Interactive Intelligence, Bertelsmann Sign Service Provider Agreement

Interactive Intelligence  and Bertelsmann mediaSystems  signed a service provider partner agreement that gives Bertelsmann-owned companies and select external customers network-based and customer premises equipment-based unified messaging and contact center solutions using interaction management software from Interactive Intelligence.

BmS will also provide configuration, consulting, implementation, systems management, support and maintenance services. The services, which will be delivered from BmS offices in Guetersloh, Vienna and Munich, will be available throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

BmS began using software from Interactive Intelligence in early 2000 to provide employees with unified messaging capabilities. According to Berthold Koehler, senior manager of voice services for BmS, the company expanded its relationship with Interactive Intelligence based on the software's open architecture, which enables it to integrate with different network systems.

"We were looking to take advantage of next-generation network capabilities like voice over IP, but still had to accommodate our existing proprietary communications systems," Koehler said. "We selected software by Interactive Intelligence because its standards-based architecture and rich feature-set enables us to migrate our existing applications and systems to VoIP without having to re-write perfectly good applications that are familiar to our employees and customers. The fact that the software can be delivered via network-based or existing CPE installations give us additional flexibility, as do the mix of enterprise and contact centre applications that Interactive Intelligence provides on a single platform."

"Bertelsmann mediaSystems has looked long and hard at how best to move to next-generation solutions and, in particular, at the value of applications rather than at technology for technology's sake," said Jos Mols, regional sales director for Interactive Intelligence, EMEA. "To be selected is a strong indication that our offerings and development plans are meeting the requirements of a marketplace that increasingly demands a flexible migration path to new technologies."