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Is there a billing system that allocates usage costs?

Carrie Higbie EXPERT RESPONSE FROM: Carrie Higbie

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QUESTION POSED ON: 19 March 2006
Our company is based in Australia, with a geographically dispersed IP telephony comprised of about 1,000 handsets based on Cisco Call Manager v4.

Can you recommend a billing system that will allow us to charge off-net calls to the organizational users or clients?



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One system that I know works -- because I know other customers that use it -- is Infortel Select. Their VoIP View supports tracking, reporting and billback for IP telephony. It integrates with Cisco's CallManager, 3Com's NBX and Alcatel's OmniPCX 4400, and all traditional voice platforms, for unified enterprise-wide reporting. The cool thing about this package is that it is very customizable -- for instance, some people in the hospitality industry use it. For more information on this system, go to www.isi-info.com.

Another product is Avotus Professional or Avotus Enterprise. Avotus collects call detail records (CDR) from Cisco CallManager and produces management reports for viewing over the corporate intranet from a standard Web browser. Usage costs can be allocated back to users' departments and divisions. This one also works well and will interface with CallManager.

According to their blurb on the Cisco forum:

"Avotus delivers intelligent communications management for all verticals. To date, our greatest successes have been in healthcare, education, financial services, utilities, and hotel/hospitality. In addition, Avotus offers software targeted to particular verticals.
  • Legal and professional services: account code/matter code/authorization code support for Cisco CallManager
  • Higher education: Call Cost Summary and Detail Display on the Cisco IP Phone.
    • "

Their web address is www.avotus.com.

These are the two best ones that I have heard about -- check them out.




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