Business calls shouldn’t be taxing

A recent survey by the customer experience experts MDS, has revealed that 28% of companies struggle with separating personal and work mobile costs. With 42% of companies now providing mobile telephones to their workforce and a massive 90% of businesses seeing personal calls made on the main business line the problem of separating business and personal calls is seen as time consuming and costly.

Whilst some companies have decided that it is actually cheaper not to put themselves through the pain of call identification, businesses which claim back VAT on telephone costs could potentially be falsifying their VAT returns by claiming VAT on the personal element of their phone bills.

One of the conclusions of the survey was that an enhanced analytic service capability helped “businesses better understand and manage employee usage.” In addition visibility of spend was required to help organisations to manage services effectively. With only 47% of companies having a defined telecoms usage policy, it could be reasonably concluded that the lack of simple effective reporting is one of the reasons why companies are failing in this area.

Interestingly with the move towards VoIP and mobile broadband via smart phones coupled with the flexibility of working from home, 45% of telecoms managers surveyed believe that the traditional fixed phone line at work will be obsolete within five years. Certainly, those telephone service companies such as Callagenix which are offering VoIP services are seeing an increase in interest and take up as businesses come to appreciate the benefits that VoIP can bring.

One of the benefits of a VoIP system is the ease with which telephone records can be provided. Adding a call record function means that a full call-log including recording can be provided quickly and simply, allowing easier analysis. Not only would this solve the VAT issue, understanding how staff and clients use the telephone will help to improve customer service as well as add valuable impetus to marketing initiatives.

Another benefit of internet telephony is the availability of a wide range of switchboard functions for comparatively little cost. With functions including caller divert, messaging and call conferencing available via a virtual switchboard clients can quickly reach their chosen department or employee without that employee being present in the main office. This encourages the flexibility of working that many employees thrive on whilst increasing the overall level of service to customers.