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--(Business Wire)--
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 telecom 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.

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

Copyright Business Wire 2009