After The Call – Deciphering the Conference Call Invoice

Just about every conference call bureau varies in what amount of detail they will include on your invoicing. Before signing up, ask to see a sample copy of their basic invoice, and make sure you can understand the data without calling in a college professor. You and your Accounts Payable team do not need to spend large blocks of time dividing up charges between different departments, figuring out the average cost of a call based on adding two or more line items together, or having to call back to your provider for additional information about the call.

Once you have viewed the sample invoice, ask if there are other details that may be captured. If your provider bills on a monthly basis, is there a way to sort the calls by department with a sub sort by host name? Is it possible to capture ANI for each line (the originating phone number for each caller location)? Does customized billing cost extra?

Remember that the success of each conference call does not end when the parties hang up. Until the conference has been billed with detail that is acceptable to the customer, the call has not been a true win-win for you or the service provider.

You May Be Talking Audio, but Don't Forget Web and Video

A simple telephone conference may fulfill your needs for now. But just to be on the safe side, inquire about web conferencing and video conferencing options that your audio service has available. Even if you don’t have an immediate need for either, go ahead and obtain pricing and information. Should you ever need web or video, you will have at least one quote on the table when your company president asks you to investigate those options. Also keep in mind that if you have a long established relationship with your audio provider, the chances are you can go back and obtain further reductions in pricing on those initial quotes.