About The Answering Service
The Answering Service has handled calls for UK businesses since 1997. From its base in Sutton Coldfield, the team answers more than 100,000 calls a year for clients across more than a dozen sectors, from law firms and dental practices to accountants and healthcare providers. Nearly all of those calls are picked up within three rings.
That is a lot of calls to bill for, and a lot of clients to bill accurately.
The challenge
Billing all those clients used to mean manual spreadsheets. Each cycle, the team pulled call and service data together by hand. It worked, but it took time, and small errors could creep in.
It was also hard to see the full picture. The numbers were there, but spread across spreadsheets. That made it tricky to tell which client accounts were truly profitable and which were not.
What changed
We moved The Answering Service onto Safe Online Billing. We mapped their plans and call charges into the platform, so each client is now rated and invoiced automatically.
The monthly run that used to take careful manual work now takes a fraction of the time. Invoices go out faster, and the figures stay consistent every cycle.
A clear view of profitability
Because every charge now sits in one place, the team can see each account clearly. Our reporting showed where some accounts were priced below the cost to serve them.
That gave The Answering Service the insight to review those accounts and put them on a firmer footing. The data had always been there. Now it is easy to read and easy to act on.
The results
Today, billing is faster, more accurate and far less manual. The team spends less time on spreadsheets and more time doing what they do best, looking after their clients’ calls. And they bill with a clear view of what each account is worth.
Moving off spreadsheets onto Safe Online Billing made our billing faster and far more accurate. The reporting even showed us where some accounts weren't pulling their weight, which we had never been able to see before.