Frost & Sullivan Applauds Interactive Intelligence’s R&D and Marketing-Driven Rapid Growth in the Cloud-Based Contact Center Solutions Market
The company has developed a feature-rich set of contact center offerings for a large and loyal customer base
Based on its recent analysis of the cloud-based contact center solutions market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Interactive Intelligence with the 2013 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Company of the Year for Cloud-based Contact Center Solutions. Interactive Intelligence leveraged its early mover advantage to become the market leader with a 54 percent year-over-year cloud revenue growth rate in 2012, much higher than the market growth rate of 13 percent. Importantly, even while its cloud business grew rapidly, it did not lose ground in the premises-based systems market.
The standout reason for Interactive Intelligence’s success is its increased investment in sales, marketing, operations and R&D, which helped expand its product leadership and market share in the cloud-based market. This multi-year expansion, which included building out cloud infrastructure, paid off in the form of expanded cloud sales and recurring revenue.
The company also has a set of highly flexible deployment options. The Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite can be deployed in the cloud, on-premises or as part of a hybrid solution, and allows customers to move between models. Even though the company’s unique hybrid model is cloud-based, it allows telco lines, calls, and recordings to remain at the customer location.
Finally, unlike other competitors, Interactive Intelligence also targets the small-sized contact center market. In early 2013, the company announced Communications as a Service (CaaS) Small Center for this customer segment, which is based on the same platform as its CaaS offering for mid-size to large contact centers. In addition to offering a mature platform, CaaS Small Center is a simplified offering, with easy-to-understand pricing and packaging, and a free product test drive offer.
“The level of security, reliability, experience, breadth of functionality, flexibility and minimal risk offered by Interactive Intelligence has helped support its growth in the cloud market,” said Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst Nancy Jamison. “Its single-platform, all-in-one architecture was purpose-built from the ground up, and this has enabled the company to quickly and cost-effectively add functionality.”
Its flagship software suite, Customer Interaction Center (CIC), provides one of the most competitive feature sets in the market. In addition to contact center functionality, it offers unified communications, mobile customer service, business process automation, and content management capabilities. The integration of contact center and enterprise applications enables customers to derive value across the enterprise.
One of the ways in which Interactive Intelligence demonstrates its customer value leadership is in the breadth of its deployment options. It also provides value in the ease with which customers can deploy its cloud solution.
“Year after year, Interactive Intelligence continues to grow and customize offerings in each area it targets, whether in a particular vertical market or a line of business,” noted Ms. Jamison. “Interactive Intelligence CaaS is the highlight of this impressive solution mix that scales and changes according to business needs.”
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.
