Forbes ranks Interactive Intelligence number eight among America's best small companies

Interactive Intelligence Group, a global provider of unified IP business communications solutions, has been ranked number eight by Forbes Magazine among America's Best Small Companies.

This is the second year in a row Interactive Intelligence has made the Forbes list, which is composed of the 100 best-performing American public companies with under $1 billion in revenue. Last year, Forbes ranked Interactive Intelligence 26 on its list.

The Forbes America's Best Small Companies ranking features firms with remarkable sales and earnings growth in a host of industries, according to an article in the magazine titled: “The Top 20 Small Public Companies in America”.

Interactive Intelligence had sales of $192 million for the 12-month evaluation period ending 30 June 2011, with 20% sales growth and a 31% return on equity.

Interactive Intelligence was also included on Forbes list of '15 Small Company Stocks You Should Own Now'.

“Our inclusion for the second year running among Forbes Top 20 Small Public Companies in America affirms our continued customer-focused approach with an emphasis on long-term value,” said Interactive Intelligence founder and CEO, Dr Donald E Brown. “This approach has spurred significant demand for our cloud-based contact centre offering and it's fuelling an ever-increasing number of sales to the very largest global enterprises.”

Interactive Intelligence develops business communications software that provides contact centre automation and unified communications functionality for mid-size to large organisations. The company's software can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud, and is ideal for all verticals, including financial services, insurance, tele-services, and credit and collections.

“With exciting new development efforts under way that marry social media with mobile technologies to yet again transform customer service, we look forward to another opportunity next year to make Forbes' most worthy list of best American companies,” Brown concluded.

Candidates for Forbes Magazine's America's Best Small Companies ranking must have been publicly traded for at least a year, generate annual revenue between $5 million and $1 billion, and boast a stock price no lower than $5 a share. The rankings are based on earnings growth, sales growth, and return on equity in the past 12 months and over five years. Stock performance versus each company's peer group counted as well. Shares of last year's members outpaced the Russell 2000 small-company index by an average of 10 percentage points.

More information about America's Best Small Companies can be found in the November issue of Forbes Magazine, or on its Web site at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2011/10/19/the-top-20-small-public-companies-in-america/.