INNOVATION IN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

By Ari Sonesh, CEO - I'd like to share my thoughts on the current economic situation and how it relates to CosmoCom.

All around us, we see and hear the news of global economic turmoil. There is talk of a recession in many parts of the developed world and a slowdown in the growth of the emerging regions. The market is likely to remain unstable for some time, and there is little visibility of the depth and duration of the downturn.

History does repeat itself, and we learn from history that great technologies and products can prosper in an economic downturn. Innovation does not stop at times like this. Businesses need more than ever to seek innovative value creation strategies. New technologies can drive some of the changes that will lead our economies back to prosperity, and companies like CosmoCom that can demonstrate a compelling value proposition and a fast ROI will be of interest to customers even during a downturn, perhaps especially then.

What specifically will drive innovative value creation, and how does this apply to CosmoCom?

• Customer Communications is a critical component that can have a significant impact on value, both positive and negative. Companies will continue to invest in improving their communications infrastructure. CosmoCom offers great value in this area.
• Companies will prefer operating expenses over capital expenditures, i.e. OPEX over CAPEX. CosmoCom's Contact Center On-Demand partners, Telcos and other service providers, who offer the technology on a monthly rental basis will see a major increase in their business.
• Companies will have to improve the integration between their communication channels and their business processes. Ease of customization and integration is one of the hallmarks of CosmoCom's technology.
• Companies will look into utilizing their human resources beyond the traditional call center employees to support the customer service process. CosmoCom's ability to integrate with existing PBX infrastructure, and its new ability to offer a complete standalone solution in our upcoming Version 6, positions us very well to support this trend.
• Companies will be looking for tools that support their mobile workforces. CosmoCom's CosmoGo client for Smart Phones includes mobile, customer-facing staff members in the managed customer service process.
• Companies will focus on short term return on investment (ROI), preferably 12 months or less. CosmoCom has shown repeatedly that its technology creates a fast ROI, through call center consolidation (Consolidation 2.0), resulting in better service levels, lower technology Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), lower operating costs, and more efficient staff utilization.

The economy may slow down, but CosmoCom will not! Of course, we'll be watching expenses like all prudent businesses, but that won' t slow our growth or our commitment to provide the best contact center platform available. When the downturn is over, CosmoCom will emerge as a true winner, stronger than ever.

CENTENNIAL OF PUERTO RICO TAPS COSMOCOM FOR GROWING MOBILE AND BROADBAND OPERATION IN PUERTO RICO

CosmoCall Universe Picked for Scalability and Ease of Integration

Centennial, a leading mobile and broadband provider in Puerto Rico, has selected CosmoCom to help it sustain the high levels of customer service that differentiate the carrier in its markets. In Puerto Rico, the company has over 427,000 wireless subscribers, plus more than half a million broadband access lines. Centennial's selection was the outcome of a systematic and thorough evaluation process. The initial rollout will be for the 400 agent positions in Centennial's contact center for wireless and wireline customer account, billing and technical support.

"Centennial has a proven local market strategy built on four pillars: a great network, enhanced retail presence, highly-trained associates and a strong brand," said Gustavo Maurizo, CIO Centennial of Puerto Rico. "CosmoCom's platform strengthens each of these pillars by enhancing the reachability of our contact center agents and the knowledge of all the workers who play a role in the customer satisfaction process".

Read more about Centennial's reasons for choosing CosmoCom technology.

CONSOLIDATION 2.0 VALUE PROPOSITION RECORDING IS LIVE

On Tuesday, October 28, CosmoCom EVP Steve Kowarsky conducted a live web cast on Contact Center Consolidation 2.0, promoted by FierceVoip and moderated by editor Doug Mohney. While we've done similar webinars this topic before, this presentation was completely re-worked with a greater focus on value proposition and TCO.

For those of you who missed the live webcast or want to share it with a colleague, a recording is now available. Even if you've seen our prior Consolidation 2.0 webcasts, have a look at this one. Steve has introduced new, thought-provoking content, and many more illustrations of the ROI of Consolidation 2.0. The presentation really highlights the dramatically different TCO between traditional, integrated call center technology and our unified, consolidated platform.

View the recording on demand.

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS CALL CENTER TECHNOLOGY

Attendees of Contact Center Day 2008 at the Burg Frankenstein.

It may seem strange that this article has a Frankenstein angle, since this issue of CosmoChronicle hits inboxes on Halloween. What does CosmoCom have to do with the famous modern fable? Not much, although if you've seen some of our integrated vs. unified graphics over the years, I'm sure the ugly, stitched together monster would be another great metaphor for the integrated opposite to CosmoCom's unified solution.

The CosmoCom - Frankenstein connection is the recent "Contact Center Day 2008" hosted by CosmoCom Germany in cooperation with Microsoft in late September. The one day gathering was held at the historical “Burg Frankenstein” near Darmstadt, Germany where consultants and partners from different parts of Europe gathered to discuss the latest developments in IP Contact Centers, SaaS and more. CosmoCom's Steve Dellutri (CTO), Ronald Rubens (EMEA VP) and Wolfhart Krischke (Managing Director Central/Eastern Europe) along with Robert Brands of Microsoft kept the event moving along and made sure that guests had a frightfully fulfilling day!

COSMOCOM ON THE GO

Where We've Been and Where You Can See Us Next

You just read about our meeting at the Frankenstein castle in Germany, but we've also been busy in other parts of the world...

Earlier this month we had a very successful outing as a Silver Sponsor of the RightNow Summit in Colorado, hosted by technology partner RightNow Technologies in the US. Our show equipment barely made it back to HQ before we prepped it and put it on the road again, on its way to VoiceCon San Francisco (See below).

In the Middle East, for the fourth consecutive year, CosmoCom joined forces with partner Intertec Systems to exhibit at GITEX Technology Week 2008 from 19-23 October in Dubai. GITEX is the most important IT event in the United Arab Emirates for government, enterprise and SMB solution providers. Together CosmoCom and Intertec conveyed the Call Center Consolidation 2.0 value proposition to a large and very interested crowd. Many were interested in our innovative solutions addressing their large projects with hundreds of seats and multiple sites across this huge region.

VoiceCon takes place from 11 - 12 November at the Moscone Center North in San Francisco, CA. Be sure to see us in booth 439 and use this discount coupon to receive a free exhibit only pass or to receive a discount on full admission.

At about the same time in Japan, CosmoCom will exhibit at one of the largest contact center shows in Asia.  From 12 -14 November, meet with representatives of CosmoCom Japan in booth A-15 of Call Center Demo and Conference 2008 to discuss your contact center needs. 

Finally, CosmoCom will wrap up 2008 by exhibiting at  HP Communications World 2008 in Vienna, Austria from 9 - 11 December. We'll have more on that exciting event in our November CosmoChronicle.

We hope to see you at one or more of the upcoming shows.

More on future events in coming issues and on our events page.

NEW MEMBERS OF THE COSMOCOM FAMILY

CosmoCom Germany

Alexander Vitanyi, has joined CosmoCom as a Systems Engineer in Germany. Alexander has development and programming experience in a wide array of languages across several platforms, especially in the area of web applications in companies such as ZIV, bayoo.net, 3Soft, Prostep and Diehl-Avionik-Systeme.

CosmoCom Israel

Shaked Karta recently became a full-time member of the Israel QA automation team after serving as a intern in the Quality Assurance department  for the past year. During this time he was part of the QA Automation team writing new software to further automate the CCU testing process. He completed his B.Sc in Computer Science from Tel Aviv University.

CosmoCom Japan

Yoshihiro Nomura, has joined CosmoCom's Japan office as a post sales support engineer. Nomura-san has rich experience in the contact center industry including tenure as a technical support specialist for Aspect Japan.

TRADESHOW NEWS: COMING ATTRACTIONS

	VoiceCon San Francisco 2008 November 10 - 13, 2008 San Francisco, CA, USA http://www.voicecon.com/sanfrancisco/ Visit CosmoCom in Booth 439
	Call Center Demo and Conference Japan 2008 November 12 - 14, 2008  Japan http://www.callcenter-japan.com Visit CosmoCom in Booth A-15
	HP Communications World 2008 December 9 - 11, 2008  Vienna, Austria
	Call Center World - 2009 February 16 - 19, 2009 Estrel Convention Center Berlin, Germany Booth Hall 1: 1A16 www.callcenterworld.de
	RECORDED WEBINARS
	View recordings of our Webinar events including "Consolidation 2.0", "Hosted Contact Center for Outsourcers", "Contact Center On-Demand" and "Telecom Customer Care"

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	TECH SUPPORT UPDATES
	CosmoCom has replaced SupportNet with a new improved support site, for customers and partners, called CosmoCom Online Technical Support. You can find the latest documentation, Hot Fix bundles, Microsoft updates that have passed QA for CosmoCall Universe deployment, discussion groups and more. In addition, you can now access your support tickets online. If you have not yet obtained your secure login information, please contact your CosmoCom representative or send support an email.

 

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