Pizza Pizza Improves Customer Service and Decreases Costs Using Interactive Intelligence IP Communications Software

When Pizza Pizza Limited (TSX: PZA.UN), a prominent restaurant chain in Canada, began working with Interactive Intelligence (Nasdaq: ININ) nearly 10 years ago, the company needed a strategy for using work-at-home call center agents. By deploying communications technology that supported these at-home agents, the pizza chain believed it could improve hiring and retention rates, while lowering overhead costs.

Since its deployment of the Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite, Customer Interaction Center® (CIC), Pizza Pizza has done just that.

“CIC has enabled us to process more than 30 million orders per year, with 85 percent of those orders taken over the phone by more than 350 work-at-home agents,” said Pizza Pizza’s network telecommunications and security manager, Amar Narain. “As a result, we’ve been able to attract and retain the highest quality agents for improved customer service, while decreasing overhead costs by more than 25 percent.”

In addition to supporting its work-at-home agents, CIC also supports about 300 agents located at Pizza Pizza’s main call centers in Ottawa; Hamilton, Ontario; and Edmonton, Alberta.

CIC’s built-in voice over IP (VoIP) and software-based, all-in-one architecture, enable remote agents to use a session initiation protocol (SIP) headset or remote connectivity to a home phone or mobile phone without the need for ISDN lines or call routing limitations. It gives remote agents multichannel capabilities, and provides all the same functionality as in-office agents, including call processing and recording, back-end database access, and presence management. CIC also enables supervisors to remotely monitor and coach agents in real-time.

Based on the success of its deployment, Pizza Pizza has already expanded its use of CIC to support all of its corporate head office users, as well as users at three new office locations throughout Western Canada as a result of a recent pizza chain acquisition. The expansion, completed Aug. 31, 2009, was in conjunction with Pizza Pizza’s headquarters move from downtown Toronto to a new state-of-the-art, energy-efficient building on the city’s west side.

“By replacing our existing multi-vendor systems with CIC to consolidate all of our locations, we can further reduce costs and improve operational efficiencies,” Narain said. “In addition, we’ll be able to run more accurate reports so we can more effectively share resources across time zones and plan ahead for call spikes.”

By leveraging its agents across time zones to better manage peaks in call volume for all its 600 locations, Pizza Pizza also anticipates a reduction in on-hold times for improved customer service. Pizza Pizza will also deploy a CIC add-on application called Interaction Recorder® to improve agent training and quality assurance.

“Our agents will be able to take orders for any store regardless of geography, while being able to access customized menus that feature specialty pizzas and discounts specific to a location or region,” Narain said.

“Throughout our 10-year relationship with Interactive Intelligence we’ve been extremely impressed with its product innovation and customer-oriented attitude,” said Paul Goddard, vice president of enterprise development for Pizza Pizza. “Interactive Intelligence has been so easy to work with and has responded to our input by adding new features that continue to help us provide the best service in the industry.”

About Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73

Founded in 1967, Pizza Pizza is an industry pioneer and Canada’s number one pizza chain. With the 2007 acquisition of Pizza 73, a leader in Western Canada since 1985, Pizza Pizza operates more than 600 traditional and non-traditional restaurants coast to coast. Pizza Pizza has introduced numerous innovations such as whole-wheat multi-grain dough, a gluten-free crust, and the elimination of industrially-added trans-fats from all menu items. Through the years the company has been a loyal supporter of community groups, helping to organize fundraisers, sponsoring events, and supporting local projects at the corporate and franchise level. Visit Pizza Pizza at www.pizzapizza.ca and Pizza 73 at www.pizza73.com (TSX: PZA.UN).

About Interactive Intelligence

Interactive Intelligence Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ) is a global provider of unified business communications solutions for contact center automation, enterprise IP telephony, and business process automation. The company was founded in 1994 and has approximately 3,000 customers worldwide. Interactive Intelligence is among Software Magazine’s top 500 global software and services suppliers, is ranked among Network World’s top 200 North American networking vendors, is a BusinessWeek “hot growth 50” company, and is among Fortune Small Business magazine’s top 100 fastest growing companies. The company is also positioned in the leaders’ quadrant of the Gartner 2008 Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide Magic Quadrant report. Interactive Intelligence employs more than 600 people and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It has six global corporate offices with additional sales offices throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Interactive Intelligence can be reached at +1 317.872.3000 or info@inin.com; on the Net: www.inin.com.

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are described in the company's SEC filings.

Interactive Intelligence Inc. is the owner of the marks INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE, its associated LOGO and numerous other marks. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

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