Business communications software provider Interactive Intelligence calls itself "deliberately innovative." I think of it as a company that demonstrates that it is able to accomplish two seemingly conflicting goals at once. Conventional wisdom tells us that the more features you get in a product, the more you're likely to pay for it. With call center software, traditionally the more functionality and scalability a product has, the more it stretches out of reach of all but the most flush of companies.

 

Increasing both features and the amount of seats to which a call center can scale while reducing ROI is an oxymoron — isn't it?

 

Not with IP telephony, it's not.

 

Today, Interactive Intelligence announced the availability of a major upgrade to its flagship IP contact center software, Customer Interaction Center (CIC).

 

Version 2.4 of CIC has three important new capabilities. First, the release introduces a new SIP-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 optimization features 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 voice mail menus.

 

The agent optimization enhancement is comprised of screen recording; more specifically, synchronizing screen recordings with audio recording files. The addition of multimedia screen recording allows call center managers to see a much more complete picture of agents' interactions with customers, resulting in vastly improved opportunities to mentor and improve agent effectiveness for all interaction types. (As anyone who runs a call center knows, trying to evaluate bits and pieces of an agent's performance to forensically "rebuild" a problematic customer interaction can create more problems than it solves.)

 

It was not very long ago that this level of call monitoring was hopelessly out of reach of all but the largest of companies.

Also with CIC 2.4 comes real-time and alert-based agent messaging, agent real-time queue status and whisper coaching (which allows a supervisor to speak suggestions to an agent during a transaction without the customer hearing it). The goal of all the new enhancements to CIC 2.4 is to increase agent productivity and improve customer service levels. (Both agents and supervisors can personalize their alerts.) By leveraging existing CIC telephony resources, the integrated agent optimization capabilities are now more affordable for small to medium-sized contact center organizations.

"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 center," said Dr. Donald Brown, Interactive Intelligence president and CEO. "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 enterprisewide alternative to competitor's proprietary, hardware-centric offerings."

 

Interactive Intelligence is also justifiably proud of the addition of the new SIP Interaction Media Server. This feature was added to increase 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: from 500 agents in the previous version to 1,000 supported agents per system in version 2.4. In an all-software deployment of CIC, scalability has increased about 12 times, from 25 agents to approximately 300.

 

In a business climate where reliability and disaster recovery has crept up every company's "to-do" list, CIC 2.4 has stepped up to the plate. By eliminating a single point of failure, Interaction Media Server gives organizations the added benefit of increased reliability (five "9" reliability, so they tell me). 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, the media server reduces the reliance on third-party software and hardware in many configurations, which substantially drives down a call center's costs, while simultaneously allowing it to leverage much larger VoIP deployments. (Cost savings can range up to 40 percent.)

 

Finally, CIC 2.4 adds enhancements to the product's voice messaging system. These enhancements include speech-enabled command and control for managing one's voice mail, plus the addition of configurable voice mail menus that mimic pre-existing system options for reduced training requirements. (This is a feature I particularly like: rather than having to "get used to" a completely new voice mail set-up with a new product, the voice mail can be configured to seem exactly like a previous system to users, eliminating the need learn a new system all over again.)

 

The feature that made my jaw drop the most? CIC 2.4 is available at no cost increase over the previous version. The product is priced at between $2,500 and $4,000 per seat, depending on functionality.

 

For more information, visit www.inin.com.

 

Tracey Schelmetic is editorial director for CUSTOMER INTER@CTION Solutions.