Industry Issues

Did You Know: A Directory Listing May Not Always Be Available When a Customer's Voice-Service Provider Changes?

• Telcordia seeks your input to help solve the growing problem of unavailable directory listings.
• The industry needs a consistent, long-term approach to provide accurate directory listings.

Abstract

Ever since the first direct-dialed call, people have relied on Directory Listings for both personal and business contact information. But a steady decline in Directory Listings indicates listings are less available today than even one year ago, and the problem continues to grow as more telephone-service customers migrate to alternative Voice Service Providers (e.g., VoIP, Cable, etc.). Business and Residential phone numbers are not being found in various directory listings, but those looking for the numbers do not realize that the reason is due to inadequate delivery of the sought-after phone number. Directory Assistance (DA), White Pages (WP), Yellow Pages (YP), and Internet local search engines cannot provide people with the listings they seek because, for whatever reason, the information is not made available to them.

This brief addresses the importance of accurate directory listings to an end user and the processes for sending those listings to databases accessed by DA, WP, YP, and Internet local search engines. Your input on this topic will help to gain a deeper understanding of this critical issue and will provide insights toward a solution.

The Importance and Challenge of Accurate Directory Listings

Today, most voice customers, especially business customers, expect people to be able to find their telephone number through Directory Assistance (DA), White Pages (WP), Yellow Pages (YP), or Internet search engines, unless, of course, they request an unlisted number. If a business changes voice service to another service provider, that business customer would be very disappointed to discover its listing can no longer be found. The unavailability of telephone listings, or the inaccuracy of listings due to old data, would most likely lead to dissatisfaction by the business customer, which could ultimately lead to loss of revenue for the associated service provider – if that customer switches to another provider that is willing to make the listing available.

• CASE STUDY 1:

  Imagine a restaurant that is no longer listed: callers desiring reservations would be told by DA there is no such name listed, and the restaurant's potential clients might think it had gone out of business and choose to dine at another restaurant, resulting in a loss of revenue for the original restaurant. The restaurant's owners did not know this would happen when they switched Voice Service Providers, and they may not even know it is currently happening. Once the restaurant's owners discover that the number can no longer be found, they will contact their service provider to find out why their restaurant is not listed, and if the listing is not possible, will potentially change to a provider that will list their number. This will result in a loss of revenue for the service provider that did not list the restaurant's number, not to mention poor customer perception.

• CASE STUDY 2:

  Imagine a parent of school-age children who is no longer listed. A school that has an outdated telephone number of a parent may desperately try to obtain the correct number of a sick child's parent without success. It is difficult to think about the impact that could potentially result from the lack of an available listing in this situation.

If a Service Provider does not list its customers, then the listings would not usually be available in the databases used by DA, WP, YP, and Internet local search engines, and the customers' accurate listings would not be found. Unlike other Internet searches, names, telephone numbers, and addresses are difficult to find by "crawling through the Web." Rather, the local search engines often rely on listings databases, which are mainly sourced by the Voice Service Providers.

How Can Directory Listings Be Provided More Thoroughly to Listing Databases?

Given the importance of making customers' accurate listings available, the next logical question would be how Voice Service Providers accomplish this goal. One way that listings can be provided to all listings databases is through the existing Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) Listing Management Process. This process receives listings from Voice Service Providers every day, ensures their accuracy and format, and processes them internally to multiple, disciplined databases (e.g., DA, publishers), which are available for purchase by third parties such as Listings Database Aggregators. The aggregators send the listings to databases used for DA, WP, YP, and Internet local search engines. The RBOC Listing Management Process feeds all Listings Database Aggregators directly or indirectly. This means that a requested listing will be found regardless of which Listings Database Aggregator is selected by the DA, WP, YP, or Internet local search engine provider as the source of its listings. The listing not only needs to be found, but it also needs to be correct, and the daily database updates provided by the RBOC process are critical to ensuring listing accuracy.

Although other alternatives exist (e.g., individual Voice Service Providers can provide listings to Listings Database Aggregators, or end users can list themselves on Web sites), it is difficult for these alternatives to feed the listings to all Listings Database Aggregators – and DA, WP, YP, or Internet local search engines will not find a listing if their listings source (i.e., the Listings Database Aggregator) does not have the listing. And, because some of the alternative methods are not updated every day, the listings that are found may be less accurate.

Be Part of the Solution: Send Us Your Input

Voice Service Providers benefit from making their customer listings available through DA, WP, YP, and Internet local search engines. Thorough and accurate listing databases are required for a high-quality search service. The traditional RBOC Listings Management Process is one way to achieve this. Your input on this and other approaches is requested and will be most welcomed. Overall, it is beneficial to have agreed-upon approaches by Voice Services Providers and DA, WP, YP, and Internet local search engine providers, for making listings available to the public. Telcordia, as part of its Directory Assistance Initiatives, invites you to be part of the solution that addresses this critical issue – The Unavailability of Listings – by answering the survey questions HERE.

If you are interested in obtaining more information on this Directory Listings issue or other related issues, please contact Telcordia at rberkowi@telcordia.com or + 1.732.699.4784.

We'd Like Your Input!

You (and/or another company representative) can be part of a solution to an industry-wide concern by participating in this survey. Your input will give this issue momentum and attention.