SAN JOSE, Calif., May 17, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced that its customer contact software platform has been chosen by leading companies to manage multi-channel customer interactions across both Internet Protocol (IP) and traditional Time Division Multiplex (TDM)-based networks. Some of these new customers include Boise Cascade Office Products, Certive Corporation, Citizens Bank, EMC Corporation, Enablx, Inc., RESPONSE Services Center LLC, Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated, and TermStar Insurance Corporation.
"With the advent of the Internet, the call center has been revolutionized from a service organization that operated solely as a telephone call answering point to now answering email and Web interactions," said Robert Mirani, director, Customer Relationship Management Practice, Yankee Group. "These new contact centers are deploying suites of customer interaction products to allow the contact center to expand communication with their customers in an integrated fashion. Point solutions may have been a quick band-aid but with the wide spread adoption of CRM software and the convergence of voice and data networks, contact centers must be integrated across systems architectures and business applications. Cisco is providing a horizontally integrated platform to manage multi-channel customer interactions taking advantage of IP telephony to address these new business realities."
New Customers for Cisco Software Platform
Citizens BankCitizens Bank (www.citizensbank.com) is part of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. which operates more than 330 branches and 800ATMs in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, making it the second largest commercial bank holding company in New England. With customer service excellence driving the decision making process, Citizens selected Cisco's Intelligent Contact Management software (Cisco ICM) component of the Cisco customer contact software platform to ensure customers receive prompt and complete answers to their financial-related inquiries. Powerful consolidated reporting capabilities and automatic routing of customer calls between other devices, such as Voice Response Units (VRU), made Cisco ICM the logical choice for Citizens.
Certive Corporation
Certive (www.certive.com) is a developer of business intelligence systems for independent professional service companies. Through an invaluable combination of real-time systems, proven best practices, and live professional services, Certive provides its customers with the insight and control to improve project profitability and client satisfaction. Certive is committed to service excellence, and Cisco's Intelligent Contact Management software (Cisco ICM) and Cisco Collaboration Server components of the Cisco customer contact software platform are core to delivering a universally high-quality customer experience. With Cisco, Certive has had the flexibility to blend best-of-class services into a seamless, integrated customer communication and collaboration tool. As a result, Certive can ensure that every customer interaction is prompt, reliable and high quality - which further strengthens working relationships and builds customer loyalty.
EMC Corporation
EMC's (www.emc.com) award-winning customer service organization is employing Cisco's Intelligent Contact Management software (Cisco ICM) component of the Cisco customer contact software platform to enhance its customer contact management capabilities, enabling the company to continue to exceed service expectations in an environment of explosive business growth. Cisco ICM software provides EMC with automatic skills-based routing and load balancing of customer support calls. Cisco ICM ensures that each customer call is routed to the best possible service professional, taking into consideration product knowledge and customer history. The Cisco software supports more than 400 EMC customer support representatives in call centers in Hopkinton, Mass. and Cork, Ireland.
Enablx, Inc.
Enablx, Inc. (www.enablx.com) is a technology service provider offering turnkey call/contact center solutions using Customer Transaction Management (CTMsm) technology. Enablx offers a unique transaction-based customer service model without any upfront capital expense. Installed at the customer's site or at the Enablx data center, these systems handle all points of customer contact and record all transactions to a unified database. Enablx has expanded its webCTMsm product with Cisco E-Mail Manager and Cisco Collaboration Server components of the Cisco customer contact software platform to bring new services with enhanced functionality and flexibility to its customers. Enablx was looking to partner with a strong player in telephony and voice over IP. The Cisco customer contact software platform was selected by Enablx to provide its customers with a reliable infrastructure for all their contact center needs today and tomorrow. With Cisco E-Mail Manager and Cisco Collaboration Server, Enablx can continue to offer its customers an even more scalable, cost-effective, step-by-step solution for converting call centers into contact centers and then into profit centers.
RESPONSE Services Center LLC
RESPONSE Services Center (www.aaaresponse.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of AAA, is implementing a world-class, next-generation "telematics" and location-based service infrastructure capable of supporting a wide variety of applications. Through a variety of wireless telematics service devices, RESPONSE will provide location-sensitive information to travelers. To deliver this information, RESPONSE is deploying a distributed, virtual contact center based on IP telephony. Cisco is playing a major role in this project with the Cisco IP Contact Center (Cisco IPCC) component of the Cisco customer contact software platform forming the core of its technology infrastructure. Cisco IPCC delivers intelligent call routing, computer telephony integration (CTI) and multimedia contact management to contact center agents over an IP network. By combining software ACD functionality with IP telephony in a unified solution, Cisco IPCC will allow RESPONSE to rapidly deploy a distributed multimedia contact center infrastructure.
Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated
Sykes (www.sykes.com) is a global leader in providing customer management solutions and services to technology-enabled companies primarily within the technology, communications, and financial services markets. Sykes has deployed Cisco's Intelligent Contact Management Software (Cisco ICM) component of the Cisco customer contact software platform as the key enabler of Sykes' Global Virtual Management System to provide centralized supervision and control over customer contacts. The Sykes' contact management solution provides sophisticated routing schemes that allow for efficient, high quality service, both by resource location and agent skill. Sykes' contact management platform manages voice and data distribution across the enterprise and enables Sykes, as well as its clients; to implement IP based solutions while leveraging existing technology investments.
TermStar Insurance Corporation
TermStar Insurance Corporation (www.termstar.com) combines traditional insurance services with state of the art technology providing the public a reliable and convenient way to obtain insurance. TermStar is using Cisco Collaboration Server component of the Cisco customer contact software platform to blend the extensive information found at www.termstar.com with the personal knowledge of its insurance agents. Consumers now have access to service representatives via the telephone, Web chats, email and VoIP. As a result, TermStar can offer superior service to consumers concerning their life insurance needs regardless of the channel of interaction selected by the consumer.
"The Internet economy has forced businesses to organize around their front office," said Brett Shockley, vice president and general manager of the Customer Contact Business Unit at Cisco Systems. "They must put the customer first and develop business processes that deliver value and ease of use. Businesses must create an infrastructure designed to get the most value from each interaction. Cisco's customer contact software platform allows customers to strengthen their relationships with their end customers and build loyalty through a multi-channel, IP telephony based solution."
