Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., a global provider of unified IP business communications solutions and a leader in the contact center market, has announced an agreement of its purchase of selected Interactive Intelligence-related contact center assets of its South African-based reseller, ATIO Corp. Pty Ltd. As of Jan. 1, 2012, these assets are now owned by Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., and the new company will operate as Interactive Intelligence South Africa Pty Ltd.
Privately held ATIO has been in business since 1986 and has been an Interactive Intelligence reseller since 2002. The move is intended to Interactive Intelligence increased presence not only in South Africa but throughout the developing sub-Saharan region and beyond.
This is an all cash transaction. Details about the operations of the new Interactive Intelligence South Africa Pty Ltd., include:
Interactive Intelligence founder and CEO, Don Brown is quoted as saying, “ATIO has ranked among our top revenue-generating resellers of all partners throughout Europe, Middle East, and Africa each year since it first began offering our solutions…This acquisition marks our continued strategy to more effectively grow our existing operations in key international geographies, which began early last year with reseller acquisitions in Germany and Australia. This acquisition also lays a strong foundation for planned investments in the region that support our rapidly growing cloud-based communications-as-a-service business.”
Birgitta Cederstrom, Frost & Sullivan's business unit leader, ICT Africa, is quoted stating that Africa is becoming a popular place for establishing contact centers and that, “South Africa specifically has been a natural choice for contact centers due to its large and articulate English-speaking population and service-oriented business culture. Another strength is its expanding broadband connectivity, thus ensuring that the latest unified communications and collaboration tools will run efficiently.”
With contact center transformations into not just customer interaction centers but critical parts of enterprise efforts to improve the quality of customer experiences —generating loyalty and a trustworthy environment for sales and marketing — solidifying more control over important assets in key markets makes tremendous strategic sense. This certainly is an interesting and not insignificant way for Interactive Intelligence to start the new year.
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