MBG, a leading telecom expense management solutions provider, announced the expansion of its VoIP management offering beyond providing normalized Call Detail Records (CDR). These new services include inventory capabilities that assign ownership and track usage by employee regardless of the VoIP platform, along with backup and recovery services. All of these VoIP management solutions are aimed at providing organizations with an efficient and cost-effective method for chargeback identical to those that traditional telephony systems provide.

VoIP systems typically do not provide the same level of standardized call detail essential to manage, report, and charge back for those services. Even when it is possible to capture some VoIP data, companies are finding that it is complex and difficult to normalize before incorporating the information for analysis.



"As increasing numbers of companies adopt VoIP as their corporate telecommunications platform, it is important that MBG provide comprehensive and accurate expense management tools that provide the same chargeback and inventory capabilities associated with traditional telecommunication systems," says Richard Simons, Chief Operating Officer of MBG. "Many companies discover that trying to manage VoIP data is far different than managing standard telephony and requires expertise that allows organizations to conduct effective analysis and perform chargeback. MBG expertise has always been in our ability to provide a high level of billing detail regardless of the call platform being used," continues Simons.

"We work with our clients in handling and understanding telecom data so they can achieve a consistent view of call detail information from both VoIP and traditional telecom data," Simons adds. "That information is then integrated, normalized, and validated before it is rolled-up into enterprise management applications to analyze both telecom and IT expenses," Simons adds.

In January 2004, MBG introduced the VoIP Call CDR Collector to handle VoIP call accounting requirements of large financial and retail organizations. Since its introduction, MBG has collected over 6 million VoIP call detail records that are used to verify phone calls and conduct departmental chargeback processes. The new capabilities extend these features by assigning ownership to each number to analyze costs down to the employee level. Additionally, organizations will now have the ability to retrieve call reports in the event of an emergency.