FREE WEBINAR FROM LEVEL 3 AND COSMOCOM
"Hosted Contact Centers Driving New Revenues for Outsourced Providers"
Wednesday, November 10, 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time
Every outsourcer knows that many companies want to keep some of their projects in house. Until now, this was business that an outsourcer couldn't touch. Hosted services can change that, by providing a way to outsource the technology but not the people.
Now outsourcers can create a hosted contact center business that will provide compelling advantages for enterprises on the projects they want their own people to handle. They already have the staff, the relationships, and most of the skills they need to develop this new source of revenue at a small incremental cost.
On November 10, CosmoCom and Level 3 Communications will present a webinar to demonstrate how our complementary VoIP technologies can enable this business model and make an outsourcer’s launch of hosted solutions smooth and lucrative.
If you are a contact center outsourcer, this is an event you won’t want to miss. All interested readers of this newsletter are welcome to attend and are sure to find something of value. To register, visit http://www.cosmocom.com/special/CCODforOustourcers-webinar.asp?src=chron
COSMOCOM CUSTOMER RECEIVES 2004 GLOBAL CALL CENTER OF THE YEAR AWARD
CosmoCom congratulates its customer, Communication Services for the Deaf (CSD), on winning a 2004 Global Call Center of the Year Award! These awards honor customer contact centers that have made significant advances in improving technology, meeting or exceeding sales/service goals, decreasing turnover, and increasing productivity. Winners are selected by regional call center associations, under the auspices of the Incoming Calls Management Institute.
Established in 1975, CSD provides a myriad of communication services to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, including telecommunications relay services (TRS), which enable standard voice telephone users to talk to people who have difficulty hearing or speaking on the telephone, and video relay services (VRS), which allow the user to communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) with a live video interpreter via a computer with a video camera. The first to offer VRS, CSD’s service has been based on CosmoCall Universe technology since its inception. During VRS, the ASL user signs his conversation to a video interpreter, who voices the message to the hearing person via standard telephone and signs the voiced response back to the ASL user. This method allows ASL users to have more fluent conversations, in contrast with the slowness and the interruptions common to TeleTypewriter (TTY) calls. VRS technology has decreased the duration of the average relay call from the seven minutes and 45 seconds utilized by TRS to less than four minutes. More importantly, it provides a more natural interactive conversation. CosmoCom is pleased and proud to be an enabler of this valuable service to the hearing-impaired community. VRS is a fascinating application. We never anticipated this application, but we are glad that the flexibility of our platform has been making it possible.
Congratulations, once again, to CSD!
COSMOCOM SIGNS DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH 2GROW IN NETHERLANDS
Systems Integrator will Offer Complete Contact Center Solution
CosmoCom has signed a distribution agreement with 2Grow, a Netherlands-based systems integrator specializing in the contact center market. 2Grow will sell and provide integration services for CosmoCall Universe, CosmoCom’s unified contact center suite that includes multi-channel ACD, IVR, CTI, predictive dialing, multimedia recording, and administrative tools.
2Grow, which has extensive experience in providing the CRM application and contact center system integration, will now be able to provide a complete solution that includes both the contact platform and the CRM application platform in a pre-integrated package that can be placed in service much faster than traditional custom integration solutions at a lower total cost. 2Grow plans initially to offer a solution that includes CosmoCall Universe and Microsoft CRM.
The full release includes a quotation that explains why we think system integrators are increasingly interested in CosmoCom technology. To read the entire press release, visit http://www.cosmocom.com/pressreleases/PressReleases2004/pr10052004.htm
FIERCEVOIP HONORS COSMOCOM AS ONE OF THE "FIERCE 15"
EMERGING INTERNET TELEPHONY FIRMS OF THE YEAR
CosmoCom was selected as a member of FierceVoIP’s annual list of The "Fierce 15", honoring it as one of the top 15 emerging IP telephony companies for 2004. The Fierce 15 celebrates the spirit of being “fierce” – daring to be innovative and aggressive, even in the face of intense competition – and is awarded by FierceVoIP, an internationally recognized email newsletter covering the VoIP and Internet telephony industry. CosmoCom was selected from more than 300 VoIP companies based on company vision, revenue potential, quality of deals and partnerships, and competitive market position.
"We were especially impressed by CosmoCom’s global leadership in hosted call centers and its impressive list of major telco customers," said John Edwards, Editor of FierceVoIP. "The use of IP to enable hosting is a very significant innovation in the call center market. CosmoCom’s participation in the premises call center market via major OEMs like BT Contact Central, and its ownership of key patents for the IP call center, also contributed to its selection as a Fierce 15 company."
To read the complete news release, visit http://www.cosmocom.com/pressreleases/PressReleases2004/pr10122004.htm
COSMOCOM POWERS UNICONTACT FROM I-CONTACT SOLUTIONS
Unified Product Combines Contact Center and CRM
I-Contact Solutions, a CosmoCom partner and the leading system integrator for voice infrastructure and applications in the Asia Pacific region, is utilizing CosmoCall Universe as a primary component of UniContact, its new contact-center-in-a-box solution that combines customer interaction management (CIM) from CosmoCom with I-Contact’s own customer relationship management (CRM) application. This all-in-one approach enables companies to bring customer care operations on line more rapidly, at lower costs, and with less effort than ever before.
UniContact features unified queuing and routing of all customer interaction types, including telephone, email, voice mail, and web chat/voice/video/collaboration. It also offers a CRM designed specifically for contact centers, and a built-in IVR that is pre-integrated with all other components.
This press release is available at http://www.cosmocom.com/pressreleases/PressReleases2004/pr10262004.htm
COSMOCOM PARTNER, ORBIS, HELPS ECUADOR GET OUT THE VOTE
CosmoCall Universe System Processes 400,000 Requests in Four Days
When the government of Ecuador decided to increase voter turnout, they realized that a key component of their program was providing citizens with an easy way to find out where to vote. They envisioned citizens calling a phone number, entering their personal IDs, and hearing the details of where and when to vote. Orbis, a major call center services outsourcer for the U.S. market and long-time CosmoCom customer, was contracted by its Ecuadorian affiliate, National Call Center, to develop the IVR system to deliver this service. Orbis also provided live agents to help callers who could not manage the IVR.
The project presented a number of challenges. It required that the system provide the caller with five sets of data, including city, state, county, neighborhood, and the number of the table at the voting location. This information, as well as citizen identification numbers, resided in an Oracle database, which had to be integrated into the IVR. The IVR also needed to support 240 simultaneous connections. Each of the three telcos supporting the program wanted to keep its own traffic segregated from the others. Furthermore, the system had to be up and running within 10 days of the time Orbis was asked to provide the service.
Using CosmoCall Universe and CosmoDesigner, Orbis created the IVR dialogue with the Oracle database lookup. The CosmoCall Universe ACD was located in Quito, and three different gateways and Voice Communication Servers were used to accept traffic from each of the three telcos. Orbis agents, who were based in Guayaquil, connected to the calls via a dedicated IP link from Quito to Guayaquil and a multi-spectrum wireless IP network for the last mile. The entire project was completed within seven days.
The IVR system was an unqualified success. It received a total of 678,723 calls, with 400,000 arriving during the last four days of operation, all with 100% uptime. “We could not have created such a complex, robust system within such a short time without CosmoCall Universe,” stated Mario Bermudez, General Manager for Orbis in Ecuador. “The platform’s easy-to-use IVR creation tool, high integratability, and overall flexibililty - all of which are unprecedented in the industry - significantly contributed to the success of this system.”
COSMOCOM PARTICIPATES IN EUROPEAN LAUNCH OF SUPPORTFORCE.COM
On October 11, CosmoCom participated in the European launch of supportforce.com, a new service from salesforce.com, the dynamic hosted sales force automation company that had one of the most watched IPOs of 2004. Supportforce.com is a complete application for customer service and support that, like salesforce.com, is hosted and requires no premise-based software. Instead, customers access the browser-based application via the Internet. This mode of operation is a perfect match with the Contact Center On-Demand™ (CCOD) concept, pioneered by CosmoCom.
“We are very excited about the launch of supportforce.com, because it enables our service provider partners, who are offering CCOD services based on the CosmoCall Universe platform, to provide customers with an on-demand CRM via supportforce.com. The high integratability of both platforms easily enables this, regardless of the fact that each is hosted by a different service provider," stated Ari Sonesh, CEO of CosmoCom.
COSMOCOM PARTNERS TO SPEAK AT MAJOR CONFERENCES AROUND THE WORLD
CosmoCom is happy to announce that two of its partners have been selected to make presentations at leading call center conferences in November.
Factis is a Portuguese engineering and information technologies services company that provides systems and telecommunications solutions, as well as support services. Factis has secured a spot to speak at the Expo Call Center 2004 show, which takes place at the Hotel Marriott in Lisbon. The subject is “Advantages of IP in the Virtual Call Center Context” and will be presented from 10:15 to 11:00 a.m. on November 12. Factis will also exhibit CosmoCall Universe at stand 7.
Takachiho Koheki, a Japanese technology firm with extensive experience in hardware, software, systems integration, and cutting-edge emerging technologies, will host a workshop at the Call Center/CRM Demo & Conference in Tokyo, Japan. The workshop, entitled “What Can Be Solved by the Call Center, Facing the Era of IP Migration? – World-Proven Solution, CosmoCall Universe 2004”, will take place on November 18 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Workshop Room A-2 of the Sunshine City Convention Center. Takachiho Koheki will also feature CosmoCall Universe at booth G1.
If you are attending either of these shows, be sure to include these presentations on your list of things to do.
HIGH ATTENDANCE AT COSMOCOM'S CALL CENTRE EXPO BOOTH
 Attendees flocked to CosmoCom’s booth at the Call Centre Expo, which took place last month in Birmingham NEC, UK. A major exhibition and conference for the European call centre and customer contact markets, the Call Centre Expo enabled CosmoCom to demonstrate how CosmoCall Universe meets the contact center needs of a wide variety of organizations, including network service providers, outsourcers, OEMs, and enterprises. Visitors at the CosmoCom booth included representatives from Office Depot and Daimler Chrysler, as well as a number of other organizations seeking solutions for their call centers.
DELOITTE PREDICTS THAT TWO-THIRDS OF GLOBAL BUSINESSES
WILL DEPLOY VOIP TO THE DESKTOP BY 2006
A recent report from Deloitte reveals that by 2006 more than two-thirds of the largest "Global 2000" companies will have started deployment of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to the desktop. Desktop VoIP is the most complete form of VoIP, offering the greatest cost savings, flexibility, productivity, and process improvements.
According to the report, cost reduction is the overwhelming driver for VoIP among respondents, 84% of whom cited cost reduction as a key driver. Beyond cost, VoIP has the potential to transform enterprises' call centers, offshoring operations, and telecommuting tools.
CosmoCom finds itself in agreement with a lot of recent, very positive VoIP studies like these. While we support all possible configurations of circuit phones and VoIP phones, we have always championed VoIP to the desktop for all of the reasons cited by the Deloitte report. The CosmoAgent includes a complete softphone (desktop phone), and many of our customers have successfully deployed our product using a single appliance – the desktop computer – for both information and communication.
IN THE NEWS WITH COSMOCOM
Microsoft Hosting Newsletter
CosmoCom is the lead story in the Press Room section of the October 2004 edition of this newsletter. The article highlights how CosmoCom "pioneered the development of VoIP call center technology based on Microsoft servers” and points to Microsoft’s white paper entitled “Using Microsoft Technology to Build Carrier Grade Call Centers.” Published in June, the white paper describes how CosmoCom utilizes Microsoft server technology to architect a highly scalable, reliable, available, and secure multi-tenant platform in the most economical way possible. And, by doing so, CosmoCom was able to address the service provider’s need for a carrier-grade hosted contact center solution that could also be implemented cost-effectively, and support a compelling business case and ROI.
To download this white paper, visit
download.microsoft.com/download/d/b/9/db936756-c0c7-4982-a99e-49b40d291aa2/CosmoCom_WP.doc
Internet Telephony
CosmoCom has made the print issue of October’s Internet Telephony magazine with a story about Bezeq Online’s deployment of CCOD services based on CosmoCall Universe. Featured in the highly-read IP Contact Center Industry News section, the article concludes with a great quote from Bezeq Online's CEO, Etay Cohen, "We're out there all the time talking with call centers. While some want the traditional outsourcer model, others want to retain the agents while offloading just the technology headaches. The availability of CCOD gives us a more complete range of offerings to meet the needs of more customers.”
TRADESHOW
NEWS: COMING ATTRACTIONS
|
Telecom Israel 2004
November 8 - 11
Tel Aviv Fairgrounds
Tel Aviv, Israel
Booth 30
http://www.telecom-israel.com
Systems integrator, Tactix will demonstrate a live call center application featuring CosmoCall Universe in booth 30.
|
|
|
Hosted Contact Centers Driving New Revenues for Outsourced Providers
November 10, 2004
Find out more...
Join CosmoCom and Level 3 Communications for this informative webinar.
|
|
|
|
Call Center/CRM Demo & Conference 2004
November 18-19, 2004
Ikebukuro Sunshine City Convention center
Tokyo Japan
Booth G-1
http://www.callcenter-japan.com/
CosmoCall Universe will be featured at the Takachiho Koheki booth, G-1 (co-sponsored by CosmoCom and Stratus Technologies) where they will be demonstrating CosmoCall Universe on a Stratus ftServer.
Takachiho Koheki will also present a workshop:
When: November 18, 11:30 - 12:00
Where: Workshop Room A-2
Topic: What can be solved by the Call Center, facing the era of IP migration? - World proven solution, CosmoCall Universe
|
|
|
|
RECORDED TELECOM CUSTOMER CARE WEBINAR
Meeting the Telecom Customer Care Challenge
Reducing Costs and Enhancing Service with the IP-Based Virtual Call Center
Took place June 17, 2004
Find out more and view recording
|
|
|
|
RECORDED WEBINAR WITH DATAMONITOR
Why Contact Center On-Demand?
The Bright Future of a New Service Delivery Model
Took Place April 14, 2004
Find out more and view recording
|
|
