PICTURETEL ANNOUNCES COMPLETE VIDEOCONFERENCING SOLUTION FOR BANKING AND
Financial Services Industry
Breakthrough Call Center Combines with PictureTel Desktop
Videoconferencing, Kiosk, Networking and Systems Integration to Provide
All-In-One Video-Banking
Solution
ANDOVER, Mass., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- PictureTel Corporation
(Nasdaq: PCTL), the world leader in videoconferencing solutions, today
announced a complete videoconferencing solution for banking and the
financial services industry. The breakthrough call center, when
combined with PictureTel desktop videoconferencing systems, kiosks,
networking and systems integration, will provide banks and other
financial institutions with an all- in-one solution for video-banking.
Sixty-five percent of all Fortune 500 financial services companies are
PictureTel users. Currently some 400 financial services organizations
worldwide have deployed more than 4,000 PictureTel systems. One of
those organizations, Peoples Bank, the largest independent bank in
Connecticut, offers video banking in branches located inside the
largest supermarket chain in Connecticut.
"Videoconferencing from PictureTel has provided us with a way that has
taken us a leap beyond any other bank in our marketplace and has met
our customers needs," said Pat Manion, first vice president, direct
banking, Peoples Bank, Bridgeport Conn., "With video banking we can
bring expertise to our customers when they want it and not have to
worry about people waiting all over the state for when a customer might
walk in."
The call center is one of the most significant advantages of
PictureTel's recent acquisition of MultiLink. As a bank deploys
video-enabled end points to sell and service their customers, a video
call center is required. The video call center technology enables a
remote video call to be processed at a call center in the same way an
audio call is handled. The video call is placed on hold if an expert
is not available and then transferred once an agent is free. A video
call center also allows for a supervisor or manager to be present
during a video call along with the customer and the call center expert.
Virtual Shopping, Inc., a PictureTel partner, provides an easy-to-use
kiosk with a PictureTel desktop videoconferencing system installed.
This provides customers with access to experts as well as to transact
an array of banking services such as applying for loans, opening
checking accounts and mortgage origination from any location where the
kiosk is installed.
"We are the first to offer the banking industry a total video-banking
solution," said Ann King, director of financial services marketing for
PictureTel. "Others offer a piece of the solution but fail to
incorporate it into an entire video-banking solution, leaving the
customer at a loss for how to properly use it. We have taken our
existing videoconferencing solution and partnered with companies who
provide a kiosk, networking and systems integration to create our total
solution which will provide banks with a new and innovative tool for
better servicing their customers."
PictureTel Corporation is the world leader in developing, manufacturing
and marketing a full range of videoconferencing solutions. The
company's systems meet customers' videoconferencing needs from the
desktop to the boardroom. PictureTel also markets network conferencing
products and a comprehensive portfolio of enterprise-wide services.
The company provides complete videoconferencing solutions to customers
in the distance learning, health care and financial services market
segments. Additional PictureTel information is available on the
Internet at www.picturetel.com . PictureTel videoconferencing
eliminates the barrier of distance, enabling people to be Anywhere
Now(TM).
NOTE: PictureTel and MultiLink are registered trademarks and Anywhere
Now is a trademark of PictureTel Corporation.
SOURCE PictureTel Corporation
-0- 08/25/97 /CONTACT: Kevin Flanagan of
PictureTel Corporation, 508-292-5178 or flanagank@pictel.com/
(PCTL)
CO: PictureTel Corporation ST: Massachusetts IN: CPR FIN SU: PDT |
