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TMCNet: Loring Ward Implements Interactive Intelligence Unified IP Business Communications Solution

[July 31, 2012]

Loring Ward Implements Interactive Intelligence Unified IP Business Communications Solution

Jul 31, 2012 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- Loring Ward, a financial services company, has reported increased productivity, client service, and decreased costs as a result of deploying Interactive Intelligence Group Inc.'s unified IP business communications software solution.
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The Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite, Customer Interaction Center (CIC), replaced an Avaya system and is being used by all of Loring Ward's employees as a managed service, the Company noted.

"As a result of our CIC deployment, employee productivity has increased 30 percent," said Loring Ward's VP of infrastructure, Randy Rudolph. "These gains are in part due to CIC's find-me/follow-me feature, which enables employees to be reached anywhere via a single number. Also contributing to these gains is CIC's presence management feature, which enables employees to view the status of colleagues. With our people so geographically dispersed, this eliminates a lot of phone tag and voicemails, which has had a huge impact on productivity." CIC's skills-based routing capability also ensures that Loring Ward clients are connected to the employee best suited to meet their needs, which have contributed to increase service, according to Rudolph.

Loring Ward said it is also using CIC's Interaction Marquee to export statistical contact center data for display on a wallboard so supervisors can more effectively manage incoming calls from financial advisors. "Supervisors are able to see when advisors call, who they are, how many employees are available, and listen in for coaching purposes," Rudolph said. "This helps us maintain proper staffing levels and make continuous improvements." The Company added that it has also benefited from the Interactive Intelligence Interaction SIP Station device, which was designed as a simple alternative to IP desk phones.

"The Interaction SIP Station devices have eliminated the heavy costs associated with our Avaya IP desk phones, as well as costs associated with hardware upgrades," Rudolph said. "Plus, its Power-over-Ethernet enables us to leverage our server room's redundant power infrastructure, which eliminates the need to supply redundant power at each desk while ensuring reliability." Loring Ward reported that the Interactive Intelligence Managed Services offering monitors CIC 24x7, providing proactive problem resolution and tracking of all programming changes and updates. "With Interactive's Managed Services we don't need our IT administrators to become certified experts on CIC," Rudolph said. "We're able to focus on what we do best and allow Interactive Intelligence to do what it does best." According to Rudolph, Interactive Intelligence has given Loring Ward more value for its money. "We're getting so much more from CIC for basically the same cost as we had been paying," Rudolph said. "But money and features are only half the equation. Customer interactions are at the heart of our business, and Interactive Intelligence was the only provider that met our price, functionality, flexibility and ease-of-use criteria." Loring Ward is an independent financial advisor.

Interactive Intelligence Group is a global provider of contact center automation, unified communications, and business process automation software and services. The company's unified IP business communications solutions, which can be deployed on-premise or via the cloud, are ideal for industries such as financial services, insurance, outsourcers, collections, and utilities.

More Information: www.inin.com www.loringward.com ((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

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