News

LiveVox Unmasks Hidden Costs in Telecom Bills of Dialer Customers

Credit and Collections Organizations overpay by 30% due to hidden minimum billing durations without detailed billing reviews

SAN FRANCISCO, May 27, 2009 — LiveVox Inc., the leading provider of hosted-dialer solutions, today announced that a study of credit and collection organizations using premised-based dialers revealed they were being overcharged by 30% each month by their telecommunication providers. These expenses were incurred because the companies were charged minimum durations of up to 30 seconds for each call and short-duration penalties.

The conventional school of thought has been that low long distance rates would offset the upfront costs required to purchase and operate premised-based dialers, making total costs less over time than those incurred with hosted technology. However, hidden charges and infrastructure dramatically increase the total cost of telephony.

“Fixed” Costs Revealed
A study of monthly telecom bills found that credit and collection organizations are routinely charged minimum durations of at least 12 or 24 seconds and as high as 30 seconds for each call. In fact, companies are overpaying on 50% to 75% of all calls, because of the number that result in answering machine detections and hang ups.

This overcharging increases monthly phone on average by 30% or more.

LiveVox replaces variable telcom charges, as well as infrastructure and maintenance costs, for a single per-connected minute rate billed in six second increments with no hidden fees.

“If companies fail to review the total cost of technology beyond the sticker price and headline phone rates they are throwing money away, especially in a time when operating margins are so tight,” said John McNamara, Chief Marketing Officer, LiveVox. “If you use an old fashioned dialer, your telecom provider is likely charging anywhere from three to five times what it should for the lion’s share of all calls, effectively making the variable cost of a dialer higher than LiveVox.”

Telecom Protection Check List
LiveVox recommends easy steps to protect against wasteful telecom charges.

1. Review the detailed phone bill (not simply the top line expense page) for the lowest duration. If companies have no durations of 0.1 or lower, they have a minimum duration and are being overcharged for the majority of their calls.
2. Divide total costs by total minutes to gauge the actual per-minute rate that includes taxes, fees and other charges.
3. Compare charges to the number of agents to protect against double-billing. An agent generates approximately 4,000 minutes each month if on a dialer and companies should be skeptical if they are charged more than that per agent.
4. Discover short duration penalties by finding the lowest amount charged, and verifying this is no more than one tenth of the stated per minute rate.

“The truth is that most credit and collection organizations are dramatically under provisioned in terms of line capacity,” said Louis Summe, Chief Executive Officer, LiveVox. “Our data shows companies need at least seven lines per agent on a dialer for live answer rates that keep agents at a strong level of productivity. The traditional approach has been to add dialer capacity and telephony. However, by breaking down the true per-minute price, companies see that the traditional approach is cost prohibitive.”

LiveVox offers telecom bill assessment as part of its routine client service.

About LiveVox
LiveVox is the first provider of hosted dialer solutions for the credit and collections industry. Breakthrough, patented technology and deep industry knowledge allow LiveVox to assist clients with optimizing their operations and collection strategies. Private, carrier-grade VoIP networks enable LiveVox to maximize the productivity of leading credit, collections, debt purchase and call center organizations at the lowest cost of ownership in the marketplace. LiveVox is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.livevox.com.

Contact:
Mike Sherrill
LiveVox
917-675-4116
msherrill@livevox.com