|
A VIEW FROM THE CORNER OFFICE
Year in Review
By Ari Sonesh, CEO
-
2005 was an incredible year of profitability, organization
building, growth in revenue, and growth in market share. Our revenue
from 2005 operations grew about 70% over 2004, with most of the
growth from software license sales.
2005 was especially important as CosmoCom maintained its momentum
in increasing market share. We have continued to demonstrate our
leadership in the hosted space by adding first tier telco Telefonica
Spain and several smaller but aggressive CCOD providers. We received
a very large order from a mobile operator in Mexico. We signed up
one of the largest outsourcers in Germany, and implemented a call
center for one of the largest airlines in the world. We will
announce the names behind these wins as soon as possible. In
addition, many of our telco customers chose 2005 to for the
commercial debuts of their offerings based on CosmoCom's innovative
technology. NTT Communications in Japan, and VSNL in India have
officially launched their CCOD services. 2005 was also a year of
significant increase in business for many of our existing
customers/channels such as France Telecom, BT, Telefonica Germany,
DT, PLDT, CHT, KT and others.
2005 was a year of great progress in attracting new partners,
such as IBM, Telefonica Soluciones, T-Systems, Datacraft, Tatung,
and Intelleca. Significant progress was also achieved with our
technology partners, as evidenced by a new joint project with
Voxpilot, the introduction of UniFrame based on Microsoft's Customer
Care Framework, and the launch of our integration with Microsoft CRM
3.0. Additionally, we integrated and implemented an ASR application
utilizing Nuance, and CosmoCom also sponsored Broadsoft and RightNow
user groups.
If we look at the profile of our customers, we see that the
market is moving in several directions. CCOD is taking off,
outsourcers are finding value in VoIP, and last but not least, the
enterprise is moving to virtual call centers enabled by VoIP. Nearly
all of our premises installations are virtual, geographically
distributed contact centers. Furthermore, CosmoCom's offering is
very successful in the telecom's call centers, enabling telcos to
win twice…first by utilizing the CosmoCall platform to offer call
center technology as a service from their networks, and second by
implementing the technology for their own customer service needs.
Looking at the market needs from a functionality point of view,
there is no doubt that VoIP as a virtualization enabler is Number
One. Immediately following is the need for true multi-tenancy which
enables service providers to offer the technology as not only a
service, but also enables the enterprise to implement many
applications on one platform. Other highly attractive features
include ease of integration, self administration, ability to easily
reprogram call flows, and broadly inclusive functionality such as
IVR, CTI, and recording.
In 2005 video (finally) entered the call center space, creating
lots of new interest. While CosmoCom from its inception offered
video call centers, we have this year added IVVR (Interactive Video
and Voice Response), which not only supports all video applications
in general, but is interesting in particular to the mobile 3G
operators who are very aggressively introducing video calling
applications. In fact, a year-end surprise for CosmoCom was the
order we received for a Video Call Center from a Tier 1 US fixed
line carrier. We'll disclose the name as soon as we can.
2005 was
also a year of building our organization. Ronald Rubens joined
CosmoCom in early 2005 to manage the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and
Africa) region. By end of the year, Ronald's contribution was so
evident that management elected him the MVVP (Most Valuable Vice
President). 2005 also marked the first full year for Mark Lepko, our
VP Americas, who, along with his team, overachieved and sold
significantly more that his target. Congratulations and thanks to
Mark and Ronald! In 2005, CosmoCom opened an office in The Netherlands, now
our EMEA headquarters. Several regional directors joined CosmoCom
this year. Mike Goode came on board to manage the UK, Wolfhart Kirschke joined us to manage Germany, Tetsuo Hotchi joined to manage
Japan, and in the final days of the year, Kiran Maini joined to
manage India.
We have also grown our technical capabilities. Eyal
Manor was promoted to VP Software Development, and Natan Stein is
managing our International Technical Operations. Under the
supervision of CTO Steve Dellutri, we have begun to build up our
Product Engineering organization, and Ilya Malinovsky joined us as
Director of Product Management. In the area of G&A I want to welcome Ting Shi, who joined us as
Assistant Controller. Of course we didn't just increase our
management capacity. Overall employee growth was about 5%.
To
summarize, CosmoCom is entering 2006 as a very strong company, ready
for any challenge, and expecting aggressive growth. Our goal for
2006 is to surpass the growth we experienced in 2005, while
maintaining both our profitability and the strength of our balance
sheet.
In closing, I would also like to mention the upcoming
"CosmoCommunity" in May 2006 here on Long Island. Everyone is
invited to this milestone event, and I hope to see all of you here.
Read more about it at
http://www.cosmocommunity.com

COSMOCOM STRENGTHENS PRESENCE IN
CENTRAL EUROPE
Appoints Wolfhart Krischke
Managing Director
In response our success and growth in Europe we recently
announced that Wolfhart Krischke will serve as Managing Director for
the DACH region. DACH, literally Germany (Deutschland), Austria, and
Switzerland (Schweiz), also includes the Czech Republic, Hungary,
and other important emerging economies. DACH is home to many of the
world's leading corporations and is recognized as one of the most
dynamic and economically significant regions in Europe. Mr. Krischke
will lead the CosmoCom organization for the region from CosmoCom's
offices in Frankfurt, and reports to Ronald Rubens, CosmoCom
Regional Vice President for EMEA.
"Our growth in Germany alone in conjunction with major players
such as DTAG (Deutsche Telekom AG) and Telefonica Deutschland
mandated the addition of a strong leader like Wolfhart Krischke to
the EMEA team," explained Rubens. "Krischke brings more than 20
years of telecommunication and contact center experience with a
strong track record in sales and sales management, channel
management, broad international knowledge, and also project
management. This rare combination of skills and experience equips
him to be a leader and a major contributor to CosmoCom's growth in
his region."
To learn more about the announcement and Wolfhart Krischke, read the full press release at:
http://www.cosmocom.com/pressreleases/PressReleases2006/pr01242006.htm

GLOBAL
MEETINGS KICK OFF 2006
For a week in early January, CosmoCom employees from around the
globe once again gathered for our annual Global Sales Meeting (GSM)
and Global Sales Engineering Meeting (GSEM). The events were
designed to bring our widely distributed organization together under
one roof to exchange ideas and information on our products, the
needs of our customers, and the continuous improvement of our
technology. As in years past, energetic exchanges focused on
customer needs and the growing market for Contact Center On-Demand.
|
 |
|
|
The week began with the GSM at which the salespeople shared
presentations on proven successes and key opportunities. Guest
speakers from two of CosmoCom's most valued customers made the trip
to Long Island to give the group firsthand accounts of their
experiences with our technology. Representing Telefonica, Spain, was
Mr. Jorge Astray, CRM Business Development Manager. Telefonica's
mission statement is "to become the largest and best integrated
telecommunications group in the world" in terms of customer
orientation, innovation, operating excellence and professional
services, and CosmoCom is very proud of the confidence they have
placed in the ability of our technology to help them achieve their
goals.
Our other guest speaker at the GSM was Mr. Segar Annamalai, CIO
of Westwood/Alta Colleges in Denver. With college admissions at
record levels, institutions such as Alta Colleges Inc, the parent
company of Westwood College, are turning to new technologies to
effectively manage the enormous volume of telephone calls, emails
and Web-based inquiries they receive. With 18 colleges located
across five states and a growing online campus, Alta chose
CosmoCom's CosmoCall Universe Version 4.5 to enable it to better
manage communications and raise the level of its responsiveness to
current and prospective students.
Following on the heels of the GSM, was the GSEM (Global Sales
Engineering Meeting) where our international and domestic sales
engineers held two days of more technically oriented meetings,
discussing customer and prospective applications in detail, and
seeing demos of planned new product features that are still in
development.
At the close of the sessions, the general consensus was that the
GSM/GSEM had been a resounding success. The meetings proved to be a
welcome sounding board, while the evening team building events were
a great success in fostering camaraderie and a healthy dose of
competition…all in all a true jumpstart to a new year!
|
|
|
COSMOCOM UK ON THE MOVE
For
CosmoCom UK, a move to larger a facility was in keeping with their
growing organization.
After researching various possible locales, the choice was narrowed
down to the area of Reading in Berkshire, the heart of the UK
"silicon valley". The new building is state-of-the-art, located
within Green Park, an easily accessible high tech office park which
has the UK's largest wind turbine -- a useful landmark when directing
visitors. It shares the neighborhood with other high tech companies
such as Cisco, LogicaCMG, Microsoft, and Oracle.
The first week of January was chosen for the actual move. Packing,
moving and unpacking took several days. Now CosmoCom Ltd has settled
in nicely. The new premises include a fully-equipped customer demo
room/board room, sales offices, an engineering lab, and management
offices. Other onsite facilities include conference and training
rooms that will accommodate up to 100 people. Complete with a ground
floor atrium, a full cafeteria, and an outdoor terrace, the building
boasts a delightful parkland setting with lakeside views conducive
to a lunchtime stroll.
Reading has direct access from Heathrow Airport by a frequently
running Railbus connecting to Green Park, which is close to the M4
motorway, the UK southern road network, and London.
No doubt this strategic move has been well received by the CosmoCom
UK team. We wish you much success in your new home!

COSMOCOM'S CEO HONORED AT AWARDS LUNCHEON
On January 13th, The Long Island Capital Alliance (LICA) held
it's Business Person of the Year awards luncheon. LICA has been
stimulating business development on Long Island for over twenty
years, and, through their organization, has been providing
entrepreneurs and investors an opportunity to network in a
business-friendly environment. At their annual awards luncheon, the
Herman Fialkov award is presented, and this year, CosmoCom's CEO,
Ari Sonesh, in recognition of his pioneering leadership of CosmoCom
that has made it one of the
region's fastest growing companies, was one of three honored
finalists. Congratulations to winner David Hershberg, CEO of CosmoCom customer
Globecomm Systems.
Herman Fialkov is one of the founding members of LICA. A list of
his investments reads like a timeline for the technology boom on
Long Island. He is also recognized as one of the first investors in
Intel Corp. Mr. Fialkov was on hand for the presentation of the
awards bearing his name.

DON'T MISS COSMOCOMMUNITY 2006
Register Now to Learn,
Network, Share...

The
new year is upon us and CosmoCommunity 2006 is shaping up nicely.
Earlybird registration is still available for this world-class
gathering of everyone who provides, implements or uses CosmoCom
technology and related or complementary technologies. Be sure you're
part of this unique opportunity to learn, network and share at Long
Island's beautiful Hyatt Regency Wind Watch Hotel, set in a
stunning, resort-like setting with an 18-hole championship golf
course.
Sponsors are lining up, and a growing base of attendees is
looking forward to the event that takes place May 17-19, 2006. At
CosmoCom HQ, we're finalizing an agenda with exciting speakers and
three breakout tracks offering something for every kind of attendee.
For the technically inclined, we've just added several days of
complimentary technical training at our Melville training center for
registered attendees (subject to availability) in the days before
and after CosmoCommunity 2006 at no charge to attendees.
For more information and to register online please visit
http://www.cosmocommunity.com
 PARTNERS
SPOTLIGHT: VOICEGENIE
Speech Enabled VoIP Contact
Center
By
Leron Polani, VP Business & Corporate Development
- The simple, SIP-based integration of CosmoCom and VoiceGenie
solutions delivers the benefits of open standards-based speech
applications and an all-IP universal access contact center system to
deliver improved customer satisfaction, reduced costs and new
revenue opportunities in contact centers.
The
VoiceGenie Media Platform supports sophisticated VoiceXML
speech-enabled contact center applications that allow the caller to
control their interaction using their spoken voice. For telecom
service providers this can include applications such as directory
assistance, change of address, order status and automated prepaid
calling. Enterprise applications include shipment status, account
balance and password reset.
In the telecom call center, the VoiceGenie Media Platform
delivers speech-enabled call center applications with CosmoCall
Universe™. This is a powerful way for telecom providers to
differentiate themselves in a highly competitive marketplace by
delivering compelling content and services to their customers beyond
basic customer care. It also enables service providers to leverage
Contact Center On-Demand™ and offer speech-enabled applications to
their enterprise customers, improving both their customer care and
their bottom lines.
By providing speech recognition technologies easily integrated
with CosmoCall Universe™ Enterprise Call Centers, the VoiceGenie
Media Platform improves ROI while increasing caller satisfaction.
Greater self-service automation rates reduces queue hold times,
leading to a better overall service level.
To learn more about VoiceGenie, please visit
www.voicegenie.com

MEMBERS CHOICE AWARDS VOTING CLOSES SOON
If you haven't voted in the ContactCenterWorld Members Choice
awards, there is still time, but not much. Voting has been extended
to February 17, but that will be here before you know it. Why not
take a moment to cast your vote. Please visit ContactCenterWorld.com
at the URLs below to vote for and honestly evaluate CosmoCall
Universe in the "Best Multi-Channel Contact Center Solutions" and
"Best ACD/Switch" categories. It takes only two minutes. Plus, your
vote automatically enters you in a drawing for a $1000 USD cash
prize.
We hope we can count on the support of our satisfied customers in both
categories. Thank you in advance
|
|
|
BITS & PIECES: SOME VOIP FACTOIDS
Hosted VoIP Services Market Growing
The market for hosted VoIP services will grow more than 10-fold over the
next four years, reaching $1.27 billion by 2009, finds a report by market
research firm In-Stat. The report shows the hosted VoIP market's tremendous
potential, says David Lemelin, the report's author and an In-Stat senior
analyst. Lemelin notes that the hosted VoIP market's primary drivers are
cost savings and the enhanced feature sets available from VoIP applications.
From VoIP Magazine
Yankee Group reports VoIP service to be a fast growing segment, predicting
its leap to almost $3.3 billion by 2010 from $840 million at the end of
2005. Dividing the market into three categories, Yankee projects:
- Hosted VoIP to increase to $1.2 billion by 2010 from $233 million in
2005
- VoIP over VPN (Virtual Private Network) to increase to $1.25 billion by
2010 from $268 million in 2005
- VoIP real-time QoS bandwidth to grow to $822 million in 2010 from $338
million in 2005
The research firm expects that the overall U.S. retail business VoIP
market will increase at a CAGR of more than 31 percent between 2005 and
2010, and overall the percentage of enterprises' off-net phone traffic
traveling over IP will grow to 12.5 percent in 2010 from 2 percent in 2005.
For more on this study read the
VoIP Magazine article

NEW MEMBERS
OF THE COSMOCOM FAMILY
CosmoCom Headquarters
Ronald Schwarz joined CosmoCom in December as the newest member of
the Technical Documentation team.
Ronald has worked as a technical writer in telecommunications and data
communications applications in Israel. He also has worked for companies
developing products for chip manufacturing quality assurance,
telecommunications, data communications, IT - including video surveillance,
and video distribution.
CosmoCom UK
Martin Granger joined the UK/Eire sales team at the beginning of
the year. Formerly with Avaya (AT&T / Lucent Technologies), where he worked
for over twelve years, Martin brings with him extensive sales and global
account management experience.
CosmoCom Israel
Lev Roiterstein has joined CosmoCom, working in the the Israel
office as Sales & Markets Development Manager for the former Soviet Union
countries. Lev holds a Masters Degree in Computer Engineering and brings
with him a vast experience in the CRM market He has managed successful
Amdocs and ClarifyCRM sales to the former Soviet Union countries.
CosmoCom India
Kiran Maini joined CosmoCom in early January as Country Manager for
India. He will be based at our new office-in-progress in New Delhi, India
and brings with him 10 years of experience and a successful track record in
Sales Leadership roles. Most recently Kiran was the Sales Manager of South
Asia for Cincom Systems and previously with Siemens. Kiran holds a Bachelor
of Engineering Degree and Masters Degree in international business.

TRADESHOW NEWS: COMING ATTRACTIONS
|
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT
Internet Telephony Conference and Expo
IP Contact Center Summit
January 24th -- 27th, 2006
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/voip-06
Panelist: Roman Lewis, AVP Central and Western US,
CosmoCom
Topic: "IP Contact Center Shootout"
When: Wednesday, January 25th, 2:00 - 2:45 p.m.
|
|
|
Middle East Call Centre 2006 Exhibition
Jan 29th - 30th, 2006
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Dubai, UAE
http://www.insights-me.com/mecc2006/
Make sure to visit CosmoCom and Intertec Systems for a demo of
CosmoCall Universe.
|
|
|
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT
Spring 2006 VON
Purple Apps
March 14th - 17th, 2006
San Jose, CA, USA
http://www.von.com
Panelist: Steven Kaish, VP, Technical Operations,
CosmoCom
Topic: "Purple Apps"
When: Friday, March 17th, 1:20 - 2:45 p.m.
|
|
|
Customer Management Asia Congress 2006
March 21st - 23rd, 2006
Berjaya Times Square Hotel & Convention Centre
Malaysia
Booth 45
http://www.customermanagementasia.com/
CosmoCom and partner DataCraft will be demonstrating CosmoCall
Universe in booth 45. Plan to visit us. |
|
|
CosmoCommunity 2006
May 16th - 18th, 2006
Hyatt Wind Watch Hotel and Resort
Hauppauge, NY,
USA
CosmoCom's premiere partner and user event.
Learn more
and register. |
|
|
|
RECORDED WEBINARS
|
|
|
View recordings of our recent Webinar events
including "Hosted Contact Center for Outsourcers", "Contact
Center On-Demand" and "Telecom Customer Care"
|

|
|