, CEO of Telsoft Solutions.
According to the article, FCC TIB rules require a telephone company's bill to "contain full and non-misleading descriptions of charges." However, terms such as "full and non-misleading" are not clearly defined with in the rules, there are no examples of unacceptable or acceptable presentations, and penalties for noncompliance are not stated. If there are complaints about billing descriptions, the FCC can begin an investigation and eventually obtain an injunction compelling a service provider to comply--but what can be done in the meanwhile to ensure billing is correct, and to call questionable items to the attention of AP personnel?
A product such as TelSoft's MegaCall is a perfect solution. MegaCall tracks telephone call activity generated by any type and any number of PBXs from the source of the call record to the assignment of accountability. It analyzes Call Detail Records (CDR) for an entire enterprise, domestic and international, from a single centralized system. All information is collected in real-time and is immediately available for viewing and reporting - an essential support for telecom expense management throughout the enterprise. Telecom expense can then be compared with billing to ensure billing is correct.
Quite in addition to billing for services used and service contract items, carriers can also add, or be compelled to add, taxes or tariffs which may or may not be fully described as such. In addition, the carrier may not be correct in passing these charges on to service users--hence it is in the user's best interest to utilize call accounting.
For more information on Telecom Expense Management and Call Accounting, visit Telsoft Solutions.
Author, Peter Verhoeff, writes articles on the business benefits of call accounting and call detail record technology. More information can be found at http://www.telsoft-solutions.com.
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