Cisco Launches Industry-First Distributor Rewards Program with RewardStream

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Telepresence and Holography / Holograms - November 2008

Editor’s viewpoint on their differences, likenesses and future...

We all just recently viewed an historic CNN holographic interview on an historic Election Night. CNN stated this type of imaging has never been done before on National TV and I believe that. I haven’t seen anything like it. The live interview caught me by surprise and sure had the “wow” factor attached to it didn’t it? Here’s a link to the actual interview.

CNN Hologram Video

The question now has to be asked. Is it Telepresence?

I’m no expert on the subject but I’m going to throw my hat into the ring, go out on a limb and say yes, I believe it is. Although I know many video conferencing purists are rolling their eyes and grabbing their guns right about now with my statement.

While I do know that Telepresence still hasn’t been universally defined (Houston, we have a problem), here’s how I see it…. Broken down to its simplest form - “tele” (through electronic means) and “presence” (present). This is how I’m justifying my opinion by lumping holography and Telepresence together. Just as Telepresence is surely an offshoot of video conferencing, holographic imaging (like we viewed on CNN) surely has to be considered an offshoot of Telepresence. The interviewer was “telepresent” from Chicago and beamed into the CNN Election Headquarters. She was most assuredly - “telepresent”. There was negligible latency, the imaging was fantastic and both interviewers were rehearsed on what they would say. I’ve just recently read that CNN actually “downgraded” the experience to make it “movie” quality and not as good as it could have been. Maybe they thought us mere mortals would be shocked if they showed their complete hand. I have a feeling it was so big to them, they didn’t want it to get upstaged by the historic election. I’m willing to bet we’ll see the “true” power of this technology in the upcoming weeks and months when they can put the pedal to the medal and show it off without having it sidetracked.

What an amazing time for this technology (all differences and opinions aside). Telepresence Doctors, nurses, teachers, schools and healthcare (healthpresence) will benefit from the recent gains in this state-of-the-art industry whether holograms, Telepresence or holography. Airlines also have to see the threat to a portion of their business travel. Hell, who wants go through security and fly to Miami for a two-hour conference when you can look them in the eye via Telepresence?

Beam me up Scotty! Simply amazing…!

Visit the free Telepresence Forum for more information and discussion

Your Editor and Administrator - L II
"Ride on the Next Plane of Existence" TM

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) May 7, 2008 -- RewardStream Inc., the leader in SaaS loyalty marketing technology, is pleased to announce that Cisco Systems has launched its Distributor Rewards Program (DRP) on RewardStream's Lifecycle Marketing Platform (LMP).

Cisco's DRP is an innovative, industry-first program, both in its design and execution. Its is progressive in the multi-channel distribution space for its ability to allocate Cisco Co-op funding directly to sales representatives at the five largest national distributors; Ingram Micro, D&H, Comstor, TechData and ScanSource. The closed-loop measurability of Co-op funding is relatively new to the industry, and making it a reality relied on tight collaboration and joint program administration between the five distributors and Cisco's Program and Partner Managers.

The resulting impact of DRP is nothing short of revolutionary. First, DRP allows each of the five distributors to control and uniquely define the sales incentives and reward allocations their sales team receives. This ensures sales incentives awarded by DRP are configured to match how a distributor allocates rewards within their sales force. The result is a program that holistically administers five uniquely tailored sales incentive allocations. Second, DRP attaches measurable ROI to existing Co-op funding. Quantifying the program's success means distributors are able to provide ROI on their sales efforts and directly reward the sales representatives who are the most productive in selling through Cisco products. Third, the program is jointly administered between the distributors and Cisco, with both the parties accessing RewardStream's LMP through an online, self service administrative portal. The result is a centralization of program data which both Cisco and the distributor can use to optimize program performance in order to meet the unique business objectives of their joint business plan.

"The Distributor Rewards Program is several individualized Distributor Rewards Programs integrated onto one technology platform," states Jennifer Kulich, Marketing Programs Manager US/CA Channels Marketing. "The inherent complexity built into DRP's design and shared execution required a sophisticated and flexible technology platform, which we have found with RewardStream's LMP."

"DRP takes the process of allocating partner marketing funds to a whole new level within a channel ecosystem," comments Peter Oxley, CEO of RewardStream. "By providing a program personalized to a distributor's own internal sales process, LMP allows a vendor to work closely and collaboratively with each of their valued distributors to maximize return on marketing investment. Our ControlCenter Administrative portal provides a centralized tool for a Distributor's Sales Representatives and Program Administrators, along with Cisco's Channel Account Managers who manage the overall relationship."

The DRP program builds on the success of Cisco's other partner reward programs previously launched on RewardStream's LMP, Cisco's Partner Rewards Program (PRP) and subsequent rollout to the Canadian theater, and Cisco's Company Rewards Program (CRP). All partner reward programs are part of Cisco's larger SMB strategy to maximize business efficiency and improve customer and employee collaboration while at the same time providing channel partners with further resources to foster growth and differentiation.

For more information on the Cisco DRP and other programs run on RewardStream's LMP, visit www.rewardstream.com.

About RewardStream

RewardStream, the leader in SaaS loyalty marketing technology, develops products that liberate today's marketers from the shackles of legacy technology. Our Lifecycle Marketing Platform? (LMP) empowers marketers to launch a highly customized loyalty program in under 30 days. RewardStream's LMP? is utilized by a broad spectrum of clients that operate B2C, B2B and Channel loyalty programs in the financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, IT and manufacturing sectors. More information on RewardStream can be found at www.rewardstream.com.

About Cisco Systems

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

Contact:

Valia Thorburn

RewardStream Inc

604.692.1211

valia.thorburn(at)rewardstream.com

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