SAN JOSE, Calif. - Nov. 2, 1999 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced that the Cisco Customer Interaction Suite is now available to customers. The suite includes the new 3.0 release of Cisco Collaboration Server, Cisco Media Blender, Cisco Media Manager (formerly Media Router) and the debut of Cisco eMail Manager. Cisco's expansion into the customer interaction software marketplace is based on software developed by WebLine Communications Corp. Today, Cisco also announced that it has completed the acquisition of Burlington, Mass.-based WebLine, which is a part of the Applications Technology Group (see today's related announcement). The Applications Technology Group develops communications management software to enable Cisco partners and customers to create solutions based on open Internet standards.
"The WebLine acquisition expands Cisco's application platform to bring Internet-based technology to sales, marketing and customer support environments. The delivery of the Cisco Customer Interaction Suite signifies one of the most comprehensive Web collaboration and e-mail response management systems available on the market today from a single vendor," said John C. Thibault, senior vice president, Applications Technology Group, Cisco Systems. "The Cisco Collaboration Server is in its fourth major release and has been on the market for more than two years, when interactive e-commerce and online customer service was in its infancy. Now with the availability of Cisco eMail Manager, we are one of the only vendors to enable our customers to communicate with their customers using the contact mode of choice: the Web, telephone, fax, chat, e-mail or voice-over-IP."
"Customer contact solutions of the future will need to manage the customer across multiple channels and systems in the most robust and seamless way possible," said Robert Mirani, research director, Customer Relationship Management Strategies, The Yankee Group. "The Cisco Customer Interaction Suite is a leading example of the types of systems companies will need to use in the future."
Cisco's entrance into the e-commerce customer interaction and telephony integration marketplace gives companies the ability to improve customer care and intimacy by increasing the percentage of Web site visitors who turn into buyers, reducing the number of abandoned shopping carts and improving the "stickiness" of Web sites for greater customer retention. With the 1999 holiday shopping season expected to reach $8 billion, up from $3.1 billion last year according to Jupiter Communications, there is significant immediate opportunity to increase revenue and reduce customer support costs.
The Cisco Customer Interaction Suite includes a complete family of products that enable companies to integrate their Internet commerce, service and telephony infrastructures to combine the personal value of human interaction with the information value of the Web. These products include:
- Cisco eMail Manager - an enterprise and service provider class solution for managing high volumes of customer inquiries submitted to company mailboxes or to a Web site. Based on customizable business rules, Cisco eMail Manager processes and tracks incoming messages, directs them to the right agent or support team, suggests relevant response templates and can send automated acknowledgements or more qualitative replies. A full-feature browser based interface provides agents with productivity tools to claim and read messages, view correspondence history, search the response libraries and collaborate on replies for more efficient, knowledgeable and personalized responses.
- Cisco Collaboration Server - Its breadth and depth of robust, comprehensive functionality has made it the leader for Web-centric, visual collaboration. Some of its new features include powerful application sharing, new caller collaboration technology, a collaborative white boarding capability and a software development kit for creating interactive e-commerce applications. These new features are added to existing rich functionality such as two-way page and application sharing, split screen comparisons, "Follow-Me-Browsing" for collaborative Web browsing, FormShare for sharing standard Web-based forms, FrameShare for sharing framed Web pages, text chat, file download, conferencing (one-to-many, many-to-many) and CyberSeminar mode for large online conferences with hundreds of participants.
- Cisco Media Blender - a platform for integrating multiple media types - including PSTN calls, interactive Web sessions, e-mail, text chat and voice-over-IP calls - and media-independent services within the customer contact center. It enables Cisco customers to integrate their existing telephony and e-commerce infrastructures with their Web-based customer interaction systems to provide a consistent, unified face to their customers.
- Cisco Media Manager - enables businesses or departments that do not have access to an Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) to connect their Web customers to highly-skilled sales and service representatives. Cisco Media Router works in conjunction with the Cisco Collaboration Server to deliver Web-based routing of contact requests.
The Cisco Customer Interaction Suite, together with Cisco ICM software, supports multi-site call center integration by enabling contact requests to be routed to the most appropriate site and agent located anywhere in the world.More than 100 companies are making human interaction a critical part of their Web presence with Cisco software. Some of these companies include AutoNation, Bose Corporation, eToys, Hewlett Packard Company, Lands' End, Precision Response Corporation, TeleSales, Inc., Trimark Investment Management Inc. and MCI WorldCom.
Pricing, Platforms and Availability
Pricing for the Cisco Customer Interaction Suite starts at $1,500 per agent seat. The suite is now available. Platforms supported include Windows NT, Sun Solaris and Linux.Cisco Systems
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