Wheelings and Dealings: TD Bank and Cisco Join Forces

In yet another in a seemingly endless stream of announcements of huge companies in the IoT teaming up to develop solutions, TD Bank Group and Cisco Canada have finalized an agreement to collaborate on developing technology solutions for customer and employee experiences.

A dedicated TD-Cisco team will work together in a designated space in Cisco's new Toronto Innovation Center. The project will begin with initiatives in employee mobility, the IoT, contact center and energy conservation.

“This collaboration represents an extension to our customer-centric approach to innovation,” said Colleen Johnston, Group Head, Direct Channels, Technology, Marketing and Real Estate, TD. “Combining Cisco's global expertise with TD's industry-leading approach to service and convenience will allow us to further advance our exploration into elevating banking experiences for customers as well as employees.”

The team will take advantage of Cisco’s products to provide TD with the ability to accelerate solutions to market. As part of the agreement, TD will have a period of exclusivity in the Canadian financial services market for certain industry-unique solutions conceived by the joint-team.

“We are pleased to embark on this exciting strategic journey with TD. Our innovation collaboration will complement TD’s business digitization initiatives and accelerate their market differentiation goals,” said Bernadette Wightman, president, Cisco Canada. “This co-development project is precisely the kind of customer innovation initiatives we look forward to driving from our new Toronto Innovation Centre - bringing Cisco's world-class expertise, R&D, solutions and technology-enabled business transformation know-how to help drive tangible results.”

This is only the beginning for these partnership announcements for Cisco. The company had made it clear that such partnerships are a major part of its IoT strategy going forward.

Is this good for the IoT? I think so. I think the powerful innovation chops that Cisco can bring to bear is great, but it can be hard to find focus on real-world applications, which is what these partnerships will do.

Let’s hope we see some solutions hit the marketplace sooner rather than later.