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Interview With Interactive Intelligence's Shaheen Haque
Published Sep 5, 2012
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What is the current rate of adoption of IP telephony in the Middle East? What kinds of organizations are deploying these?
We are seeing a tremendous uptake of IP telephony in the Middle East, as organizations look to migrate from legacy analogue phones or older hardware based PBX systems to systems such as ours.
Software based communications systems offer unparalleled advantages and cost savings that the greater community is coming to realize.
No two business enterprises are alike. Yet the way multimedia technologies, information, the virtual office and customer expectations continue to converge on the business landscape, enterprises in every corner of commerce share a common need: The need for a complete and agile business communications solution. Agility comes from open standards and a true SIP architecture for VoIP, and from your choice of an adaptable suite of pre-integrated applications. The best way to unify an enterprise is with an all-in-one solution that unifies communications first.
In our experience we are seeing enterprises of all sizes moving to IP telephony, be they large enterprises, medium sized companies or governmental bodies.
What are some of the latest technologies and trends among IP telephony systems?
VoIP/IP has transformed the way organizations are handling communications across the world, and the Middle East region is no different even with its sometimes strict regulatory stance!
VoIP/IP technology promises significant cost savings and improved levels of efficiency for all organizations taking up the mantle in the region.
VoIP or IP telephony is assisting organizations initiate phone calls and soon video calls, that travel over the Internet like data…similar to e-mail or a web page over an internet infrastructure.
Middle Eastern businesses that are setting up their communications infrastructure for the first time are doing so by prioritizing additional IP services to their common networking infrastructure to handle all corporate communications. This new approach is seeing the IP networks which are now standard in business and government bodies alike, these days are more likely to carry more than just e-mail traffic and has opened up to other IP services, such as the ability to carry video, voice and data simultaneously.
By converging voice and data (and more increasingly video, as this technology gains in momentum) traffic into a single stream, Middle Eastern organizations are no different to their Western counterparts in seeing the promise of lower total cost of network ownership by reducing expenditure on associated hardware equipment and maintenance and network administration.
It was not so long ago that voice, video and data each required its own dedicated hardware, network etc. Now with open standards, increased bandwidth availability, I believe in the Middle East…we are coming to see the potential of the dream of converged solutions becoming reality!
With the deregulation of the telecom industry in the Middle East and the legalizing of VoIP/IP communications by some of the regional states, a flood of organizations have made or are considering making the switch over to VoIP/IP technology.
The states that have not made the transition to fully legalize VoIP communications, have allowed limited usage internal within organizations and are head-down in discussing VoIP/IP with large technology providers such as Skype…and this in itself is enough for organizations to justify the leap into investment for the technology!
The Call Center functionality within organizations is one of the first areas to have realized the advantages of VoIP. Do a survey on the technology used in a Middle Eastern Call Center and I would guess that 90% of the time you will see the management have invested in IP based technology or are about to make the switch/commitment!
Call centers are seeing tremendous value because of IP technology’s ability to support agents, regardless of their physical location and lowering the overall costs especially as Call Center technology has now moves away from expensive hardware centric operations, over to IP and software based solutions(…such as Interactive Intelligence).
In this climate all Middle Eastern organizations need to be 100% sure that any investment they make will deliver value and or can provide a competitive advantage within a very short timeframe. The IP Communications (…VoIP, Video, Data and the convergence of these)…promises this result if not immediately then in the short term as the regional TRA negotiate and roadmap the introductions of this technology into their territories!
How big are the opportunities you see in the Middle East markets in 2012?
I see a lot of potential in the Middle East starting with 2012. There is a keen interest within organisations to update and take on board leading technologies. There is no doubt that these companies are willing to make the necessary investments.
The Middle East was a little sluggish after the global recession but I think because of its tendancy to be an early adopter of technology, the region will be one of the leaders in spending in the coming years.
At Interactive Intelligence we are seeing interest from the wide spectrum of prospects. What\\\'s particularly interesting is that it this interest is not just from the large government departments, but also from small companies.
What kind of partners you usually look for?
We are looking for partners who have the passion and belief in our technology and direction. Partners need to invest, not so much money but definitely time and effort to immerse themselves within the solution and get ready to WOW the prospects with what we have to offer. We have exciting technology and are looking for exciting/leading edge partners.
We are appealing not just to the technologists within the partner base but also the business and sales people.
What are the challenges that facing you partners today?
The challenges facing our partners are: positioning and awareness. Through a number of initiatives, we have been steadily increasing our visibility in the region. We are definitely a technology leader and are one of the few players who have made it into the leaders Quadrant of Gartner\'s Contact Center Technology Magic Quadrant.
Any customer looking at updating their current solution or interested in purchasing a new solution needs to seriously consider what we have to offer: a very innovative and complete solution which is also Arabised for the region. Our mission is to provide a complete and enhanced customer experience for our customers’ customers.
Other challenges relate to the price perception- our Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) story is GREAT. Our solution is one of the most user centric solutions out there, meaning the customer does not need to bring in technology specialists for admin changes and because we are a TRUE all-in-one solution. We have advantages such as rapid deployment which means lower initial costs.
How do you help your partners to overcome those challenges?
We are marketing and pursuing an advertising campaign within our target markets to raise awareness of who we are, what we do and who is currently using our solutions. We have over 4,500 customers globally and many clients who have in excess of 5,000 agents, meaning the solutions we offer are extremely scalable! We need to evangelically push our message out as we empower our partners with the knowledge, support and enthusiasm.
What initiatives will you be lining up in 2012 for your channel partners?
We have so far completed a Partner Conference in Prague, where our partners were exposed to our roadmap and were able to exchange ideas with their piers from across EMEA region.
Just last week we held our biggest event to date where 1500 partners and customers attended from the world over. We also launched some great products such as Interaction Mobilizer enabling customers to create smartphone apps for their specific customer interaction points.
What can partners expect in the way of service from you?
Partners can expect a dedicated team who will work relentlessly to support them in sales efforts and it does not stop there. We are in it for the long-run! We support our partners during installations and even well into supporting the customers. Our partner’s customers are our customers and keeping the end-customer happy/ educated and aware is paramount to all our successes!
How do you expect the Middle East distribution channel to evolve in 2012?
We do not follow a distribution model in the Middle East and I do not see this changing either. I think we will most likely remain in a 2 tier model for the forcible future!
What’s the message you would like to send to your partners?
We are here, for you and because of you. So engage us, ask us and work with us!
The team is ready and willing! Be part of the awareness programme. Utilise the partner portal- its created for you and should be your bible for sales and support. Above all be creative and we will prevail because of our partners, our customers and out belief in the richness of our solution!
Profile of the company
Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ININ) is a global provider of contact center automation, unified communications, and business process automation software and services for mid-size to large organizations. Founded in 1994 and now backed by more than 4,500 customers worldwide, Interactive Intelligence is profitable and debt free with annual 2011 revenues of $209.5 million. For the contact center as well as the enterprise, our standards-based IP platform unifies every aspect of your business.
• Contact Center - Cloud based, or on-premise, get everything your contact center needs to offer consistent, world-class service in a single pre-integrated application suite.
• Unified Communications - Support your users with a single all-software, SIP-based IP PBX application suite that easily integrates with your existing business applications.
• Business Process Automation - A unique and cost-effective solution for process automation and management running on a single platform.
Posted by VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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