Today, financial institutions are working closer with customers to providemore personalized and up-to-date products and services that better meettheir customers' changing financial needs. Independent of the time of dayor the delivery channel that clients utilize, banks are striving to deploytechnologies and information technology (IT) architectures that helpimprove business processes to optimize a collaborative customer experience.

Cisco TelePresence(TM) for Banking allows users to experience virtualface-to-face interactions with others in any global location, and iteliminates the cost, time and carbon footprint associated with physicallytraveling to meetings. The value of Cisco TelePresence helps retail bankstransform 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, reducingtravel 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 ouremployees log more than 60 million miles per year on business travel. Atlast, Cisco TelePresence video conferencing presents a real alternative tomeeting face-to-face, and thanks to the high-resolution images in thetechnology, it's almost as if you were in the same room," said BMO'sMichael Thornburrow, senior vice president, Corporate Real Estate &Strategic Sourcing. "Cisco TelePresence is an important contribution to ourplan to achieve carbon neutrality, and it will help us remove tons of CO2emissions from the atmosphere every year. The Cisco team has been greatpartners 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 bankingclients. Optimized Self-Service integrates delivery channels using testedand integrated Cisco®Unified Communications Manager and IBM Lotus® offerings. ContactCenter integration provides the ability to quickly identify and locatesubject-matter experts to provide efficient customer service through voiceor video interaction that is delivered to the channel the client is using.

"Building on our focused collaboration, IBM and Cisco are providing ourjoint banking clients with the innovative offerings in telepresence andself-service technologies to help banks cost-effectively improve sales andservice 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 relationshipthrough the delivery of more personalized products and services."

"We are working closely with partners such as Cisco to help our bankingclients as they strive to provide a consistently excellent customerexperience and quality of service across all channels, whether in thebranch or via phone, Internet, video, telepresence or however," said SunnyBanerjea, global solutions executive, IBM Banking Industry. "Whileself-service channels can give you greater reach and lower the cost ofservice, they can also distance you from your customers. However, with IBMand Cisco Front Office Solutions for Retail Banking, banks have thecommunications technologies, collaborative capabilities, and rich digitalmedia 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 nowgenerally available from IBM and Cisco. The companies will demonstrate thesolutions 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 RetailBanking, visit www.ibm.com/cisco or www.cisco.com/go/ibm.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transformshow people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Ciscocan be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, visithttp://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 registeredtrademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates inthe United States and certain other countries. All other trademarksmentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.This document is Cisco Public Information.

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Press Contact(s)Pamela FerrillCisco Systems, Inc.+1 408 527-9076parupert@cisco.comBill MewIBM+44 207 202-5769mewb@uk.ibm.comIndustry Analyst RelationsLaura IrwinCisco Systems, Inc.+ 1 408 853-8876lirwin@cisco.comSeena PeckIBM+1 917 472-3295speck@us.ibm.com