WebEx Training Center helps enable 1-800-FLOWERS.COM to boost employee productivity and retention as well as enhance environmental initiatives

SAN JOSE Calif., May 13, 2008 – On-demand collaboration applications and services leader WebEx, now part of Cisco®, today announced that 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has implemented online collaboration tools from Cisco WebEx to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the company’s training program. For more than thirty years, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has trained sales and service specialists to deliver the freshest flowers to customers across the globe. With WebEx Training Center Online Classroom, the company is now able to deliver an improved educational experience for its thousands of employees, and increase the amount of training they do while significantly reduce training costs and expenses. In addition, Cisco WebEx is able to help 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reduce the company’s environmental footprint.

“The interactive features of WebEx Training Center allow us to extend the reach of our training program to deliver a better, more robust training experience,” said Faith LeGendre, vice president of training for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. “In addition to heightened employee satisfaction as indicated by training evaluations, our new hire trainee retention rate rose significantly, allowing us to retain hundreds of additional employees to delight mothers this season.”

During holidays like Valentine’s, Christmas, Hanukkah and Mother’s Day, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM must prepare and train seasonal employees to help meet the increased demand for the company’s flowers and gifts. Prior to using Cisco WebEx, this often involved sending someone from the training organization to a variety of remote for weeks at a time. Today, with the help of WebEx Training Center, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM can hold training sessions with seasonal employees around the globe easily and efficiently. Best of all, they have been able to increase employee engagement and retention by using the polling, break out session and collaboration features within WebEx Training Center.

In addition to increased customer satisfaction and cost savings, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has discovered added environmental benefits from using WebEx – the most notable being the ability to decrease its carbon footprint by dramatically reducing its educators’ travel. WebEx Training Center also helps enable the instructor to provide students with online access to course materials and documents anywhere, at any time, eliminating the need to print and distribute large training manuals.

“With this solution, we can eliminate a majority of the traveling we do for training purposes and reduce the need to print bulky paper manuals. That’s good for the bottom line and the environment,” added LeGendre.

To learn more about WebEx Training Center or to register for a free 14-day trial, go to http://www.webex.com/go/wtcpr

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With 2.6 million registered users, WebEx, now part of Cisco, is the global leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the Web. These applications enhance high-touch business processes, such as sales and training, with efficient Web-touch interactions. As an on-demand provider, WebEx is able to facilitate both internal and external collaboration. WebEx delivers its range of applications over the WebEx MediaTone Network, a global network specifically designed for the highly secure delivery of on-demand applications. WebEx applications support multipoint video conferencing, Web conferencing, telework and application remote control. Please call toll-free 877-509-3239 or visit http://webex.com for more information.

WebEx and MediaTone are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. Other brands and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Copyright © 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.