SHANGHAI, May 30, 2003 - Shanghai-based Taiping Life Insurance Co. Ltd. and Cisco Systems, Inc., announced today that Taiping is deploying Cisco® Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony (IPT) solutions in its headquarters-office network and four major subsidiaries across China, in order to centralize its administrative function, increase employee productivity and lower costs. This cooperation makes Taiping Life Insurance the first Chinese insurance company to deploy the integrated voice and data network.
Since reopening its mainland China business in 2001, Taiping has led the domestic life-insurance market. In the course of its China operations, Taiping has experienced a strong need for centralized administration and enhanced communication between the primary office in Shanghai and its four subsidiaries located in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
Cisco IPT solutions will not only enable Taiping to optimize employee productivity through improved office communications, but also lower administrative costs by cutting its long-distance communication fees. It will allow Taiping to generate IP-based customer service with the new IT infrastructure.
"Our renewed business in China has been going extremely well, thanks to our superior insurance business model, combined Western- and Eastern-style management, and premier technology applications," commented He Mingxing, vice president of Taiping. "To build upon this strong foundation, we have decided to adopt Cisco IPT solutions to upgrade our IT network in a way that enhances organizational productivity, speeds up the decision-making process and creates new business opportunities, thus significantly increasing our competitive edge in the marketplace.
"Furthermore, the new network will support our goal of establishing Taiping Life Insurance as a highly professional and internationally recognized brand through continuing investment in customer service and management strategy," He added.
Raymond Lau, vice president of Cisco China, remarked, "Cisco is honored to work with Taiping Life Insurance to set up the first integrated voice and data network in a domestic insurance firm. Cisco itself uses and benefits from IPT solutions, which are highly mobile, easy to manage and affordable. As the leading provider of IP telephony systems, we look forward to bringing our rich experience in deploying IPT solutions for financial institutions to more insurance companies in China."
Cisco has provided Cisco 3745 routers, Cisco 3640 routers, Cisco Catalyst® 6509 switches with IPT modules, 350 IP phones and Cisco CallManager software to support the integrated network. In addition, Cisco IPT solutions will soon be deployed in 11 newly built subsidiaries of Taiping Life Insurance in China.
