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CosmoCom Extends Its Video Contact Center Technology; Interactive Voice and Video Response With 3G and Other Videophones Creates Revenue Opportunities

Posted on: Tuesday, 15 November 2005, 12:00 CST

CosmoCom, the Contact Center On-Demand(TM) specialist, today announced that it has enhanced the video capabilities of its flagship contact center product, CosmoCall Universe(TM). The patented, all-IP contact center platform, which has always supported videophones, now supports Interactive Voice and Video Response (IVVR) features for full video self-service applications. IVVR enhances the familiar Interactive Voice Response (IVR) self-service environment with video content to accompany the audio messages. IVVR is already in use in the U.S. in a call center serving the hearing-impaired community.

IVVR enables video menus, which allow faster and more accurate navigation of the self-service environment. IVVR also enables video content, which not only enriches the self-service environment, but also turns caller hold time into an advertising revenue opportunity with engaging and entertaining video messages. For an informative look at IVVR and the video call center in action, see http://www.cosmocom.com/video/videoCallCenter.asp.

IVVR is already operational at one of CosmoCom's flagship video call center customers, Communication Services for the Deaf (CSD), which provides Video Relay Services (VRS) to the hearing-impaired community. VRS uses video interpreters to facilitate telephone communication between hearing people and hearing-impaired people using sign language.

"For our hearing-impaired callers, IVVR is not a luxury, it's a necessity," explained Benjamin J. Soukup, president and chief executive officer of CSD. "It's the only way we can offer the kinds of greetings and caller options that most call centers provide with IVR. But the enriched environment of video and audio enhances the experience of hearing callers as well."

Creating an IVVR application on CosmoCall Universe is now as simple and straightforward as creating IVR, using the included GUI service creation tool, CosmoDesigner. As the front-end of a contact center, the enriched video self-service environment may satisfy many callers without live agent participation. When calls are routed to an agent, the agent receives all available information about the caller and the caller's needs. IVVR can be implemented as part of a complete video call center, or it can be used simply to enhance the self-service capabilities of a traditional telephone-only call center environment.

"The world is increasingly moving toward conversational video that was once seen as futuristic," said CosmoCom CEO Ari Sonesh. "The convergence of new video-enabled communication devices like the latest 3G mobile handsets, and the availability of broadband Internet access, are fueling the trend. A telephone company's customer service for its own videophones just wouldn't seem right if customers couldn't see the rep when they called for help. As callers grow accustomed to videophones and video call centers, they will no longer be satisfied doing business with people they can't see, or doing telephone self-service without visual menus and video presentations," Sonesh continued. "Video will become 'table stakes' in the contact center industry much sooner than most people think, and CosmoCom will be there to meet the rising demand."

Robin Goad, Datamonitor's Senior Analyst in the contact center industry, lends some support to Sonesh's view: "Broader acceptance of the video call center may well be stimulated by 3G mobile technology," Goad said. "Agile vendors try to spot the market trends early and position themselves to benefit. On the other hand, investing too much, too soon, in not-yet-popular technologies can be very risky. CosmoCom's incremental approach of adding IVVR to its existing and field proven video capabilities is a logical response to the trends Datamonitor is seeing in this market, and should give them a credibility advantage if the space does take off."

About CosmoCom

CosmoCom(TM), The Contact Center On-Demand(TM) specialist, empowers organizations to achieve higher levels of customer service while reducing costs, by supporting their enterprise-wide contact center needs from one all-IP, virtual contact center platform, self-hosted or hosted by a network service provider. Its flagship product, CosmoCall Universe(TM), is the multi-tenant hosting platform of choice for top tier network service providers worldwide, and is fast becoming a favorite for their own customer care as well. The platform unifies all communication channels, including telephone, videophone, email, voice mail and Web chat/voice/video/collaboration, and also unifies the contact center functions of automatic call distribution (ACD), interactive voice and video response (IVVR), computer telephony integration (CTI), predictive, preview, and progressive dialing with campaign management, recording and quality monitoring, interaction history, and administration and reporting. CosmoCom customers include service providers such as BT, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, NTT, EagleACD, and many others, as well as Fortune-class enterprises throughout the world. For more information, please visit www.cosmocom.com.

Source: Business Wire

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