Phone calls are an essential element of business operations since they are sometimes the primary mode of contact between your organization and your customers. As a result, it’s unsurprising that exceptional phone customer service may be a long-term business driver.
Besides recording phone calls, getting key information about the call itself with a call detail record is just as important.
What’s a Call Detail Record?
A call detail record or CDR documents various attributes of the call made through a telephone system. The metadata includes:
- Date and time of the call
- Duration
- Originating and destination numbers
- Whether the call was answered or not
- Inbound, outbound, or toll-free
- Cost of the call
- Completion status
- Features used during the call
CDRs may also contain metadata for SMS messaging and other communications transmission methods like VoIP and cloud phone calls. However, the record will only show that a call occurred and not its contents.
Why Is Call Detail Record Important?
Call detail records chronicle every billable call on your telephone system. Analyzing the log list lets you identify unused or underutilized numbers that may be disconnected to lower communication costs. Moreover, CDRs can help you identify and reduce non-business phone calls.
CDRs allow you to optimize network usage by uncovering patterns in your business’ call activities. For example, if you notice periods when certain departments interact with customers more often, you can allocate more resources during these critical times.
Evaluating usage with CDRs may also reveal opportunities for revenue growth. For example, if you can discover demographic-specific trends, you may develop services or offer targeted incentives to this group.
Lastly, CDRs can be used to detect unusual usage patterns, which administrators may flag and investigate for potential threats. Often, suspicious call activities, such as out-of-hours calling and international calls, are precursors to fraud and security breaches.
What Are Call Detail Record Reports?
Call detail record reports break down information by the user or phone number. A CDR report for a single user will display metrics like call volume, duration, and cost. It is generally more detailed than a CDR report generated for a phone number, as the latter gives a bird’s eye view of its calling activity.
You can get a CDR report for a user or number from your business phone system if you have administrative privileges; there’s no need to request one from your telecommunications provider. But if you’re using VoIP, you can access and download the report from the web portal.
Metadata from VoIP and cloud phone calls are excluded from your telephone provider’s CDR since these types of calls are not billed. A VoIP phone call via SIP-to-SIP doesn’t go through the public switch telephone network, so there is no corresponding charge.
Understanding what a call detail record is will give you a better overview, as well as valuable insights into your business’ calling activities. That’s why some of the available call center software, such as from ROI Call Center Solutions, include this crucial feature.