COSMOCOM PARTNERS WITH COMPUTER ASSOCIATES ON HELP DESK/CALL CENTER INTEGRATION

Integrated Technologies Provide Complete CRM Solution Without Traditional Telephone Equipment

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., MARCH 29, 1999 – CosmoCom today announced a technology development partnership with Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) through which CosmoCom will integrate its CosmoCall solution with CA’s Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk, Paradigm Enterprise Edition and ServiceIT Workgroup Edition. The new solution will help organizations reduce costs and simplify traditional call center technology in the help desk environment.

Through the partnership, the two companies will provide a complete Web and telephone-based multimedia call center and customer relationship management solution. The integrated product, which consists of software and industry-standard computer equipment, does not require circuit-switched telephone equipment or costly Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) middleware typical of call center technology.

The integration between Computer Associates’ help desk products--which provide open, extensible and scalable end-to-end help desk functionality including call tracking, knowledge base and Web interface functions--and CosmoCall, which provides Integrated Voice Recording (IVR), automatic call distribution, CTI middleware functionality and live communication via the Web.

Clients will benefit from reduced support costs, quick problem resolution, improved customer satisfaction and effective implementation of increasingly critical operational service level agreements (SLAs). The Web interface and advanced knowledge tools simplify help desk activities and streamline IT problem resolution.

CosmoCall enhances the value of the Web-based self-service interfaces of CA’s Help Desks by providing the option of live assistance within the Web site. Users can open and resolve problems through the Web-based interface. For additional assistance, a live multimedia connection to a help desk analyst can be established with a simple mouse-click. CosmoCall queues and routes these requests to the appropriate person. Analysts immediately see the caller’s information and the description of the problem or issue. CosmoCall also provides the same intelligent queuing and routing for e-mail messages.

The integrated solution works seamlessly with existing telephone call centers to "Webify" help desk operations. CosmoCall also provides a complete telephone solution, a state-of-the-art alternative to circuit-switched automatic call distributors, which eliminates the need for telephone switches and CTI middleware.

The system is completely computer-based. Telephone callers can press keys to identify themselves and select a problem area, and analysts get the same "screen pops" for phone and Web calls.

"Unicenter TNG’s Advanced Help Desk Option and the entire family of CA Help Desk applications are not only leaders in the Help Desk arena, but have the ability to work as an integral part of the total enterprise management solution," said Steve Kowarsky, CosmoCom’s EVP. "We are delighted that CosmoCall is now associated with these industry-leading solutions and with CA’s quest to extend the value of these products by expanding its scope through creative partnerships such as this."

Paradigm Enterprise Edition and the Advanced Help Desk Option are industry-leading business intelligence help desk applications that provide comprehensive enterprise solutions for total automation and service delivery management. ServiceIT provides complete call management and tracking facilities. By automating support and troubleshooting processes, ServiceIT helps organizations reduce the cost of IT operations, speed problem resolution and pinpoint chronic problems. The support staff’s enhanced efficiency translates into improved uptime and a greater return on IT investments.

"We’re pleased to offer our clients and channel partners this added functionality to CA’s Help Desk applications," said Brian Shemilt, CA’s vice president of development partner programs. "By using CA technology, CosmoCom is creating one of the most advanced multimedia, Web-enabled call center solutions today."

In addition to providing this integrated solution, CosmoCom last April became a Jasmine development partner. Through such strategic liaisons with CA, CosmoCall enables the integration of live communication into many CA applications and application tools, which already provide total enterprise-class solutions for e-commerce and help desk operations.

CosmoCom, founded in 1995, addresses a market opportunity within the Internet and Web revolution to provide a cost-effective way of restoring the "human touch" that might be lost as more consumers and businesses replace traditional sales and service with Internet-based electronic commerce. As one of the first companies to recognize and respond to the need for a new generation of Internet-friendly call center technologies, CosmoCom is both a technology and market leader in its field. Its patent-pending product CosmoCall™ is revolutionizing electronic commerce and electronic customer care by integrating live multimedia communication with Web and other network-based applications while supporting traditional telephone-based access. CosmoCom was founded by former senior executives from Comverse Technology, a leading telecommunications equipment manufacturer with more than $600 million in global sales.

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