LONDON, UK, May,18 2000 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, announced that Allianz AG, a leading global insurance company, signed a memorandum of understanding establishing Cisco Systems as its worldwide strategic technology partner.
Allianz AG chose Cisco as a trusted advisor on eBusiness initiatives and as the worldwide strategic technology partner for its data/voice/video network. These initiatives concentrate in the area of customer care, electronic commerce and internal process improvements as well as the build-up of the necessary IT infrastructure foundation.
Dr. Friedrich Wvbking, CIO and member of the Allianz Versicherungs AG board, commented: "Cisco Systems is one of the few companies who have successfully embraced internet solutions for almost all of their business processes as the pillar of their day-to-day operations and Allianz AG is delighted to have chosen them as our strategic technology partner."
Doug Allred, Senior Vice President at Cisco Systems, added: "Cisco Systems is proud to collaborate with Allianz AG through strategic internet business solution advice based on our own experience and through deployment of an end-to-end eCommerce compliant communications infra-structure."
In today's global Internet Economy, businesses are working together to redefine competitive advantage and create value for customers, shareholders and partners. Working together in win-win situations is a key element of success. Cisco's leading-edge use of Internet solutions for eCommerce, customer care, supply chain management and employee services to substantially increase customer satisfaction and improve productivity enables Cisco to provide strategic advice.
The use of the Internet for internal operations, known as the Internet Effect, enabled Cisco to increase customer satisfaction from 3.4 to 4.3 on a scale from 1 to 5. The underlying process improvements also resulted in a yearly financial contribution close to $ 825 million (or 17% of a $ 4.9 billion expense base in FY'99).
