Interactive Intelligence Signals Major UK Growth with Softlab Elite Partner Agreement
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Partnership with customer management specialist to spearhead growth opportunities in the UK contact centre market
SLOUGH, England, 26 Feb., 2007 -- As part of its continued growth throughout Europe, Interactive Intelligence (Nasdaq: ININ), a global developer of business communications software, has signed an Elite Partner agreement that enables Solihull-based customer management solutions provider, Softlab, to sell its contact centre automation and enterprise IP telephony products and services throughout the UK.
Softlab, the UK subsidiary of Softlab Group, has been providing customer management solutions to mid-market, large enterprise and multi-national companies in the UK since 1988.
As a cost-effective and easily managed unified communications software suite, Interactive Intelligence gives Softlab a solution that will help the company expand its footprint in the fast-expanding 50 to 500 seat market, according to John Whitfield, voice practice technical director for Softlab who heads up the channel relationship.
"Interactive Intelligence has an unrivalled reputation for quality, and its comprehensive, single-platform, modular architecture - with both traditional TDM and SIP-based switching, ACD, IVR, unified messaging, predictive dialling, multimedia recording, and more -- is able to cost-effectively address nearly any call centre or enterprise requirement, regardless of size," Whitfield said.
Under the terms of the Elite Partner agreement, Softlab will be certified to provide full-scale services and support for all Interactive Intelligence products to bring the market innovative technology and contact centre expertise. The two companies will also collaborate on a range of marketing activities, including a planned joint exhibit in September at the Birmingham Call Centre Expo.
"The collaboration with Softlab marks an important first step in the next stage of our UK growth strategy, which we began with the opening of our first corporate office in Europe," said Richard Brown VP Sales EMEA for Interactive Intelligence. "With our recent move to larger headquarters near London, a doubling of partners last year, and continued expansion of our support and professional services team, we're well-positioned to make the most of our new partnership with Softlab.
"In turn, Softlab's focused, consultancy-style approach perfectly complements both our highly customizable software, and our targeted business development model," Brown concluded.
Both companies also see the partnership as an ideal opportunity to leverage technology advancements in order to better meet the needs of current business trends.
"Driven by the need to maintain a competitive edge by improving customer service, businesses are increasingly exploring ways to harness the broader pool of skills and individuals across the enterprise," Brown said. "Using our software's flexible multimedia routing capabilities, along with functions such as presence management and remote and mobile support based on voice over IP, customers get a simple and cost-effective way to extend customer service beyond the contact centre.
In effect, the enterprise really is the new contact centre."
"The Interactive Intelligence software suite enables businesses to gain a competitive edge without resorting to costly and complex multi-point solutions," Whitfield said. "This technology innovation, combined with our unrivalled consultancy, systems integration, implementation and support, ensure our customers receive maximum value, along with long-term investment protection."
About Softlab
Founded in 1971 Softlab Group is wholly owned by The BMW Group and provides IT consultancy and services. Across Europe Softlab employs 1700 people with a group turnover of over Euro 260 million. Softlab increases the value and competitive ability of organisations with business critical solutions such as: Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Business Intelligence (BI), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and IT services.
The primary focus of Softlab Limited is to deliver integrated customer management solutions. In the contact centre arena Softlab has implemented a range of contact centre solutions. These include small call centres, help desk support systems and large contact centres linked to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. The solutions vary from complex, virtual contact centres supporting multi-channel and multi-language over many worldwide locations, down to smaller, single server, inbound, voice only implementations.
About Interactive Intelligence
Interactive Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ) is a global provider of business communications software and services for contact center automation and enterprise IP telephony. The company was founded in 1994 and has more than 2,500 customers worldwide. Recent awards include the 2006 Network World 200, and Software Magazine's 2006 Top 500 Global Software and Services Companies. Interactive Intelligence employs approximately 500 people and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. The European corporate office is located in Slough, England and serves more than 350 customers throughout EMEA. The company has sales offices in the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Poland. Its phone number is: +44 1753 418800; on the Web: www.inin.com
