ANI ideas on how to identify VoIP customer locations?

My last post looked at how trends in cell phone usage are challenging ANI (Automatic Number Identification) and creating new challenges for call center tracking and forecasting.

A similar situation is at work with the adoption of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) by a growing number of consumers. ANI determines physical location based on area codes, but with VoIP there is no easy way to track the relationship between the IP address and physical location – especially since most VoIP providers use dynamically assigned IP addresses.

VoIP was introduced to the consumer mass market in 2004 and has become a popular option for cable customers, who often opt for VoIP as part of a triple-play bundle. And the VoIP challenge to using ANI to track location is only going to grow.

According to a study by the Yankee Group, 9% of U.S. households had adopted VoIP by 2006. The same study predicts that 37 million households will be using VoIP by 2011. Adoption will also increase with the prevalence of dual-mode cell phones.

Similar to the challenges raised by “migrating” cell phone users, the growing popularity of consumer VoIP will require us to find new and better ways to accurately identify the location of callers, including changes to monitoring and forecasting methods.

How are you planning to track customers and where they are calling from?

–Kathleen Alloune

Kathleen Alloune is Executive Director of Operations for CXO Global Solutions.