"Treasury was an early adopter," says Biscay. "If we're comfortable using it to help us manage Cisco's more than $80 billion balance sheet and $40 billion investment portfolio, then other parts of the company can also feel comfortable."

IWE also integrates third-party apps, such as Clearwater Analytics' software (see the AHA Solution of the Year) to aggregate and reconcile treasury's investments. Staff across the company who create data of one type or another upload it directly into IWE, making it available to users in real time. Previously, that task was passed off to a separate IT group, often located in another time zone, resulting in delays.

Insurance management, a Cisco treasury unit, must collect a wide variety of data about Cisco's 24 million square feet of property holdings, including the number of people in each building, whether the building is owned or leased, and whether it's a manufacturing or storage facility. The data are likely to be located outside the treasury department and maintained by various Cisco groups that are both functionally and geographically dispersed. Human resources, for example, has the up-to-date employee head count.

"Before, it took weeks to aggregate this information, and we've cut that time by 60% or 70%," Biscay says. "Whether it's spending on insurance premiums or derivatives [to mitigate risk], we need to understand where we can get the biggest bang for the buck."

Cisco's sensitive data and applications are distributed to "private communities" within the company on a need-to-know basis, while more generic information is available to all staff. Each employee can customize his or her IWE Web site to most effectively view and interact with relevant information and other employees. Cisco treasury also replaced IWE's predecessor, the eCollaborate application developed in 2004 to help employees share calendars and contact lists.

As treasurer, Biscay's customized site provides information–soon over PDAs–across critical areas including investments and insurance, and since he sits on several internal company boards, there's governance-related data. Plus there are collaborative wikis and private communities within the treasury department, including one to discuss data metrics and reporting issues.

The financial crisis has driven home the need for accessible and timely information, especially for corporate treasurers. If such an event should occur during, say, a meeting with CFO Frank Calderoni, Biscay has the relevant and updated information at his fingertips.