Unified Communications a key area of investment according to Interactive Intelligence Survey

Slough, England, 04 June 2008 – 87% of businesses are looking to
invest in Unified Communications solutions in the near future despite
fears about spending due to the credit crunch. A survey carried out for
Interactive Intelligence by independent specialists Vanson Bourne
revealed that only 13% of those questioned said they were not
considering moving towards a Unified Communications solution.

A strong message to come out of the survey was that individual
technologies that make up Unified Communications solutions such as VoIP
and Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) were driving this move.

VoIP was the most popular aspect of Unified Communications, with 80%
of respondents citing it as a technology they were planning to invest
in as part of their customer service solution. In addition 41% said
they were interested in Interactive Voice Response, 31% in presence
management and 30% in Session Initiated Protocol (SIP).

Richard Brown, VP Sales EMEA of Interactive Intelligence said, “This
confirms our longheld view at Interactive Intelligence that
individually, technologies such as VoIP and SIP can deliver huge
benefits internally to companies by improving their operations, yet
when brought together as a Unified Communications solution companies
can experience both improvements in customer service and internal
operations.”

Key Findings

• Interest in moving toward a unified communications solution was
particularly strong in the retail, distribution and transport sector,
with 100% of those questioned indicating they were considering moving
towards a Unified Communications solution.

• 50% of businesses said that the credit crunch would not affect their spending on Unified Communications solutions

• 58% of respondents hoped to see the greatest gain through internal
return on investment, while a further 38% hoped to see both operational
improvements and better service quality for their customers.

• 80% of respondents felt that offering Unified Communications
rather than managing the call centre as a separate aspect of the
business would benefit the enterprise as a whole.

Financial Results

Although all sectors felt that Unified Communications is of key
importance, this was particularly true of the financial services
sector. 100% of respondents in this sector said that they were looking
to invest in Unified Communications in the near future. 76% of
respondents in the financial sector thought that Unified Communications
would benefit business more than treating the call centre as a separate
entity.

Brown confirmed, “The financial services sector has always been at
the forefront of investing in new communications technologies to
continue to deliver better customer service to its clients. Therefore
it is no surprise to us as Interactive Intelligence that as a sector
they are particularly keen to invest in Unified Communications and is
in fact borne out by our recent experience.”