Updates

Attacking Billing Disputes with Jurisdictional Data

With permission from one of Tele-Tech’s valued clients, CDG (www.cdg.ws), we thought it might prove interesting to share a recent case study of Tele-Tech’s Localizer capabilities in this issue. The purpose of this study was to review the implementation of the CDG CABS jurisdictional functionality at a specific CLEC and show how it enhanced billing accuracy, minimized disputes, and subsequently optimized CABS collections success for Tele-Tech’s customers.

Many CLECs experience the frustration of dealing with costly billing disputes, the time-consuming task of resolving them, and often, the lack of results achieved through the process. And, many CLECs are short on available staff time to manage the arduous process, so money has to be allocated to consultants brought in to work towards resolution.

In fact, in 2007, one of CDG’s CLEC customers spent over $200,000 for consultants in this area. And, they estimate that about 25% of accounts were disputing invoices, with a major cause of the disputes attributable to jurisdictional issues. In many cases, interconnect partners were claiming that local traffic was being billed access charges, and while the CLEC disagreed, the company lacked the ability to prove the accuracy of its access bills.

Recognizing that the process of resolving disputes after bills were issued is costly and inefficient, the company shifted the focus to finding a front-end solution to the problem. Making their invoices more accurate would lead to fewer disputes, and fewer disputes would lead to savings in time and energy, as well as higher collection rates. It was time to mount an offensive strategy to put an end to costly disputes.

Searching for a solution, CDG’s customer turned to them, as their CABS provider, for help. For many years, CDG has teamed with Tele-Tech Services to properly jurisdictionalize traffic, making billing more accurate and disputes less frequent. Using Tele-Tech’s Localizer database, which gives highly accurate details on local calling areas nationwide, CDG was able to assess the jurisdiction of the traffic terminating on the customer’s network, separating local from long distance, before access invoices were generated.

Specific and positive results were soon obvious to CDG’s client. After adding to the process, the CLEC continued billing about the same amount in access charges. But, their ability to collect improved because they could "see the local traffic, account for it, and show it on the invoice." And when disputes do arise, the company has the data needed to resolve them quickly and accurately thanks to the Localizer data and the reporting capabilities CDG has built into its software. "We can visually see (the Localizer’s) impact on the flow of traffic, and CDG’s jurisdictional report has become a key tool for us in working disputes," explains a senior member of the billing team. "The biggest benefit is that we’ve gained visibility into truly local traffic. The ILEC doesn’t always jurisdictionalize calls properly. With Localizer, we’re able to confirm factors from other providers."

An added benefit is that the CLEC is now able to validate the factors set by their interconnect partners using CDG’s software with the Localizer data. Running their own jurisdictional analysis against call records enables them to determine the accuracy of those factors received from other providers and gives independent third-party documentation to support their findings.

By partnering with CDG and Tele-Tech, this CLEC was able to eliminate disputes and increase their collection percentage. "We’ve gained more confidence in the accuracy of our billing because of the detail provided by CDG and Localizer," says a senior vice president.

Third Time’s the Charm….

For the third consecutive year, Tele-Tech’s parent company, KFR Services, Inc., has been awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility*. This recognition is awarded to employers nationwide that are "successfully using flexibility to meet both business and employee goals".

The Sloan awards are presented based on a company’s ability to demonstrate that workplace flexibility is truly part of the corporate culture and the way in which business is conducted on a daily basis. To ensure an accurate picture is obtained, each company’s employees provide the truth factor by participating in a detailed evaluation of workplace flexibility as it’s experienced firsthand. And, for three years in a row, employee surveys (which are the final selection criteria) have resulted in KFR being named a Sloan recipient.

KFR’s culture of flexibility and focus provides an environment that enables a dedicated staff to achieve outstanding results. Current flexibility programs at KFR include a flexible work schedule, telecommuting opportunities, relaxed dress code – and, new parents may bring their babies to work for the first six months.

"It is extremely rewarding to know that our employees enjoy the flexibility we’ve built into our corporate culture and appreciate the steps we’ve taken to make KFR a great place to work. We have an amazing team, and providing a good work environment that takes into account the personal and professional needs of our staff enables us to achieve great things," stated Kimberly Russo, Co-President.

KFR will continue to look for ways to provide workplace flexibility in hopes that we may take the prize four years in a row. We’ll keep you posted.

*The Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility is part of When Work Works, a "national project on workplace effectiveness and workplace flexibility from Families and Work Institute in partnership with The Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Twiga Foundation".