Ansafone Deploys All-in-One IP Communications Software Suite from Interactive Intelligence

Ansafone Contact Centers, which provides outsourced contact center services nationwide, has deployed an all-in-one IP communications software suite from Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., a global provider of software and services designed to improve the customer experience.

The software suite, Customer Interaction Center™ (CIC), has helped Ansafone improve customer service, increase agent productivity, and reduce costs, according to the company's president and CEO, Randy Harmat. "CIC's all-in-one architecture has enabled us to route calls, emails, Web chats and social media interactions using a single queue so we can respond faster and more consistently to customers regardless the communications medium they choose," Harmat said. "Because CIC uses a single platform to process multichannel interactions, we've also reduced costs associated with managing multiple systems."

Harmat also cites CIC's ability to integrate with its CRM software as benefitting the company. "Interactive Intelligence was able to create a process that mimicked the behavior of our old phone system so CIC could integrate with our CRM software without having to customize it," he said. "CIC also proved easy to integrate with our Professional Teledata, CenturiSoft and CallScripter systems. These integrations have put relevant customer data into the hands of our agents simultaneous with a call so they can give faster, more effective service."

Another benefit of CIC has been its remote agent support capability, according to Harmat. "CIC gives us remote monitoring tools that enable us to manage work-at-home agents the same way we manage agents on-site," he said. "And we get the added benefit of business continuity by immediately making CIC accessible to any remote agent should we need to offload calls due to a system outage or natural disaster."

Ansafone initially selected CIC after reviewing systems from Avaya and InContact. "After a thorough review, we chose CIC based on its competitive price, plus it gave us all the features we wanted and architecture designed for simplified maintenance," Harmat said. Ansafone selected and deployed CIC with the help of Interactive Intelligence reseller, Integrated Access Solutions (www.integratedaccess.net). "IAS brought nearly 60 years of collective consulting, configuration, deployment and systems management experience," Harmat said. "Its highly skilled engineers were able use the flexibility of CIC to provide a powerful, customized solution that met our diverse requirements."

Today, CIC supports more than 500 contact center employees located at Ansafone's corporate offices in Santa Ana, Calif. and Ocala, Fla., as well as contact centers throughout the Midwest and East Coast. Among these employees are about 50 work-at-home agents located across the U.S.

Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., is a global provider of contact center, unified communications, and business process automation software and services designed to improve the customer experience. The company's solutions, which can be deployed via the cloud or on-premises, are ideal for industries such as financial services, insurance, outsourcers, collections and utilities.

 Interactive Intelligence was founded in 1994 and has more than 5,000 customers worldwide. The company is among Software Magazine's 2013 Top 500 Global Software and Service Providers, and is the recipient of TMC's Cloud Computing Magazine's 2013 Cloud Computing Excellence Award. It has received Frost & Sullivan's Company of the Year Award, Contact Center Systems, North America, for the last three consecutive years. Interactive Intelligence employs more than 1,500 people and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company has offices throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.