Interactive Intelligence Inc. is now offering a hosted notification service to cut costs associated with outbound customer interactions. The icNotify service automates traditional manual processes and eliminates the need for on-premise customer equipment and network bandwidth. It will be generally available in the U.S. and Canada at the end of Q1 2006.

 

The new service will be targeted at financial service institutions and physician offices initially. icNotify will offer outbound notification services for automated messaging, offering subscribers flexible, multi-channel contact options based on their unique needs. Financial institutions can use the service to send customers notification of loan status, fraud alerts, deposit confirmations and portfolio updates. Physician offices can send notifications like prescription reminders, appointment reminders, "agent-less" health education campaigns and patient satisfaction surveys.

 

icNotify is switch independent and can work with a number of third-party PBXs and IP-PBXs. The service will be delivered via landline and mobile phones, as well as through email, fax, pagers, PDAs and short message service-enabled devices. The service will use text-to-speech, speech recognition, pre-recorded messages, on-the-fly message recording and self-service options. The self service is designed to minimize inbound call volume in response to outbound notifications.

 

"For a typical financial services firm, the average outbound call costs $2.70 – a cost largely attributable to labor," said Art Schoeller, senior analyst, Yankee Group. "Services such as icNotify can go a long way toward displacing a major portion of that expense through automation. In addition, customers are better served since these services are geared to deliver messages based on the customer's preference, such as e-mail, text message, or recorded voice call."

 

"In addition to the business benefits we'll be providing customers, our icNotify service offers the advantage of multi-channel contact options and lower costs due to our unique single-platform, standards-based software approach," said Joseph A. Staples, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Interactive Intelligence. "This offering leverages our more than 10 years of experience developing and deploying business communications software for contact center automation and enterprise IP telephony. The return on investment for the service should typically average less than four months, and the improved efficiencies it adds to a business can be tremendous."