July 2011 – MC and FH 1

FY2011 Calling Card August 2011

Service overview: Calling cards were routinely offered to faculty and staff in years past. Especially popular with the research community, calling cards eliminate the need for reimbursement for phone charges when travelling or complying with A-21, Section J9 guidelines for domestic calls. In 2008, an effort to sunset the service met with complaint from a number of researchers. As a result, a decision was made to no longer offer the service to new subscribers, but to allow existing clients to continue using the service. A recent report shows 2,248 calling cards of record, with 121 with activity in the past year. Some of theses 121 cards have been issued to staff that are classified as inactive, on leave without pay, or retired. Today this service is a shadow of itself. There was a time when card were in high demand before cellular use became affordable and ubiquitous. In 1986, 4,500 cards would be in active use in any 30-day span making use of user voice recognition technology bypassing pay phone and hotel high usage fees. Our cards today do not offer such technology ad the usage fees have increased 4x. Four years has past since our abortive efforts in 2008 to discontinue calling card service and service has continued to decline.

We believe the volume of subscribers is low enough to warrant service sunset, and that alternatives are now available to clients that permit billing of calls directly to their Stanford Directory Number (DN); and therefore to their PTA. This functionality is provided in the soon to be released Cisco Mobility client, available for a variety of smart phones. The following is an overview of the service from the perspective of the “5 questions”: 1. Does it meet client needs? – Yes 2. Can we deliver it? – Yes – we have successfully provided this service for over 25 years. 3. Is this service right for IT Services? – No. It involves multiple offices within ITS to successfully

reconcile and bill every month. In our strategic effort to Simplify, Automate and Innovate there isn’t the critical mass to expend the effort to further automate, will free up internal staff time by not processing billing ‘tapes’, reconciliation of vendor bills, keeping client records clean and active. Finally, clients today have other options available instead of this service that are significantly cheaper.

4. Is there clear strategic value in providing this service? – No. There is no strategic value in providing this service, given the numerous alternatives for international traveling and domestic calling that are available to our clients.

5. Is this service financially viable? – No. Recovery charges are not assessed to these pass-through billings. We estimate 3 hours a month of various staff time plus cost of using the ‘usage’ billing function within Pinnacle.

6. Does this service provide simplicity in ordering, billing and provisioning? Clients have not been

Figure 1 Usage has declined 96% since 1980's

July 2011 – MC and FH 2

able to order this service since 2008. Billing for grandfathered subscribers is complex. We receive a monthly file from AT&T, these are imported into Pinnacle for re-billing. Sun-setting this service will discontinue this practice.

Trend: Monthly revenues have continued to decline over decades with the peak revenue years in the 1980’s when 4,500 cards were used charging $17,000 every month; June 2011 charges were $875 for 75 users. In 2005 efforts began to restrict deployment of card with the aim to sunset in the future. July 9, 2008 notification went to all departments about our discontinuing the service, which was later rescinded on October of the same year due to departmental reaction. For the most part, no new cards have been issued since 2008. Card usage and charges has dropped 72% in the past four years while the actual cost to the client to make the call has steadily increased. There is lack of critical mass for a program that can be better served by using other services such as Skype or making arrangements with their cell phone provider. Sunset Plan: Recommendation - Sunset service in 2 phases:

1. Phase 1 - Discontinue service for all but the 121 "active" users.

2. Phase 2 - Review the list of the

remaining 121 subscribers, eliminating inactive, leave without pay, retired employees. Set January 1st, 2012 for sun-setting these subscribers, providing plenty of advance notice and communication about alternatives.

Figure 2 Charges have decreased 92% since the 1980’S, 72% in the past four years

Figure 3 Average cost has risen 230% compared to the 1980's

July 2011 – MC and FH 3

July 2011 – MC and FH 4

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