Where did that number go?
A customer asks for ten new numbers in the same range as their main line. Your engineer opens the spreadsheet of number blocks, finds what looks like a run of spare numbers, and assigns them. Two days later a different customer rings to say calls meant for them are going somewhere else. Two of the 'spare' numbers were in fact ported in from that customer's old provider last year and never marked in the sheet.
The same spreadsheet has numbers marked as belonging to customers who left years ago, a block bought for a tender you did not win, and a set of numbers that still carry monthly rental from your supplier even though nothing is routed to them.
Numbers are your customers' identity. Getting them wrong is one of the few mistakes a customer notices immediately.
And the spreadsheet has several authors. The engineer who set up the big hosted migration kept his own tab. The number block from the reseller base you bought came as a separate file. Nobody is sure which version is the master.
Why number records fall out of step
- Numbers come from several places: blocks bought from suppliers, numbers ported in, numbers allocated by the platform.
- Assignments are made on the hosted platform by engineers, and the spreadsheet is updated afterwards, sometimes.
- Port-outs remove numbers from your control, but nothing updates the record.
- Numbers released by leavers need a quarantine period before reuse, and that is tracked by memory.
- Supplier rental on number blocks is billed separately from your customer billing.
What a messy inventory costs
| Error | Effect |
|---|---|
| Assigned number given out again | Calls reach the wrong business |
| Recently released number reused too soon | New customer gets the old one's callers |
| Ported-away number still listed | Confusion, and sometimes rental still paid |
| Numbers assigned but not billed | Revenue lost on number rental |
| Unused blocks kept | Supplier rental on numbers nobody needs |
The first of these is the one that hurts most. A business whose callers reach someone else, even for a day, will ask hard questions about whether you can be trusted with the rest of their service, and the fix involves an urgent call to your supplier and an apology to two customers at once.
The number inventory we build
- Every number you control is loaded from your supplier records and your hosted platform, grouped by block, with its source: bought, ported in or platform allocated.
- Each number has a status (spare, reserved, assigned, quarantined, ported out, returned) and a full history of changes.
- Assigned numbers are linked to the customer account and, where your hosted platform has an API, checked against the platform's own configuration every night.
- Assigning a number happens through the inventory: pick from spares in the right range, and the assignment is pushed to the platform or created as a task for an engineer.
- Released numbers go into quarantine for a period you set, and only become spare again after it ends.
- Port-out notifications move numbers to ported out automatically, and a monthly check compares assigned numbers with billed number rental and supplier block rental.
Day to day with the inventory
Engineers pick numbers from a list that is right, not one that was right last month. Customers wanting a run of numbers in a particular range can be offered what is really available. Finance see where number rental is billed and where it is not, and which blocks are costing you money without earning any.
When you acquire another reseller's base, their numbers load into the same inventory, and the first nightly check shows where their records and the platform disagree.
Spare numbers also become something sales can use. A prospect who wants a memorable run of numbers can be shown what is genuinely free, rather than being told 'we will check and come back to you'.
Recognise this?
- Your number ranges are tracked in a spreadsheet, or several.
- A number has been given to a second customer by mistake.
- Port-outs are not recorded against your number blocks.
- Released numbers are reused without a set waiting period.
- You pay rental on blocks nobody is using.