Certainly the move was in line with the trend towards consolidation in the communications space as well as a tendency to "fill-out" a contact center portfolio to facilitate one-stopping for end users. But by acquiring the Nuasis live agent solution, Intervoice was bucking the trend for self service to be the acquired solution, not the acquiring one.
Nortel bought Periphonics. Aspect bought VoiceTek. Genesys bought Telera. Even the Cisco acquisition of Audium is an example where a self service solution was being added to an already strong live agent product. Would Intervoice be successful in getting its customers to even consider replacing existing contact center software with their new combined solution?
At last week's analyst meeting, Intervoice showcased users that have indeed decided to entrust the entire spectrum of contact center applications to Intervoice. One of these was an agency of the State of Utah. When they finally found the funding to upgrade a 15+ year old Intervoice IVR system, two things happened. Not only did they choose to upgrade with Intervoice, they also decided to take advantage of Intervoice's new Contact Portal solution (which combines self and assisted service) to support 300+ home agents.
During his presentation, the director from the State of Utah commented that his number one reason for staying with Intervoice was, "We are very happy with them. We appreciate the integrity of Intervoice."
Companies have to earn the right to present new solutions to customers. They earn it by consistently delivering what they say they will and being there to fix things when they inevitably go wrong. Intervoice earned the right with the State of Utah through 15 years of consistent support to present its new solution for combined self and assisted service. It's the integrity of Intervoice that made this customer not only willing to listen to the new Contact Portal story but being an early adopter.
