Cisco Systems and Siebel Systems Deliver Complete Customer Contact Solutions to Market; Strategic Relationship Offers New IP-Based Contact Center Solutions

Business Wire, August 1, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2001

ICCM 2001/Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, and Siebel Systems Inc., the world's leading provider of eBusiness applications software, today announced an expanded set of validated, Internet Protocol (IP)-based contact center solutions for companies migrating from legacy technology to IP-based infrastructures.

The validated solutions integrate Siebel Call Center version 6 with components of the Cisco customer contact software platform -- Cisco Intelligent Contact Management (ICM) version 4.1, Cisco Collaboration Server version 4.0, and, most recently, the Cisco IP Contact Center (IPCC) solution. The validated integration of Cisco contact center solutions and Siebel eBusiness Applications provide complete customer-centric eBusiness solutions to corporations looking to maximize the return-on-investment of their current infrastructure as they transform their call centers into next-generation contact centers.

"Companies today are challenged with improving customer service, while at the same time maximizing dispersed call center resources for greater cost advantages," said Brett Shockley, vice president and general manager for Cisco's Customer Contact Business Unit. "The solutions between Cisco and Siebel Systems ensure that customers get best-in-class eBusiness applications software from Siebel Systems integrated with Cisco's leading customer contact software platform -- which enables the delivery of superior customer service through a complete IP-based customer interaction solution."

"This is great news for our customers who want to support their legacy systems while taking advantage of the inherent flexibility and cost advantages only available through IP," said Steve Garnett, vice president and general manager of alliances for Siebel Systems. "Together with Cisco, we offer a robust, flexible, and cost-effective solution that enables them to have the correct customer-centric information available during every customer interaction, regardless of the media or the agents' location."

Enterprise-wide Contact Center Solutions

The new solutions enable organizations to develop closer relationships with their customers by closely linking customer data from enterprise systems to an IP-based contact center solution for increased productivity, business flexibility, and reduced operational costs. Customers using Siebel eBusiness Applications integrated with the Cisco customer contact software platform will gain:

-- Enterprise-wide contact routing over a multi-site contact center
environment, connecting customers to the most knowledgeable agent, regardless
of their location.

-- Validated computer telephony integration (CTI) for major automatic call
distributor (ACD), private branch exchange (PBX) and interactive voice response
(IVR) products.

-- Ability to support proprietary, legacy telephony infrastructure and
seamlessly evolve to IP standards-based, voice/data infrastructure.

-- Single, integrated customer interaction application suite for all types of
interactions with customers including voice, web and email.

-- Enhanced customer intelligence and reporting with a single comprehensive
view of all customer interactions collected in enterprise-wide eBusiness
applications.

The solutions exploit the ability of the Cisco ICM component of the Cisco customer contact software platform to pre-route interactions among disparate contact centers, including centers running on heterogeneous switching and network infrastructures. In addition to supporting the migration to IP architectures, the solutions enable enterprises to manage stand-alone or multi-site contact center networks across various geographies.

The two companies have worked cooperatively to optimize the Cisco IPCC solution and Cisco Collaboration Server to support Siebel Systems' integrated family of eBusiness applications software, enabling sales, marketing, and customer service systems to be deployed over the Web, call centers, field, reseller channels, retail, and dealer networks. This integration enables customers of the joint solutions to support eBusiness on any media (voice, VoIP, and Web), from any location, on any infrastructure.

Joint Customers Praise the Alliance

The integrated Cisco and Siebel Systems offerings are currently operational at customers, such as Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated a global leader in providing customer management solutions and services to technology-enabled companies primarily within the technology, communications, and financial services markets.

"Cisco's customer contact software platform is capable of supporting large, decentralized, contact centers as well as blended environments," said Gerry Rogers, chief information officer of Sykes. "Integrated with Siebel eBusiness Applications, Cisco's customer contact software platform gives us the ability to network our contact centers into a true Virtual Contact Center environment, blending agents in our contact centers into a single, customer-focused enterprise. We are now able to share critical customer information quickly, intelligently, and cost-effectively, regardless of international borders."