Technique for analyzing information assistance call patterns

The invention is directed to assessing the viability of a business entity based on statistics concerning information assistance calls requesting the listing of the same. The invention is premised upon a perceived correlation between the number of calls requesting a business entity's listing and the callers' interest in its products or services, which in turn correlates to sales of the business entity. In accordance with the invention, data is collected and analyzed which concerns information assistance calls requesting listings of different business entities which may belong to the same industry or company to measure their comparative performance. In an illustrative embodiment, the performance measure of the business entity (department) may be compared with those of other business entities (departments) in the same geographic area belonging to the same industry to gain insights into the competitiveness of the business entity in that area. Management of the business entity (department) may then be able to change an advertising campaign based on such insights.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to systems and methods for analyzing patterns of calls for information concerning desired parties, e.g., business entities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is commonplace that a user who wants to purchase a particular product or service calls an information assistance service for a listing of the business entity offering the product or service. In the information assistance call, the user may be afforded a choice to be connected to the business entity. The user may then be able to elicit from the business entity information concerning, e.g., its business hours, whether the particular product is in stock, etc.

In today's competitive marketplace business entities spend a lot of time and effort to measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and to gain competitive intelligence on their competitors. Mostly such efforts are concentrated on polling customers, counting customers walking into a business establishment, asking them to fill out surveys, collecting information about how many viewers saw a particular TV commercial, etc. While it is imprecise and complicated for business entities to measure their own marketing efforts, it is even more difficult to gather timely competitive intelligence on their competitors.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the prior art limitations by assessing the competitiveness of a business entity vis a vis another business entity by comparing the number of information assistance communications, e.g., information assistance calls, in which connection information, e.g., a telephone listing, for these business entities was requested. Information assistance communications may alternatively comprise data connections, e.g., over the Internet, through which a user may request an entity's connection information. The invention is premised upon a perceived correlation between the number of information assistance communications requesting a business entity's connection information and the callers' interest in its products or services, which in turn correlates to sales of the business entity. The statistics concerning information assistance communications, thus, provide insights into the performance, effectiveness of marketing efforts and sales campaigns, etc. of a business entity vis a vis its competitors.

The connection information concerning an entity is typically maintained in a directory database accessible to an information assistance provider. The information assistance provider here is a third party unaffiliated with the entity listed in the database. An entity may be a for profit, a not-for-profit business organization, or an individual. An entity may comprise more than one department, each with its separate connection information. In an illustrative embodiment, the information assistance system may credit the entity with all of the information assistance calls requesting listings of any of its departments to measure its overall performance. In another embodiment, the information assistance system may consider the calls on a department by department basis to measure individual departments' performance.

More importantly, for example, the performance measure of the entity (department) may be compared with those of other entities (departments) in the same category, e.g., the same geographic area or industry, to gain insights into the competitiveness of the entity in that area or industry. Similarly, the performance measure of the entity (department) may be compared with those of other entities (departments) in different geographic areas belonging to the same company to gain insights into the relative performance of the entity within the company. Management of the entity (department) may then be able to adjust an advertising campaign, sales strategy, business plan, etc. based on such insights.

In addition, the performance measure of the entity (department) may be compared with those of other entities (departments) in the same geographic area, however, providing different products or services. For example, the number of information assistance communications requesting connection information of an entity providing different products or services than, but located in close proximity to, another entity, e.g., in the same shopping mall, may provide insights into their relative appeal to a shopper.

According to the present invention, the assessment of the sales activities of a first entity relative to those of a second entity is a function of the respective numbers of information assistance communications requesting connection information concerning the first and second entities. Such a function may involve a comparison, a ratio, a percentage, etc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is directed to assessing the viability of a business entity based on statistics concerning information assistance calls requesting the listing of the same. The invention is premised upon a perceived correlation between the number of calls requesting a business entity's listing and the callers' interest in its products or services, which in turn correlates to sales of the business entity. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, data is collected and analyzed which concerns information assistance calls requesting listings of different business entities which may belong to the same industry or company to gain insights into their comparative performance.

A business entity may have more than one phone number listed in a directory database, which is maintained by, or accessible to, an information assistance system. For example, ABC Clothing Store may have one phone number for men's clothing department, one for women's clothing department, one for children's clothing department, one for luggage department, etc. In an illustrative embodiment, the information assistance system may credit the business entity with all of the information assistance calls requesting listings of any of its departments to measure its overall performance. In another embodiment, the information assistance system may consider the calls on a department by department basis to measure individual departments' performance. More importantly, for example, the performance measure of the business entity (department) may be compared with those of other business entities (departments) in the same geographic area belonging to the same industry to gain insights into the competitiveness of the business entity in that area. Similarly, the performance measure of the business entity (department) may be compared with those of other business entities (departments) in different geographic areas belonging to the same company to gain insights into the relative performance of the business entity within the company. Management of the business entity (department) may then be able to adjust an advertising campaign, sales strategy, business plan, etc. based on such insights.

FIG. 1illustrates an information assistance system embodying the principles of the invention for providing, inter alia, an analysis of the information assistance calls to multiple competing business entities. This communication system includes wide area network (WAN)30covering an extensive area. WAN30may be an Internet-based network such as the World Wide Web or a private intranet based network. WAN30connects operators dispersed throughout a wide coverage area in information/call centers21through27. One or more information hubs10are also included in WAN30. An information hub10includes one or more database managers28which are accessible by the operators in the system, and one or more database storages20in which the databases and reports in accordance with the present invention, e.g., an information assistance calls database, single-entity calls report, or multi-company calls report, may be stored and maintained. (Such databases may also be duplicated and stored locally at one or more of the information/call centers.)

FIG. 2illustrates an example of such a multi-company calls report200in accordance with the invention. In this example, report200was commissioned by ABC Clothing Store for its store located at 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375 and for competing clothing stores within a ten-mile radius. All such clothing stores belong to the same Standard Industrial Classification (“SIC”) Code “5311” for clothing stores.

In the instant example, multi-company calls report200results from an analysis of a pattern of information assistance calls for the last week of February 1993 (February 22 through February 28). Report200, illustrated inFIG. 2, contains, among others, five call records for various business entities in the ten-mile radius of the ABC Clothing Store in question. Each call record in report200illustratively includes seven fields. Type of Company field210of all call records in report200contains “Clothing” to indicate that all the competing business entities for which information assistance call patterns are analyzed in report200relate to the clothing retail business. SIC field215contains the SIC code for the corresponding business entity, e.g., “5311”, which stands for clothing stores. Name of Company field220contains the name of the business entity in each call record, e.g., “Finley Boutique” in call record270, “ABC Clothing Store” in call record278, etc. Address of Company field225contains the address of the business entity in each call record, e.g., “253 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, N.Y. 11372” for “Finley Boutique” in call record270. Distance Between Business Entities field230contains a measure of a distance in miles between the business which requested this service, e.g., ABC Clothing Store located at 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375, and other competing business entities in report200. In this instance, field230of call record270contains 5.7 miles, which is the distance between ABC Clothing Store located at 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375 and Finley Boutique located at 253 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights, N.Y. 11372. Field230of call record278contains 0 miles, which indicates that business stored in Name of Company field220of call record278, i.e., ABC Clothing Store, is the one which commissioned report200.

Total Weekly Calls field235contains the total number of all information assistance calls requesting phone numbers assigned to the corresponding business entity in report200during a given period of time. Percentage of Total Weekly Calls field240contains the percentage of the number of all information assistance calls requesting any phone numbers assigned to a corresponding business entity in report200during a given period of time relative to all information assistance calls made to all business entities in report200.

Total Weekly Calls field235of call record270contains “3,547” which represents the total number of information assistance calls during which any phone number of Finley Boutique was requested in the last week of February 1993. Percentage of Total Weekly Calls field240of call record270contains 2.0% which represents the percentage of 3,547 calls (registered in Total Weekly Calls field235) made to “Finley Boutique” during the last week of February 1993 out of total calls of 178,322 (registered in Total Weekly Calls field235of call record294) made to all business entities in report200.

Database manager28compiles multi-company calls report200illustrated inFIG. 2from information assistance call records contained in information assistance calls database300illustrated inFIG. 3. After completion of every information assistance call, database manager28creates an information assistance call record, which includes, among others, five fields, for the just completed information assistance call. Time of Call field310contains the time an information assistance call was received. Date of Call field315contains the date an information assistance call was placed. Phone Number of Listing field320contains the phone number of the listing requested by an information assistance caller. Name of Listing Field325contains the name of the listing requested by an information assistance caller. Caller's ANI field330contains the phone number from which a caller placed an information assistance call.

For example, information assistance call record350is for the information assistance call placed by a caller from “212 836-7188” (registered in Caller's ANI field330) at “9:03 am” (registered in Time of Call field310) on “Feb. 24, 1993” (registered in Date of Call field315) requesting a listing for “ABC Clothing Store” (registered in Name of Listing field325), which resulted in retrieval of “718 635-5301” (registered in Phone Number of Listing field320).

FIGS. 4A and 4Bjointly depict a routine executed by database manager28to compile multi-company calls report200from information assistance call records stored in information assistance calls database300. In step401, database manager28selects the competing business entities whose call patterns would be analyzed in report200. The system of the present invention provides a number of ways that business entities can be selected for inclusion in report200. In one example, a business entity requesting that report200be compiled, e.g., ABC Clothing Store, specifies the names and addresses of the business entities to be included in report200. In another example, the requesting business entity specifies a list of SIC codes and the geographic constraints, e.g., one or more zip codes, or a starting point and a radius therefrom.

In the instant example, ABC Clothing Store requested that all business entities belonging to SIC 5311 and located within a ten-mile radius of its store located at 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375 be included in report200. Database manager28using well known techniques, and in particular services of MapQuest Inc., determines what telephone area codes business entities within ten miles of 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375 could belong to, i.e., 718, 516, 631, 212, 917, 347, etc., and then searches the database of all listings in these area codes for all business entities within ten miles of 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375 whose SIC code is 5311. As a result, database manager28identifies business entities satisfying these criteria, and creates call records in multi-company calls report200. Database manager28populates Name of Company field220, Address of Company field225, Distance Field230, Type of Business field210, and SIC field215of the call records in report200, with names, addresses, distance from the requesting business entity, type of business and SIC code of the identified business entities, respectively.

In step405, database manager28creates single-entity calls report500for each of the business entities included in report200.FIG. 5illustrates a single-entity calls report500for ABC Clothing Store which contains call summary records for every phone number listed in the directory database for the particular store located at 180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375. SIC field510of call summary records550through559contains the SIC code “5311” for clothing stores. Name of Entity field515contains the name of the business entity. Address of Entity field520contains the address of the business entity. Name of Entity field515of call summary records550through559contains “ABC Clothing Store.” Since all of the departments of this store are located in the same building, Address of Entity field520of call summary records550through559contain the same address—“180-12 153rd Street, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375.” Department field518contains the name and Phone Number field525contains the phone number of the department within the business entity in report500. Pointer field527contains the memory address of the departmental call database containing records of information assistance calls where callers requested this department's phone number. In the instant example, call summary record551is for the shoes department (registered in Department field518) having the phone number of “718-635-5301” (registered in Phone Number field525) and associated departmental call database600illustrated inFIG. 6and described in detail below, linked by memory address2stored in Pointer field527.

The rest of the fields in single-entity calls report500collect information about information assistance calls made to this business entity. Monday Morning Calls field530serves as a counter of the number of information assistance calls requesting a phone number of the corresponding department within the business entity between 8:00 and 11:00 a.m. on Monday. Monday Morning Calls field530of call summary record550contains a value “3” which means that there were three information assistance calls requesting the general phone number of ABC Clothing Store between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, 1993.

Monday Afternoon Calls field535serves as a counter of the information assistance calls requesting a phone number of the corresponding department within the business entity between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Monday. Monday Afternoon Calls field535of call summary record559contains a value “59” which means that there were 59 information assistance calls requesting the luggage department's phone number, “718-635-5361” (registered in Phone Number field525) between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, 1993.

Monday Evening Calls field540serves as a counter of the number of information assistance calls requesting a phone number of the corresponding department within the business entity between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Monday Evening Calls field540of call summary record551is 9 which means that there were 9 information assistance calls requesting the shoes department's phone number between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, 1993.

Total Monday Calls field545serves as a counter of the information assistance calls made on Monday to each departmental phone number. Total Monday Calls field545is a sum of the counters in Monday Morning Calls field530, Monday Afternoon Calls field535and Monday Evening Calls field540. In the instant example, Total Monday Calls field545of call summary record550shows 304 information assistance calls in which users requested the general phone number of ABC Clothing Store, and which is a sum of 3 calls in Monday Morning Calls field530, 70 calls in Monday Afternoon Calls field535, and 231 calls in Monday Evening Calls field540.

Total Weekdays Calls field550serves as a counter of the number of information assistance calls requesting a phone number of the corresponding department's phone number during all weekdays. Total Weekdays Calls field550contains a sum of the numbers of calls in Total Monday Calls field545with Total Tuesday Calls field (not shown), Total Wednesday Calls field (not shown), Total Thursday Calls field (not shown) and Total Friday Calls field (not shown). Total Weekdays Calls field550of call summary record552contains a value “5,023” which means that there were 5,023 information assistance calls requesting the phone number of men's clothing department during the weekdays of the week of Feb. 24, 1993.

Total Weekly Calls field555serves as a counter of the information assistance calls requesting a phone number of the corresponding department's phone number during every day of the week. Total Weekly Calls field555contains a sum of the numbers of calls in Total Weekdays Calls field550and Total Weekend Calls field (not shown). Total Weekly Calls field555of call summary record559is 2,439.

Continuing with the routine depicted inFIG. 4A, in step410, database manager28creates separate departmental call databases for each phone number of each business entity selected for report200. Departmental call databases contain records of the information assistance calls where a caller requested this department's phone number.FIG. 6illustrates departmental call database600for ABC Clothing Store's shoes department's phone number “718-635-5301”. Since departmental call database600contains records of information assistance calls where users requested the same phone number, a record of departmental call database600does not need to contain the phone number, name and address of the requested listing. Rather such record in this instance includes Caller's ANI field630, Time of Call field610, and Date of Call field615. For example, record650in departmental call database600pertains to an information assistance call placed by a caller from “212 836-7188” (in Caller's ANI field630) at “9:03 am” (registered in Time of Call field610) on “Feb. 24, 1993” (registered in Date of Call field615).

FIG. 7illustrates departmental call database700for ABC Clothing Store's men's clothing department's phone number “718-635-5302”. Record753pertains to an information assistance call placed by a caller from “201-259-3671” (registered in Caller's ANI field630) at “11:54 am” (registered in Time of Call field610) on “Feb. 24, 1993” (registered in Date of Call field615).

In step415, database manager28accesses information assistance calls database300, which stores information assistance call records for all information assistance calls made in the last week of February 1993 requesting any of the listings in area codes where business entities within 10 miles of 180-12 153rdStreet, Flushing Meadows, N.Y. 11375 are located, e.g., 718, 516, 631, 212, 917, 347, etc. In step415, database manager28selects a new information assistance call record for processing. In this example, database manager28selects information assistance call record350.

In step420, database manager28determines whether “718-635-5301,” the requested phone number in information assistance calls record350, belongs to any of the business entities in report200. Database manager28does that by comparing “718-635-5301,” with every phone number stored in Phone Number field525of every single-entity calls report for each of the business entities in report200. Database manager28matches “718-635-5301”, with Phone Number field525of call summary record551for ABC Clothing Store's shoes department.

In step425, database manager28retrieves departmental call database600associated with ABC Clothing Store's shoes department based on value in Pointer field527indicating its memory address. Then, database manager28associates information assistance call record350with departmental call database600by adding a new record to it and copying information from information assistance call record350into this new record650. In step430, database manager28checks whether information assistance call record350is the last information assistance call record in information assistance calls database300.

In this example it is not, and database manager28proceeds to step415to select a new information assistance call record. In this instance, database manager28selects information assistance call record351and in step420, compares “718-839-5401”, the phone number requested in this information assistance call (stored in Phone Number of Listing field320of information assistance call record351), with each of the phone numbers stored in Phone Number field525of every single-entity calls report for each of the business entities in report200. In this example, phone number of Advance Auto is not stored in any of them because Advance Auto is not one of the business entities analyzed in report200. Therefore, database manager28proceeds to step430. Since information assistance call record351is not the last one in information assistance calls database300, database manager proceeds to step415and selects information assistance call record353.

In step420, database manager28determines that phone number requested in this information assistance call matches ABC Clothing Store's men's clothing department's phone number (stored in Phone Number field525of call summary record552). In step425, database manager28retrieves departmental call database700associated with ABC Clothing Store's men's clothing department based on value in Pointer field527indicating its memory address. Then database manager28associates information assistance call record353with departmental call database700by adding a new record to it and copying information from information assistance call record353into this new record753. Then database manager28proceeds to step430and so on as described above.

Assuming that database manager28processed all information assistance call records in information assistance calls database300, database manager28goes to step440ofFIG. 4B. In step440, database manager28selects a new departmental call database from departmental call databases associated with each listed phone number for each business entity included in report200. For example, say database manager28selected departmental call database600associated with ABC Clothing Store's shoes department's phone number (718) 635-5301. In step445, database manager28selects a new record from departmental call database600, say, record650. In step450, database manager28increments by one the counter in Monday Morning Calls field530of call summary record551because information assistance call of record650was made at 9:03 a.m. (stored in Time of Call field610) and Monday Morning Calls field530becomes “4” (not shown).

In step455, database manager28checks whether this is the last record in departmental call database600. If so, database manager28proceeds to step460. In step460, database manager28checks whether departmental call database600is the last departmental call database. Otherwise, database manager28goes to step440and selects a new departmental call database, say, departmental call database700associated with ABC Clothing Store's men's clothing department's phone number “718-635-5302”. In step445, database manager28selects a new record from departmental call database700, say record753. In step450, database manager28increments by one Monday Afternoon Calls field535because information assistance call of record753was made at 11:54 a.m. (stored in Time of Call field710). In step455, database manager28checks whether this is the last record in departmental call database700. If so, database manager28proceeds to step460. In step460, database manager28checks whether departmental call database700is the last departmental call database. Otherwise, database manager28goes to step465.

Assuming that database manager28processed all departmental call databases, database manager28proceeds to step465to calculate the values in summary fields of all single-entity calls reports for all the business entities included in report200. For example, in single-entity calls report500, database manager28would calculate the values for Total Monday Calls field545, . . . , Total Friday Calls field (not shown), Total Weekday Calls field550, Total Weekend Calls field (not shown), Total Weekly Calls field555. The procedure for calculating their values is described above in the applicable part of description ofFIG. 5.

In step470, database manager28calculates the value of Total Weekly Calls field235in report200for each business entity. For example, to calculate values of this field for ABC Clothing Store, database manager28adds values in Total Weekly Calls field555of all call summary records in single-entity calls report500. In this example, all information assistance callers requested the phone numbers of any of ABC Clothing Store's departments 28,989 times during the last week of February 1993 and database manager28stores “28,989” in Total Weekly Calls field235of call record278. After database manager28calculates the values of this field for all other business entities in report200, database manager28proceeds to step475.

In step475, it calculates the percentage of calls for each business entity relative to the total number of calls for all business entities. Database manager28adds values in Total Weekly Calls field235for call records270through293and stores the resulting number “178,322” in the same field of call record294. Then, database manager28divides “28,989,” the value of Total Weekly Calls field235of call record278, by “178,322,” expresses this result as a percentage, and stores “16.3%” in Percentage of Total Weekly Calls field240of call record278. This means that total information assistance calls requesting the phone numbers of any of ABC Clothing Store's departments with listed phone numbers represent 16.3% of all information assistance calls requesting the phone numbers of any of its competitors included in report200.

In addition to analyzing information assistance calls patterns for competing business entities belonging to different companies, the system of the present invention provides tools for analysis of information assistance calls patterns for different business entities of the same company, e.g., different Walmart stores, different McDonald's restaurants, etc. The system in accordance with the present invention also can analyze information assistance calls patterns on a departmental level within business entities belonging to the same company as long as each department has a separately listed phone number. This departmental level analysis is useful for companies trying to measure performance of the same department at different business entities and allocate business resources, e.g., capital, employees, hardware, etc., based on the measures obtained. For example, a chain store operator may decide to close a particular department within a particular store if it does not generate sufficient level of sales and customers' interest as reflected in the number of information assistance calls when compared with same department at other locations.

By way of example, let's say Aamco Transmissions wants to analyze how several of its business entities are doing. For this analysis Aamco selected two of its business entities, referred to as shops—one in Boston, Mass. and the other one in San Diego, Calif. and requested a call pattern analysis for the last two weeks of December 1993. In this example, both shops have only one department and thus have only one listed phone number.

Database manager28compiles the requested report by executing the routine jointly depicted inFIGS. 4A and 4B. In step401, database manager28creates single-company calls report800for Aamco and includes two Aamco's shops in it. Call record870is for the Boston, Mass. shop located at 190 Washington Road, Boston, Mass. 04903 (registered in Address of Company field225). Call record871is for its San Diego shop located at 370 Ocean Drive, San Diego, Calif. 94902 (registered in Address of Company field225). Since both shops belong to Aamco, “Aamco” is stored in Name of Company field220of both call records870and871. Report800does not contain Type of Business field210, SIC field215and Distance Between Business Entities field230because Aamco limited its call pattern analysis to two business entities of its own and thus there is no need for the system of the present invention to select competing business entities by SIC code. Since the two shops are located on different coasts of the U.S., Distance field230is meaningless in this context, too. Week I Calls field251serves as a counter for information assistance calls requesting the phone number for the corresponding Aamco's shop during week I of the analysis—Dec. 17–23, 1993. Week II Calls field259serves as a counter for all information assistance calls requesting the phone number for the corresponding Aamco's shop during week II of the analysis—Dec. 24–31, 1993. Total Calls field260serves as a counter for all information assistance calls requesting the phone number for the corresponding Aamco's shop made during the last two weeks of December 1993. Week I Percentage field261expresses as a percentage the number of calls of one Aamco shop against the calls to the Aamco shop chosen as a base for week I. Week II Percentage field262expresses as a percentage the number of calls of one Aamco shop against the calls to the Aamco shop chosen as a base for week II.

In this case, database manager28does not execute step405because there is no need to create single-entity calls reports for the two Aamco shops because each of them has only one listed phone number, and the analysis requested by Aamco focuses on just the number of calls per week without further breakdown into days or hours. In step410, database manager28creates two departmental call databases (not shown) for the Boston and San Diego shops. In steps415through430, database manager28processes information assistance call records stored in information assistance calls database300. As a result, information assistance call records360and361become associated with departmental call database for Aamco's Boston shop and information assistance call record363becomes associated with departmental call database for Aamco's San Diego shop. Information assistance call record362is ignored because it was not connected to either of the Aamco shops being analyzed.

In steps440through460depicted inFIG. 4B, database manager28processes the information assistance call records contained in the two departmental call databases for Aamco's Boston and San Diego shops to calculate the number of connections during each of the last two weeks in December 1993. In this example, the information assistance call described in information assistance call record360is added to the counter in Week I Calls field251of call record870because it was connected to the Boston shop during the week of Dec. 17–23, 1993. The information assistance call described in information assistance call record361is added to the counter in Week II Calls field259of call record870because it was connected to the Boston shop during the week of Dec. 24–31, 1993. The information assistance call described in information assistance call record363is added to the counter in Week II Calls field259of call record871because it was connected to the San Diego shop during the week of Dec. 24–31, 1993.

Since in this instance, database manager28did not create single-entity calls reports, database manager28in step470, calculates the value of a summary field Total Calls field260. Database manager28adds the values stored in Week I Calls field251(“1,092”) and Week II Calls field259(“231”) in call record870, and stores1,323in Total Calls field260. In the same manner, database manager28calculates 2,431 as the value of Total Calls field260of call record871. In step475, database manager28calculates the values for Week I Percentage field261and Week II Percentage field262. Since Aamco asked that its Boston shop be considered as a base, database manager28calculates the difference between week I calls for the two shops (“delta”), divides this delta by the number of calls for the base Boston shop (stored in Week I Calls field251of call record870), expresses this number as a percentage, and stores it in Week I Percentage field261. In this example, the difference between week I calls of the two shops is 1,567−1,092=475, and 475/1092×100%=43.5% for the San Diego shop (registered in Week I Percentage field261of call record871). The week I percentage for the Boston shop is 0% because it is compared against itself. The values in Week II Percentage fields262are calculated in the same manner as the values in Week I Percentage fields261described above. Based on this insight that there were 2.7 times more calls requesting the phone number of the San Diego shop than the Boston shop during the last week of December 1993, management of Aamco Transmissions might spend more advertising dollars promoting the Boston shop than the San Diego shop.

It would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the information assistance calls in a single-entity calls report and a multi-company calls report could be broken down into time groups different from those presented in single-entity calls report500and reports200and800. For example, the information assistance calls can be analyzed on a monthly or quarterly basis. In addition, the system of the present invention is capable of comparing patterns of information assistance calls not only on an entity-by-entity basis but also on a department-by-department basis. For example, Wal-Mart can request analysis of only the information assistance calls requesting the phone number of its health and beauty department at a certain business entity, i.e., store, and compare it with the same department of its competitors located within a certain distance of its stores.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous other arrangements which embody the principles of the invention and are thus within its spirit and scope.

Finally, information/call centers21through27are disclosed herein in a form in which various functions are performed by discrete functional blocks. However, any one or more of these functions could equally well be embodied in an arrangement in which the functions of any one or more of those blocks or indeed, all of the functions thereof, are realized, for example, by one or more appropriately programmed processors.