Interactive Intelligence announces new version of IP contact centre software

Interactive Intelligence Inc, a global developer of business communications software, announced availability of a major upgrade to its flagship IP contact centre software, Customer Interaction Centre (CIC).

The new version of CIC provides three important new capabilities. First, the release introduces a new session initiation protocol-based Interaction Media Server, which provides a dramatic increase in IP system scalability and reliability by transferring the majority of all media processing to the dedicated media server.

Second, CIC delivers additional agent optimisation enhancements including screen recording, whisper coaching and agent alerts. The final addition to the release targets the product`s enterprise telephony users with enhancements to the voice messaging component of the offering; including a speech recognition interface for message management and the addition of customer-configurable voicemail menus.

"This release is a significant step forward, with clearly demonstrable cost savings and functionality benefits for our customers. With these additions, CIC becomes a viable option for nearly any size contact centre," said Dr Donald Brown, Interactive Intelligence president and chief executive officer.

"We have continued to respond to customers who want the rich functionality of CIC in larger size deployments. With the addition of the SIP Interaction Media Server, we are delivering improved scalability and reliability at a reduced cost for larger deployments. The other product enhancements associated with this release continue to broaden our appeal as an innovative enterprise-wide alternative to competitor`s proprietary, hardware-centric offerings."

"As a long-time Interactive Intelligence customer, we were already familiar with the many benefits its standards-based, `all-in-one` product architecture offered," said Chris Adomaitis, vice-president of network and telecom services for Dialogue Marketing, a Michigan-based provider of CRM solutions.

"When we learned about the latest version of CIC, however, we got really excited because it offered us what no other vendor could - no sacrifice of current features when migrating to SIP-based VOIP, a truly open, SIP-based approach versus a few proprietary SIP extensions, and a totally unique SIP media server for potentially dramatic cost savings."

The addition of the new SIP Interaction Media Server increases scalability by moving audio recording and audio processing from the CIC server to the dedicated media server. In CIC deployments that include voice board hardware, scalability has more than doubled to 1 000 supported agents per system. In an all-software deployment of CIC, scalability has increased about 12 times, from 25 agents to approximately 300.

By eliminating a single point of failure, Interaction Media Server also gives organisations the added benefit of increased reliability. The architecture of the Interaction Media Server means that in the event of a failure of the CIC server, calls remain connected without user disruption.

Additionally, because the media server also reduces the reliance on third-party software and hardware in many configurations, contact centres can leverage much larger VOIP deployments at cost savings of up to 40%.

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Affordable, integrated agent optimisation functionality becomes a reality with the latest version of CIC. Additions include screen recording - synchronising screen recordings with audio recording files. The addition of multimedia screen recording extends management`s ability to mentor and improve agent effectiveness for all interaction types.

CIC 2.4 also introduces support for real-time and alert-based agent messaging, agent real-time queue status, and whisper coaching. All of these features are designed to increase agent productivity and improve customer service levels.

By leveraging existing CIC telephony resources, these integrated agent optimisation capabilities are finally affordable for small to mid-sized contact centres.

Since the product`s introduction, Customer Interaction Centre has proven effective for formal and informal contact centres, as well as for the business users inside the organisation. CIC 2.4 builds upon these enterprise telephony capabilities with enhancements to the product`s voice messaging system. These enhancements include speech-enabled command and control, as well as the addition of configurable voice mail menus that mimic pre-existing system options for reduced training requirements.

The latest version of CIC, which is sold through the Interactive Intelligence global network of approximately 160 value-added resellers, will be generally available by the end of 2005.

UK customers include London Borough of Brent, Central Radio, sit-up channels and Hampshire County Council.

For more information about CIC, visit http://www.inin.com/Products/cic/cic.asp.