Event Summary
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 1999-- Cisco Systems, Inc. today
announced that its recently released Cisco eMail Manager, an enterprise- and
service provider-class solution for managing high volumes of customer inquiries
submitted to company mailboxes or to a Web site, has been chosen by brand name
companies for inbound e-mail response management. Representing a broad range
of industries, some of these new customers include 2Wire, APAC Customer Services,
Inc., Bell Atlantic, Lands' End, Lexica LLC, SmarterKids.com and Solipsa.
Market
Impact
One of the driving forces in Internet e-commerce is communication and responsiveness
to the end user, or buyer. Strong communication and response time indicate to
the buyer that they are valued clients. If a client feels that their needs have
been attended to they are far more likely to become a repeat client. The typical
Internet vendor response time to a client issue ranges between 24 and 48 hours,
and in some scenarios, never. Cisco hopes to change that with its new eMail
Manager.
Cisco's
eMail Manager tracks and routes inbound messages to the correct recipient or
group based on a set of customizable business rules. The system ships with automated
response templates for receipt acknowledgment and/or intuitive replies. The
eMail manager ships as a component of the Cisco Interaction Suite, which also
includes a Collaboration Server, a Media Blender and Media Manager. The suite
carries a price tag starting at $1,500 (USD) per seat. Cisco has already secured
such clients as SmarterKids.com, Bell Atlantic and Lands End among others. We
expect to see this product have a large impact on customer interaction on the
Internet (Probability 75%).
User
Recommendations
Internet Retailers have been looking for an automated conduit for end user communication
to fortify customer acquisition and retention. Cisco has produced a suite of
interactive tools, which will improve the "Internet Retailer Image" to the average
"Netizen" shopper. This product is definitely worth an evaluation to those retailers
dealing in large volumes. Due to the cost per seat, for smaller retailers, this
software interaction suite is not financially viable. Look to see Cisco break
the Suite out in the future in order to capture the small to medium sized retailers
(probability 90%).