COSMOCOM AND MICROSOFT BUSINESS SOLUTIONS ANNOUNCE RELATIONSHIP

Create Complete "Contact Center in-a-Box" for OEMs and NSPs

MELVILLE, NY – May 20, 2003 – CosmoCom announced today that CosmoCall Universe, its Customer Interaction Management (CIM) platform including Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) is now tightly integrated with Microsoft Business Solutions CRM, an application developed by Microsoft® Business Solutions, a leading provider of business applications designed to help small, midmarket, and corporate account segment businesses become more connected to customers, employees, partners and suppliers. CosmoCom, the leading provider of next generation, IP-based contact center technology, is a strong proponent of the "Contact Center in-a-Box" concept. Also known as CIRM (Customer Interaction and Relationship Management), these systems provide both CIM and CRM with a built-in level of integration previously available only through expensive custom projects.

MS-CRM + CCU Integration Click for Larger Image

CosmoCom sees Microsoft CRM as an ideal partner application for its universal access contact center product, CosmoCall Universe™. The integrated technology is available in three forms: (1) a premises platform, mainly for OEMs wishing to offer a CIRM product; (2) a network service provider (NSP) platform integrated with the planned NSP version of Microsoft CRM; and (3) an NSP platform configured to integrate with premise-based instances of Microsoft CRM. The integrated solution was demonstrated recently to a select group of telephone company executives from all over the world at Microsoft Connections: An Executive Summit for Service Providers.

"We are pleased to be working with CosmoCom, along with our Microsoft NSP colleagues, to address a number of exciting worldwide OEM and NSP opportunities," said Jos de Laat, director business development at Microsoft Business Solutions. "CosmoCom’s strong presence in the NSP market is demonstrated by its status as a Managed Partner of Microsoft’s NSP group. Its NSP presence, its proven viability as an OEM technology, and its extensive experience in CIM and CIRM, will provide our mutual customers with dramatically increased functionality that will maximize the return on their investment."

To read the full release, visit www.cosmocom.com/pressreleases/PressReleases2003/pr05202003.htm

Today, we can see an important growth of net surfers: in January 2003, Mediametrie estimated this number around 20.1 million in France versus 11.9 in May 2001. At the same time, the number of companies equipped with a web site allowing relation is always growing. If the contact mode stays the telephone, companies have to diversify and control their relation mode.

During the SECA 2003, France Telecom launched "Contact Multicanal", the premium offer which allows companies to process their incoming contacts in a unified way.

"Contact Multicanal", the multi-channel interaction offer based on IP infrastructure, permits the unified management of all modes of interaction: phone, Internet, chat, e-mail, and call back.

Companies have an intelligent tool to collect and distribute all incoming contacts, managing availability of operators and their skills, on mono- or multi-site configurations, and isolated agents. The solution drives the activity of multi-channel call center by simplifying the administration. The company can evolve towards a multi-channel call center with operators able to handle all ways of contacts from the same tool.

With "Contact Multicanal", the company differentiates itself from rivals by multiplying the access means to its services: online purchasing, assistance, maintenance....Secure, evolutionary and modular, the solution leans on a hosted platform: fast to activate, economic, and without material investment for the company. Gains for companies are:

• Outstanding service quality - by giving to the customer a rapid answer that is pertinent and customized.

• Costs management - by increased productivity with integrated and unified management of all contacts; investments are saved to change easily its showcase site to a transactional site and, like this, multiply the number of useful contacts.

• Activity management by statistics tools and performance analysis to adapt the strategy to customer knowledge and value.

The solution is totally administrated by France Telecom, which installs and masters all service elements, from network access to collection, passing by exploitation.

Example: France Telecom have tested and used for its account the Contact Multicanal solution with France Telecom Formation (FTF), an internal training organization, which as a result, drastically increased the use of e-learning.

FTF, which assumed around 30% of its trainings on e-learning mode, have observed that 70% of e-learning students, alone, stopped their training before the end. FTF chose Contact Multicanal to assist them better. With a simple click on a call button on the consulted Web page, students are put in relation with a pedagogic support or a specialist of the followed training contents. The interaction starts by chat mode to qualify the demand and is transferred to the right person. Equipped with a microphone or a headset, the student will be able to communicate with his support via IP.

Christian MADEC, FTF Contact Center project Director, noted a net increase of training follow-up and an increased satisfaction of the students. Besides the assistance in real time, they appreciate the pedagogic relation with added collaborative work tools.

"Contact Multicanal" is a new service of France Telecom I-contacts solutions.

  
HOW DO MOBILE OPERATORS BENEFIT FROM NGCC?

What can mobile operators do to stem the tide of margin erosion associated with selling commodity transport services? One important solution is to provide new high-margin value-added services to mobile business users, who have unique needs that are ideally served out of the mobile network. Value-added services help to attract lucrative business users by providing these customers with solutions that are differentiated on value, not on price. Such services increase customer loyalty and thereby reduce the churn that is endemic in the industry.

One group to target for such services is the mobile work group. Mobile workers operate in a workplace that is frequently “on the move” – hourly or daily. They often can provide coverage for one another to service their clients’ needs. A typical example is a group of field support specialists that services computers, appliances, or other products that are located on customer sites. Real estate agents comprise another group that can benefit from such a service. This paper explores the special needs of the mobile business, what a mobile carrier needs to do to meet these needs, and how the carrier can benefit greatly in the process.

For your exclusive 'Friends of CosmoCom' copy of our new Mobile Business Services white paper:

• View: www.cosmocom.com/referrals/wpMobileBiz_view.asp 

• Download: www.cosmocom.com/referrals/wpMobileBiz_dwnld.asp 

HOW DO OUTSOURCERS BENEFIT FROM NGCC?

CosmoCall Universe: the Contact Outsourcer's Choice

Outsourcers Are Facing Many Challenges:

• You are passing up business opportunities for insourcing and co-sourcing because your ACD infrastructure does not cost effectively support multi-location operation, or multi-tenant operation with customer self-administration.
   

• You have to purchase ACD infrastructure for your peak usage. With your campaign-oriented business, you need a way to pay only for your actual usage.
   

• You need an open development platform, not an end user technology. But that doesn't mean you can afford to be reinventing the wheel every day.
   

• You are spending a lot on telecommunications services and routing systems designed to load-balance and transfer traffic among different locations.
   

• You would prefer to create smaller regional centers. Home Agents could reduce your staffing costs. But your current technology base makes it hard to manage these options efficiently and cost effectively.
   

• Your customers want new services, such as managing contacts initiated via Internet and e-mail channels.
   

• At the same time, you need to reduce operating cost and complexity, not increase it by integrating diverse systems with brittle CTI interfaces and creating many different administrative interfaces and overlapping databases.
   

• Your old outbound-only Predictive Dialers are increasingly difficult to work with, expensive to support, and non-compliant with new abandoned call regulations. Isn't there a better and truly blended inbound/outbound solution?

The Future of Contact Center Technology--Today.
Go beyond the limits of legacy technologies and create optimum customer care environments with CosmoCall Universe, a next generation contact center platform designed to meet service providers' needs for high performance, high availability, and high capacity.

For more information on how NGCC technology can benefit you, visit www.cosmocom.com/Solutions/Outsourcers.htm

 SECA A GREAT SUCCESS FOR COSMOCOM
 

The SeCA show in France was a great event for CosmoCom this year. Visitors saw CosmoCall Universe in action at the booths of CosmoCom partners BT Global Services (formerly BT Ignite) and France Telecom. BT demonstrated their CosmoCall-powered Multimedia Contact Centre solution at their booth as well as during their two workshops, "How to optimize the ROI of your Multimedia Contact Center" and "How to transform your existing contact center into a virtual contact center." Additionally, CosmoCom co-sponsored the Casques d'Or (Golden Headset) award, which was awarded to the best contact center and customer relationship companies in France and in Europe (see photo at left). In addition to presenting the seminar, "Technical Challenges of Contact Centers," France Telecom chose SeCA as the forum for the release of their new offering, "Contact Multicanal," which is based on CosmoCall Universe. For more information on Contact Multicanal, see their press release above.  SeCA is the largest call center and customer relationship management exhibition in France, attracting more than 300 exhibitors and 10,000 visitors. The event took place on May 20th-22nd at the Paris Expo Hall 4 in Porte de Versailles, France. For more information, visit http://salonseca2003.tarsusgroup.com/

THE COSMOCOM STORY – WATCH THE VIDEO NOW!

Have you visited CosmoCom's website recently? If you did, you may have noticed a big change to the home page. We've listened to your comments and have been hard at work to make our site work harder for us – and for you. The result is a home page that is not only more graphically pleasing, but one that more quickly gives visitors a better overview of who we are and what we do. In the weeks to come, we will be reorganizing some of the menus to further streamline the site.

One exciting addition to the site is the Explore Our Universe section. This new section is a series of buttons that allow visitors to get and stay acquainted with CosmoCom and our products. Here you can find our popular Flash Product Tour, our Newsletter, "Contact Us Live" and the brand new streaming version of the CosmoCom corporate video. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to click on "Our Story" and take a look.

We hope you find the new look pleasing and user-friendly, and we welcome your comments!

 

COSMOCOM IN THE NEWS

Link2 Deploys CosmoCom Contact Center
RealMarket - June 4, 2003

CosmoCom Allies with Microsoft CRM
Communications Convergence - May 22, 2003

Microsoft to Offer Contact Center in a Box
CRMDaily.com - May 21, 2003

DID YOU KNOW?

CRM services to grow by 20 percent in 2004
"We expect more success in CRM projects through 2004 and a parallel maturation of clients' understanding of CRM. Clients that deferred CRM evolution in the last couple of years will be more inclined to move ahead, resulting in CRM services growth of 10-12 per cent in 2003 and 20 per cent in 2004," says Michael Doane, Vice President with META Group's Professional Services Strategies advisory service. "In the near term, it is up to CRM consulting firms to capture and demonstrate business value through CRM."
-Meta Group, May 2003

Grid Computing Could Boost Telecom Providers, Insight Research Says
Worldwide Grid spending is predicted to soar from $250 million in 2003 to $4.89 billion in 2008. In a new report, "Grid Computing: A Vertical Market Perspective," Insight Research says that Grid technology will likely form the foundation of a fourth wave in IT, and present new opportunities for the battered telecom industry, the report says. As enterprise customers enable Grids on their existing corporate networks, they will require new services from telecom providers to manage additional Grid traffic. Service providers should view Grid and on-demand computing technologies as drivers of demand for telecom services.
-The Insight Research Corporation, Grid Computing: A Vertical Market Perspective 2003-2008.
http://www.insight-corp.com/5_27_03.html

Filipino call centre seats double for third year in a row
The Philippines' Board of Investments expects the local call centre industry to double in size this year as the government steps up its efforts to promote the Philippines as an Asian teleservices hub.
Gregory Domingo, Managing Head of the Board of Investments says that the number of outsourced call centre seats per shift would hit 30,000 by the end of this year - 100 per cent growth over last year's 15,000 seats. Seats totaled 7000 in 2001.
Domingo said there are about 37 foreign and Filipino players in the call centre sector, serving Fortune 500 companies. These include AOL, Convergys, Sykes, eTelecare, People Support, CyberCity Teleservices, Ambergris, InfoNXX, Vocative and C3.
Statistics show that call centre projects registered with the BoI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) jumped 181 per cent over a two-year period to US$30 million last year from only US$10.8 million the year before. In the first four months of 2003 investments in contact centre projects registered hit US$36.1 million.
-Customer Contact World, May 19, 2003

Spending on computer-telephone integration (CTI) and call centers will continue to increase at double digit growth rates in 2003, reaching almost $4.4 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association.
Call center spending will grow at a 13.3 percent compound rate and will reach $12.3 billion in 2006. Customer interaction software, the largest component of the CTI industry, with 2002 spending of $2.3 billion, is forecast to increase to $4 billion in 2006, growing at a compound annual rate of 15.1 percent.
-Telecommunications Industry Association, May 2003

TRADESHOW NEWS: COMING ATTRACTIONS

TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH THE JARGON? READ THESE!

Call Center Technology Demystified: The No-Nonsense Guide to Bridging Customer Contact Technology, Operations and Strategy. Published June 2002.

The Ultimate CRM Handbook : Strategies and Concepts for Building Enduring Customer Loyalty and Profitability 
A hands-on guidebook from Accenture for building a globally responsive, customer-driven enterprise, Published September 2002.

Java in Telecommunications: Solutions for Next Generation Networks. Published June 2001.

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