CosmoCom Expands Offering for Outsourcers with Flexible, IP Contact Center Solutions and Pay-Per-Use Pricing Options

Next-Generation IP technology enables ‘insourcing’ and ‘co-sourcing’ options with cost-effective pricing models

MELVILLE, NY – August 20, 2002 – CosmoCom, Inc. today announced an initiative to help contact center outsourcing firms expand business and generate new revenue. In addition to its support of traditional outsourcing solutions, CosmoCom now enables ‘insourcing’ and ‘co-sourcing’ service options with a cost-effective, pay-per-use pricing model. This allows outsourcers to now provide flexible services that were previously only available at a premium cost.

Based on CosmoCom’s all-IP contact center platform CosmoCall Universe, the outsourcing solutions can allow agents to work from any location that has Internet access. As a result, an outsourcer can provide full infrastructure and support services while offering customers the option to house all or part of the contact center operation within their own premises. This addresses quality and control concerns some customers may have for sensitive operations.

CosmoCall Universe technology enables a new pay-per-use pricing model that now makes these new solutions affordable. Unlike traditional hardware-based contact centers, CosmoCall Universe consists primarily of software that runs on inexpensive commodity hardware, greatly reducing initial systems investments. Further, CosmoCom offers outsourcers the option to pay for licenses based on actual usage of the contact center as opposed to the traditional model that requires significant expenditures on large, hardware-based systems of sufficient capacity to handle peak usage. With CosmoCall Universe, the technology infrastructure becomes an operating expense that is always covered by a profitable revenue stream rather than a capital burden on the enterprise.

"Outsourcing firms stand to gain a whole new range of customers who need contact center capabilities, but prefer to service calls on-premise with their own personnel. CosmoCall Universe enables this with next-generation IP technology that frees agents to work from any location connected to the network," said Ari Sonesh, CEO of CosmoCom. "This is ideal for enterprises that need customer care solutions and want to directly manage the agents – all without the expense of building and maintaining their own in-house contact centers."

‘Insourcing’ and ‘Co-Sourcing’

Insourcing is a solution where the technology infrastructure is located on the premises of the outsourcing firm, supporting a contact center located at the customer’s own location and staffed by the customer’s own on-site personnel. In some cases, an outsourcer may provide agents who are directly managed by the customer.

Co-sourcing is a solution for two-tier customer care service. It leverages an outsourcer’s customer care services but is supplemented by the customer’s on-site contact center. Calls can be distributed to either the customer’s staff or the outsourcer’s agents according to call type, skill requirement, shift or any combination of criteria. Premium customers and complex inquiries, for example, could go directly or be escalated to the customer’s own employees, while the outsourcer handles more routine contacts. Or the outsourcer may provide overflow services during the busiest times of a shift.

CosmoCall Universe enables insourcing and co-sourcing solutions through common IP network connections. The same IP technology enables outsourcers to easily blend inbound and outbound modes of operation, thus enabling more efficient utilization of the workforce. Further blending is supported with the multimedia, multi-channel options for customer interactions, including telephone, voice and video over the Internet, online chat, SMS messaging, IVR (Interactive Voice Response), fax and email. CosmoCall Universe’s multi-tenancy capabilities allow outsourcers to support multiple clients across multiple locations from a single platform.

CosmoCall Universe is a field-proven product that already powers a number of outsourcing firms worldwide. It is offered priced as a one-time buy, or on a per usage basis. For more information on why CosmoCall Universe is the platform of choice for many contact outsourcers, visit www.cosmocom.com/solutions/outsourcers.htm.

About CosmoCom
CosmoCom is the leading provider of all-IP, universal access contact center platforms. CosmoCom’s flagship product, CosmoCall Universe™, is a carrier-class system providing true next generation capabilities for mission critical contact center applications. CosmoCall Universe supports multi-channel customer interactions via telephone and Internet, live and message-based, fixed and wireless - in one high capacity, high availability, multi-tenant platform. CosmoCall Universe also enables service providers to offer network-based routing and pre-routing services to their contact center customers. Headquartered in Melville, New York, with offices and distribution partners throughout the world, CosmoCom has received an array of industry awards. For more information about CosmoCom, please visit www.cosmocom.com.

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CosmoCall Universe is a trademark of CosmoCom, Inc. Other companies and products mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.