The Diverse Requirements Shaping Advancements In Call Accounting

Way back around 1917 when the PBX was commercially introduced

, it did not have any automated phone call control features, the administrator of the PBX was unable to apply any rules controlling where a telephone user could make a call, and of course the technologies needed to create a Call Accounting program were not available.

Back then a firm using a PBX was suddenly exposed to a high degree of monetary risk. For the first time ever the average staff member was equipped with a phone at the desk, some type of call control came to be a necessary feature of the PBX. This lead PBX suppliers to develop call management techniques like call barring but it took until about 1960 before market dynamics lead to the introduction of Call Accounting solutions.

During the 60's and 1970's PBX systems were mechanical. These products had no easy method of producing a telephone call record. A Call Accounting firm connected two wires to every extension and telco line to record the voltage fluctuations on each line, this was called scanning. These events were then recorded on a storage device, a tape drive was the normal device used.

At regular intervals the Call Accounting service engineer would attend the site, collect the tapes and send them to a central processing center where the data was compiled into individual call records and a file containing paper reports was created, bound and sent to the user.

As technology evolved so did the PBX system. A cornerstone in the evolution of the PBX was the move away from mechanical systems to electronics, enabling a stream of new capabilities, one of which was the call detail record (or CDR). The PBX now created a call detail record containing the day, time of day, call duration and user making the telephone call, scanner technology suddenly became obsolete.

In parallel with the mini-computer industry creating a stream of new innovations, the entrepreneurial attitude of the Call Accounting industry guaranteed rapid progress. Almost immediately it was possible to run a whole Call Accounting package on one industrial strength computer including data acquisition, call tariffing and report creation.

The next milestone was the development of the Personal Computer, with this landmark Call Accounting tools became a widespread tool. The end-user would provide a computer and buy a software solution.

Today, with the incorporation of the Internet into standard business operations, Call Accounting packages have again changed into a new offering. Now the most up to date and most feature rich Call Accounting platforms are delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS), where a low cost call data acquisition device, is placed at the PBX to collect and transfer the data produced by the PBX to a web application. The user simply logs-on and views formatted reports over the web. The whole call accounting tool is today delivered as a managed service at remarkably low cost.

Today, the exceptionally high dependability, computing ability and service levels consistently maintained by these web platforms make an irresistible motivation in favor of this business model.

by: Mike Guile

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