As Predicted, 2005 was the year VoIP hit the Mainstream A stable call accounting system is critical in this new VoIP environment Having a stable call accounting system that provides accurate call detail records is critical in this new VoIP environment. A recent article (http://www.b-eye-network.com/view/2027), talks about how VoIP has come forward in the mainstream and that the key to VoIP is the ability to provide accurate and sustainable billing and operational support systems.

"VoIP is not a new invention from the last six months.... But when the Economist puts the "death" of the traditional telecom service provider on the cover in association with eBay's purchase of Skype, it appears that VoIP has hit the mainstream.

VoIP is moving out of the corporate PBX and PC attached headset. In fact, you can now have a home VoIP conversation on a "phone." The conversation quality is constantly improving as well. This is providing a meaningful substitute to traditional wireline and wireless telecom service providers. As stated in Porter's Power of the Substitute, some combinations of VoIP and various transmission networks are amazing.

What does VoIP mean for business intelligence?

Billing World and other similar organizations believe that the key to VoIP is the ability to provide accurate and sustainable billing and operational support systems (B/OSS). Such organizations are the B/OSS community! Hopefully, they are taking this approach. Carolyn Schuk's article on VoIP fraud shows exactly how much residential and corporate VoIP providers have to lose if they do not provide that robust B/OSS infrastructure.

From customer care to provisioning to billing, maintaining the "standards" set by the existing telecom industry is a good way for VoIP providers to win customers from the remaining group of traditional providers. But I do not believe that B/OSS, the traditional customer care center, will be the answer. The answer is in the transition from the customer care call center to the self supported activation, provisioning and care for a VoIP customer.

For the VoIP provider's business intelligence organization, this will require new ways of including the customer in the loop for accurate billing, fraud detection and network outages. While the big challenge is to avoid the classic Dilbert moment where you must report network performance problems, but you cannot because the network is having the performance problems."

Having a stable call accounting system that provides accurate call detail records is critical in this new environment.

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About the Author

Author, Karen Ritz, VP Business Development for TelSoft Solutions, writes on the business benefits of call accounting and call detail record technology. More information can be found at http://www.telsoft-solutions.com.