Cisco and IBM Enhance Banking Experience With Cisco TelePresence and Optimized Self-Service

Companies Will Deliver Enhanced Joint Front Office Solutions for Retail Banking

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the launch of two additional offerings for enhancing the retail banking experience that build on their Front Office Solutions for Retail Banking announced in November 2007. The Optimized Self-Service and Cisco TelePresence(TM) solution modules help enable retail banks to use their experts more efficiently for direct client interaction regardless of where they are located or which delivery channel (e.g. phone, Internet, video, telepresence, etc.) they are using for communications.

Today, financial institutions are working closer with customers to provide more personalized and up-to-date products and services that better meet their customers' changing financial needs. Independent of the time of day or the delivery channel that clients utilize, banks are striving to deploy technologies and information technology (IT) architectures that help improve business processes to optimize a collaborative customer experience.

Cisco TelePresence(TM) for Banking allows users to experience virtual face-to-face interactions with others in any global location, and it eliminates the cost, time and carbon footprint associated with physically traveling to meetings. The value of Cisco TelePresence helps retail banks transform their collaboration at three levels:

--  Enhanced customer interaction through remote expert support in the
    bank branch or in new market penetration
--  Intercompany collaboration (for example, bank to outsource partner)
--  Internal efficiencies through reduced travel and consistent executive
    communications
    

At Bank of Montreal (BMO), enhancing internal collaboration, reducing travel costs and taking a green approach were at the top of its agenda. "BMO Financial Group has offices in Canada and around the world, and our employees log more than 60 million miles per year on business travel. At last, Cisco TelePresence video conferencing presents a real alternative to meeting face-to-face, and thanks to the high-resolution images in the technology, it's almost as if you were in the same room," said BMO's Michael Thornburrow, senior vice president, Corporate Real Estate & Strategic Sourcing. "Cisco TelePresence is an important contribution to our plan to achieve carbon neutrality, and it will help us remove tons of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere every year. The Cisco team has been great partners on this project at every step along the way."

Optimized Self-Service Solution integrates bank client access channels, such as kiosks, PDAs, cell phones, Internet, and voice response (telephone), to provide a consistent quality user experience to banking clients. Optimized Self-Service integrates delivery channels using tested and integrated Cisco® Unified Communications Manager and IBM Lotus® offerings. Contact Center integration provides the ability to quickly identify and locate subject-matter experts to provide efficient customer service through voice or video interaction that is delivered to the channel the client is using.

"Building on our focused collaboration, IBM and Cisco are providing our joint banking clients with the innovative offerings in telepresence and self-service technologies to help banks cost-effectively improve sales and service delivery in response to customers' anytime-anywhere banking needs," said Paul Jameson, director of marketing for Financial Services, Cisco. "Banks may improve collaboration with customers to enhance the relationship through the delivery of more personalized products and services."

"We are working closely with partners such as Cisco to help our banking clients as they strive to provide a consistently excellent customer experience and quality of service across all channels, whether in the branch or via phone, Internet, video, telepresence or however," said Sunny Banerjea, global solutions executive, IBM Banking Industry. "While self-service channels can give you greater reach and lower the cost of service, they can also distance you from your customers. However, with IBM and Cisco Front Office Solutions for Retail Banking, banks have the communications technologies, collaborative capabilities, and rich digital media to allow them to provide their self-service customers with a more 'high touch' experience."

The IBM and Cisco Front Office Solutions for Retail Banking are now generally available from IBM and Cisco. The companies will demonstrate the solutions at the 2008 BAI Retail Banking Conference and Expo, Nov. 18-20, in Orlando, Fla., at booths 1300 (IBM) and 1311 (Cisco).

For more information about IBM and Cisco Front Office Solutions for Retail Banking, visit www.ibm.com/cisco or www.cisco.com/go/ibm.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, visit http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About IBM

More information on IBM can be found at www.ibm.com.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems and Cisco TelePresence are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. This document is Cisco Public Information.

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