VIRTUAL CALL CENTERS -- CHANGING PARADIGM

By Ari Sonesh, CEO - In analyzing our advertising program with Google, we have discovered that "Virtual Call Center" is the most searched term in our industry. So what makes Virtual Call Centers so hot? I believe that several global trends and market forces are changing the call center landscape, creating a migration from a single call center entity, a silo, managed as a cost center, to a strategic business, becoming a competitive tool for the enterprise contributing to its profits. In the following article I will try to explain what these forces are and how they are propelling the trend of "virtualization" of the call center. 

Probably the most powerful market trend is globalization. As the international commerce barriers are falling, we see companies seeking out new international markets for their products. Enterprises need to offer services to a wide range of international clientele, and need to offer these services in many languages. The business must utilize language-skilled global manpower, wherever they are. The need to "centralize" this often far-flung global workforce is being met through the implementation of distributed virtual call centers.

A recent Yankee group report claims that VoIP technology creates more efficient data routes to seize full advantage of dispersed agents in a virtual call center. Contact centers with packet switched technology could generate cost savings of 7% from additional utilization.

Global competition forces companies more than ever to watch rising costs, while at the same time improving quality. With regard to call centers, these objectives can only be met by: a) employing high quality personnel; b) optimizing the use of the scarce manpower resource in the most cost effective way; c) lowering operational costs. 

To address the personnel issue, companies are looking at offshore, near shore, and home-shore (home agent) options. Furthermore, companies are also looking to involve those employees that normally are not part of the customer service process, to bolster their workforce during peaks and emergencies, and to tap into the specialized knowledge already vested in many employees. 

The only feasible way to achieve the goals of cost containment, maximum quality, and full utilization of a skilled workforce, is to build a Virtual Call Center. 

Savings are realized not only through the employment of low cost work force, but also through the more efficient operation of technology. Network based, multi-tenant, hosted or self hosted call center technology is a key enabler for lower cost operations. Enterprises can now build one platform and utilize it for all customer service applications within the enterprise. This arrangement provides several benefits: the one-time purchase of cost-effective technology, the ability to support the technology with a smaller, highly-focused team, and the ability to create one application and roll it out immediately and uniformly across many geographical locations. Additional savings can be realized when the technology is acquired as a service directly from the service provider. This strategy allows the business to focus on its core competencies while providing maximum flexibility. On-demand models allow the business to pay only for what they use. 

Yet another requirement for a successful business in today's marketplace is the ability to rapidly respond to ever-changing markets, where the swift roll out of new products and services is imperative. Such responsiveness mandates rapid call center setup to support new offerings. In the traditional silo, the per application "purchase-build-operate" model, the rollout time for an application is far too long for today's business needs. To address this, businesses need to either acquire the services directly from a service provider, or set up an internal, multi-tenant, multi-application platform that is readily available for any new challenge in any location. All that's needed is to set up a new "tenant" on such a platform, and a new call center can be ready for operation in matter of minutes. 

All these options would not be possible without the enabling technology. The proliferation of the IP networks and bandwidth makes virtualization feasible, and leads to the introduction of IP call centers. CosmoCom is very well positioned to take advantage of these market needs and this paradigm change. CosmoCom's technology and architecture is built from the ground up to create virtual and hosted call centers. The technology is field proven, as evidenced by the many telecoms now offering these benefits to the market around the globe, and the many organizations now doing internal hosting. Furthermore, CosmoCom also supports this paradigm change through its flexible on-demand business model.

 COSMOCOM SHINES AT SECA IN PARIS

Six Partners Displaying CosmoCall Universe Technology
at Europe's Largest Contact Center Show

CosmoCom will be very well represented at the SeCA show in Paris, which opened today with six different partners featuring CosmoCom technology in their exhibits, including international giants France Telecom, British Telecom, and Microsoft, and European players Overlap, Phone Control, and Akio.

Many of the exhibits focus on CosmoCom's strengths in hosted platforms and multimedia, reflecting the company's global leadership in multi-tenant platforms for service providers. France Telecom's booth at SeCA will highlight its Contact Multicanal offering, a hosted contact center service based on CosmoCom's platform, with special emphasis on the video call center. British Telecom also shows its CosmoCom-based hosted service, which is called MCC or Multimedia Call Center. Both BT and FT are also channels for CosmoCom technology in more traditional premise-based call center applications--BT with its award-winning contact-center-in-a-box product, Contract Central, also featured at SeCA.

Microsoft and CosmoCom enjoy a multi-faceted relationship, with much of the attention at SeCA going to the integration between Microsoft CRM and CosmoCall Universe™. Overlap, the well-known IBM reseller and integrator that is now also active in the hosting area, will be joining Microsoft and CosmoCom in the Microsoft booth, and demonstrating its own hosted service offering of these two products in their integrated form.

Phone Control will be showcasing its hosting service aimed at offshore call center operations in Tunisia, Morocco, and other countries in northern Africa. Phone Control offers a complete solution comprised of its efficient and cost effective IP Network Optimization Protocol links to the region, its own telemarketing package and CosmoCom's hosted contact center. Phone Control's offering lets its customers stick to what they do best - recruiting, training, and managing the people, and selling the service.

Finally, Akio, one of Europe's premier e-mail management application providers, will demonstrate its just-announced integration with CosmoCall Universe. Akio's outstanding natural language artificial intelligence engine provides automatic or suggested responses to emails with amazing accuracy. Combined with CosmoCom's multimedia automatic call distribution and interaction history tracking, the solution is unmatched as an all-media contact center platform for service providers and enterprises alike.

"We are thrilled that CosmoCom is so well-represented at the show," said Ari Sonesh, CosmoCom's Chairman and CEO, "reflecting our strong determination from the beginning to be a global company, and the continuous effort we have invested in the European market. Our SeCA presence with so many outstanding partners conveys the message that CosmoCom is a valuable partner, one that contributes to the success and prosperity of the companies that work with us, large and small." 

BUSINESS SPENDING ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES 
HITS $132 BILLION, SAYS INSIGHT RESEARCH

A March, 2005 study by Insight Research reveals that four specific vertical industries were responsible for more than $132 billion (over 60%) of corporate telecommunications spending in 2004, with more than $144 billion in spending projected by 2008.

Insight Research further states in their market analysis report "Telecom Services in Vertical Markets 2004-2009" that the four vertical industries (Wholesale Trade; Financial, Insurance and Real Estate; Professional Business Services; and Communications) in fact accounted for 69% of corporate telecommunications spending by year end 2004.

The study goes on to state: "The mergers now reshaping the telecommunications industry signal an armistice in the recent price wars, but the fact remains that the big carriers' basic products are perceived to be commodities that should be purchased strictly on price. The only way to rise above of the next price war is to move away from a generic 'one-size-fits-all' service offer, and begin defining vertical marketing strategies. Vertical marketing allows telecom service providers to competitively differentiate their services with industry-specific solutions, get their costs in line by focusing on niche opportunities, and squeeze revenue from those business sectors with historically high telecom expenditures." 

Insight's study further reports that "68 percent of the carriers' business wireline service revenue is still attributable to voice, a commodity service that allows little differentiation. When telecom providers focus on vertical market solutions, however, they move away from the commodity voice sale and toward higher-margin, value-added services, the report says. The vertical approach to marketing strengthens customer loyalty by developing closer links to the customer's core businesses. "

 A PEEK AT COSMOCALL UNIVERSE 4.4.1

The upcoming release of CosmoCall Universe 4.4.1 will highlight some very exciting new product features and enhancements, among which are:

CosmoTracker, providing interaction history of all client communications, organized by account, contact, case and activity. CosmoTracker supports all media and is fully integrated within the CosmoAgent.

Outbound Dialing Enhancements, such as mass automated outbound voice communications, which will deliver pre-recorded messages and provide full interactive IVR sessions and an "opt-out" to the Agent. Another enhanced outbound dialing feature is preview and progressive dialing. 

Web Agent enhancements will also be featured in 4.4.1

 SPOTLIGHT ON CRMnext

As a follow up to our story in the March edition of CosmoChronicle entitled "CosmoCom Sponsors India Show with VSNL", we would like to share with our readers the following brief profile on CRMnext the company, and their product of the same name. 

CRMnext is a full-fledged, on-demand CRM solution that is available in nine countries across the globe. In addition to providing a complete set of CRM capabilities, CRMnext has especially strong tools to measure competitive performance, analyze lost sales, and forecast revenue, all with powerful data visualization that requires little special effort from the user. It also includes an advanced business process integration and enforcement engine, into which CRMnext has incorporated several best practices models. The quality and completeness of the offering make it worthy of consideration by any organization looking for a product of this kind.

In India, CRMnext has recently partnered with the TATA Indicom Enterprise Business Unit (TIEBU), the country's leading telecom service provider, which also offers hosted contact center solutions based on CosmoCom's platform.

To help its prospective customer understand the power of on-demand solutions, TIEBU wanted to showcase an integrated offering that included both the CosmoCom-powered hosted contact center solution and the CRMnext offering. Using CosmoCom's integration guide, the CRMnext team performed its fastest ACD integration ever, taking just 3 hours. The innovative integration was showcased at Contact Center Asia '05 (as mentioned in last month's CosmoChronicle), and was very well received by attendees.

COSMOCOM LAUNCHES ECOCOSM CONSULTANT PROGRAM

Now that multi-media has become the norm in contact center, and with contact centers themselves being virtualized through on-demand delivery, CosmoCom has initiated a program to reach out to contact center consultants worldwide. The program’s aim is to equip top notch consulting professionals with the tools they’ll need to make educated evaluations and recommendations of CosmoCall Universe-based solutions to their clients. The program costs nothing to join, and the benefits are numerous:

• Participate in periodic webinars to learn the ins and outs of why CosmoCom’s all-IP CosmoCall Universe is making life easier and less expensive for companies just like your clients 
• Gain access to CosmoCom’s CosmoNet, our extranet designed expressly for you
• Receive regular news briefs with unique call center stories that will be relevant and of interest to your clients 
• Gain access to our account teams when you need help with a client opportunity
• Get referrals from CosmoCom to clients seeking consulting services 
• Participate in our annual CosmoWorld user forum at a discounted rate
• Communicate your status to your clients with logos, press releases and other marketing materials 
• Gain access to advanced technical seminars, training and complete product documentation

If you are a call center consultant and would like to learn more, please see our CosmoCom EcoCosm Consultants page. Or if you know a call center consultant that could benefit from this program, please pass this invitation on to them to join our program

 BITS & PIECES: SOME VOIP FACTOIDS

Twelve percent of businesses have already deployed VoIP and another 29 percent are likely to do so this year, according to a new Harris Interactive survey. In its just-published "2005 Telecommunications Report," the market research firm found that 87 percent of business decision-makers are familiar with the technology. In contrast, VoIP lacks mind share among consumers. The survey found that only 36 percent of consumers as a whole are aware of VoIP and only 9 percent of them currently use the technology. Of those consumers not using VoIP, 36 percent said they are likely to do so within a year.

Forty-three percent businesses that are likely to deploy VoIP this year expect to see telecom savings reaching or exceeding 21 percent to 40 percent. Satisfaction is high, with 95 percent of businesses using VoIP expressing some level of satisfaction with their service. Among consumers using the technology, 84 percent expressed satisfaction.

A recent Yankee group report claims that VoIP technology creates more efficient data routes to seize full advantage of dispersed agents in a virtual call center. Contact centers with packet switched technology could generate cost savings of 7% from additional utilization.

NEW MEMBERS OF THE COSMOCOM FAMILY

CosmoCom Hong Kong

Justin Ng
Based in our Hong Kong office, Justin Ng joined the CosmoCom global family on April 1st as Regional Sales Manager in Asia. Formerly with Avaya, and NICE in APAC, Justin brings with him to CosmoCom a proven track record of experience and success as a business professional…along with his fluency in English, Cantonese and Madarin Chinese

TRADESHOW NEWS: COMING ATTRACTIONS

	SeCA April 12 - 14, 2004 Paris Expo Porte de Versailles - Hall 4 Paris, France http://seca2005.tarsusgroup.com   CosmoCom Technology will be featured at the following booths: Microsoft Exhibit Booth E39- E45 France Telecom Exhibit Booth D40 British Telecom Exhibit Booth E21 PhoneControl Exhibit Booth E47 – E49 Overlap Exhibit Booth E39 Akio Exhibit Booth C48 – D47
	SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT VON Canada April 19, 2005 Metro Toronto Convention Centre Toronto, Ontario Canada http://www.voncanada.com  Panelist: Tom Chang, Senior Director, Sales Engineering Topic: Update on Call Center use of VoIP  When: Tuesday, April 19, 1:45 - 3:00 p.m.
	SICCAM May 12th to 14th Hyatt Regency Hotel Casablance, Morocco CosmoCom will be with partner PhoneControl
	SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT Speech World/IP Contact Center Summit May 24-26, 2005 Westin Park Central Dallas, TX USA http://www.tmcnet.com/speech-world Presenter: Mark Lepko, CosmoCom VP Sales, the Americas Topic: IP Breathes New Life info the Virtual Contact Center (CCT-01)  When: Tuesday, May 24, 9:00 - 10:00am Topic: Establishing Internet Telephony/VoIP to Developing Countries (CCS-04)  When: Tuesday, May 24, 1:30 - 2:30 pm
	RECORDED WEBINARS
	Hosted Contact Centers Driving New Revenues for Outsourced Providers   Took place November 10, 2004 Find out more and view recording
	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
	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