Call Center Solutions On- Prem vs. Off- Prem Virtual Roundtable

1. Call Center Solutions On-Prem vs. Off-PremVirtual Roundtable Moderator: Bill Murphy, Founder of CIO Executive Series and CIO TV Special Guest: Martin Cusack, President PoliTECHStrategies Sponsor: Curt Island, President TelVersant Group cisland@telversantgroup.com October 26, 2010 – CIO Executive Series

2. Call CenterHosted vs. On-PremiseSeptember 2010 On-Premise vs. Hosted PoliTECH Strategies, Inc

3. Triggering the CIO Mind! • Call Center Solutions: OffPrem, On Prem, Hybrid • Cost analysis options and functionality benefits of on-prem and off-prem • solutions • Vendors to be Discussed: Cisco, Avaya, Genesis, Transera, CosmoCom • Full and Partial Control Options: Handoffs to outsourced agents or W2 • agents • Work at home based agents • Multi-platform support • Functionality: Date look up, home based agents, IVR (cloud and on-prem), • VoIP to the desktop, screen pop, recordings, training • Outsourcer issues like last mile charges

4. Roundtable Flow • Consultant Background • Contact Center Questions • Business Objectives • Functional Components • Infrastructure • Hosted vs. On-Premise • Pros and Cons Hosted and On-Premise • Discussion Points • Contact Center Industry • Questions

5. Martin Cusack • 20 years experience in the telecommunications industry. • Subject matter expert in contact center design and implementation. • Extensive contact center experience with Avaya contact center solutions. • Supported multiple contact center projects for healthcare, financial, retail and government sectors. • Analyzed post implementation call center statistics and evaluated businesses service level agreement (SLA) compliance. • Developed and supported RFQ and RFP business evaluation of telecommunication and contact center systems. • Worked on the development and deployment of new products within the telecommunication market.

6. Questions - Business Objectives • Is this an existing or new call center? • Is the business phone system changing also? • What is the business objective? • What type - Customer Service, Sales, Technical (Help Desk)…? • Who’s the call center supporting internal or external customers? • What size is the call center? • What are the reporting requirements – Service Level Agreement (SLA)? • Where are the agents? • One or Multiple Locations, Home Agents, or Outsourcers • What communication methods are needed? • Contact Center or Call Center • Voice, Multimedia (Chat, Email, or Video) • Inbound, Outbound, Blended CTI, or Self-Service

7. Questions – Functional Components • What core requirements are necessary? • What management systems? • What supporting systems? • What other systems?

8. Questions – What is the Contact Center infrastructure • Is your network prepared? • Network • Are you prepared for VOIP - Quality of Service (QOS)? • H323 or SIP stations and/or soft phone client? • Trunking • Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) • Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) - H323 and/or SIP • What servicing applications will support the call center? • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) • How will they integrate with the call center platform? • Are there partners or outsources working with the call center? • What systems are they using? • How will they integrate?

9. Questions – Hosted vs On-Premise • Capital investment vs. operating cost? • What fits your business and financial requirements? • What your technology adoption – bleeding or cutting edge? • Return on investment? • What is the expected return on investment? • How quickly does your business refresh your technology? • Service and support maintenance? • What in-house technical resources are required? • What are the hardware/software maintenance costs? • Security • What security is required? • What about compliance?

10. Evaluation – Hosted Cons • Long term contracts • Financial risks for early termination • Less ability for potential customization • More security and compliance concerns • More dependence on the vendor for all support • Possible delay in response time compared to in-house resources • More dependence on the carrier infrastructure and network • Challenges with integrating into existing systems. • Call center 100% dependent on reliability of hosted service provider Pros • Lower or no capital investment • Quicker startup with broad feature implementations • Less need for in-house technical resources • Hybrid option to combine hosted and on-premise • Built-in survivability/disaster recovery planning and implementation • Possible transition to an on-premise system with less impact on business • Investment protection with vendor provided upgrades • Cost-effecitve for SMBs • Less financial risk

11. Evaluation – On-Premise Pros • Leverage current technology investments • Greater security for communication and data • Proven technology leaders with enhanced features • More ability to customize the systems • More seamless integration with service applications • Option for integrating hosted services and features with on-premise systems • Quicker response time with in-house technical resources Cons • Higher capital investment • Longer startup and implementation • Possible duplication of system and expense to support disaster recovery and business continuance • Greater need for expensive in-house technical expertise • Greater cost for businesses with season peaks • Possible single point of failure • Less ability to leverage features from enhanced systems

12. Discussion Points • Large number of fly-by-night hosted providers • Concerns for proper training from service providers • How to compare features and abilities of providers • Costs overruns and change management • Pricing models • Concurrent seats • On-demand “pay as you go” • Hybrid - leveraging hosted for “Intelligent Call Routing”

13. Contact Center Industry

14. Contact Information Martin Cusack Politech Strategies, Inc mcusack@politechstrategies.com 716-983-1886 (ph)