Interactive Intelligence Adds Directory to Its PureCloud Collaboration System

Software and services provider Interactive Intelligence further bolstered its cloud offerings for the enterprise this week with the release of PureCloud Directory.

PureCloud debuted in June as Interactive Intelligence's communications, collaboration, and customer engagement services platform. The platform, offered by approximately 350 resellers globally, is designed to stimulate collaboration among colleagues. Employees who have registered on PureCloud are able to log and update relevant information about themselves, including their job titles, office locations, and other details that may be of interest. They can also manage groups that are created by referring to charts, languages spoken, special capabilities, and other attributes. Users are granted access to all services in the PureCloud suite, including Directory and additional Interactive Intelligence add-ons.

Directory will integrate into CRM systems such as Salesforce.com, and enable employees to have mobile and desktop access to other profiles that appear on a social media-like interface. After accessing the system, users will have the option of instant messaging the person on the other end through chat contact buttons. The goal of the feature is to bridge the gaps created by email and encourage a more familiar environment.

Known mostly for its work with contact centers, Interactive Intelligence's expansion further rounds out its reputation. Since the release of PureCloud, the company has been working on appealing to the enterprise segment, notes Blair Pleasant, president and principal analyst at COMMfusion.

"We designed PureCloud Directory to make enterprise collaboration easier by using an intuitive social media design and offering accessibility via Web browsers and mobile devices," Jeff Platon, chief marketing officer of Interactive Intelligence, said in a statement. "Offering it via our multitenant PureCloud platform gives customers the added advantage of fast and easy deployment, maximum reliability, and unlimited scalability."

The improved group management capabilities are an important feature of the release, Pleasant says, especially considering the likelihood of disconnect in many larger organizations, where in many cases not all employees have been acquainted. "What's happening now is that people work on a project basis, and they'll come together for a certain project and then split up and go back to whatever they were doing, [forming] different groups as needed," says Pleasant. "This really makes it easier to help figure out who should participate, who has the skills and expertise, and...get work done."

Still, Pleasant concedes that larger businesses stand to gain most from such technologies, as employees often work in different locations. This can lead to a sense of disconnect among workers.

Interactive Intelligence plans to release other features that will focus on the optimization of employee interactions. Directory is the "first of a series...of services to be delivered" from PureCloud, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

PureCloud Directory is currently available in English, Spanish, and French, but will be released in other languages later in the year.

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