Blinds.com Increases Revenue Using Interactive Intelligence IP Business Communications Solution
August 23 2011 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
Blinds.com, the largest online provider of custom window
treatments, has reported increased sales revenue as a result of
deploying the Interactive Intelligence (Nasdaq: ININ) all-in-one IP
communications software suite, Customer Interaction Center™
(CIC).
“CIC has helped us increase customer conversion rates from 18 to
36 percent, which has contributed to an increase in revenue from
just under $42 million to more than $70 million,” said COO and VP
for Blinds.com, Steve Riddell. “CIC has helped us increase these
conversion rates through a number of flexible features, including
its skills-based multichannel routing and customer feedback
surveys.”
Blinds.com has also reported benefits as a result of CIC’s
interactive voice response application. “CIC’s IVR application has
helped us reduce live agent service calls by 30 percent,” Riddell
said. “This is especially impressive given that we’ve
simultaneously increased sales by 50 percent.”
CIC’s performance monitoring capabilities have also contributed
to the company’s success. “Of our total employee base, 80 percent
are contact center agents who play a key role in driving revenue
for our company,” Riddell said. “The better trained these agents
are, the fewer customer problems we have. CIC’s call recording and
reporting features have enabled us to easily monitor and evaluate
performance so we can constantly improve agent skills.”
Blinds.com has also used CIC’s multichannel routing capabilities
to further improve service. “We’ve customized CIC to route calls
and emails to the agents best qualified to handle these channels,”
Riddell said. “We’re also using multichannel queuing to manage
overflow. So, for instance, if a call has been in-queue for more
than two minutes, it is prioritized and re-routed to our email
team.”
In addition, Blinds.com has used CIC to create 30 new automated
processes that assign workflow tasks to agents. “CIC has enabled us
to go beyond the management of communications to structure,
automate, and monitor tasks, which has resulted in increased
operational efficiencies and improved customer satisfaction,”
Riddell said.
Blinds.com has also added a work-from-home option to its
business continuity plan, which uses CIC to support remote agents
in the event of a natural disaster or outage.
Prior to CIC, Blinds.com was using an Avaya system. It replaced
the system after several acquisitions led to the need for more
sophisticated features and simplified management. “At the time, we
were forced to run six different websites from two locations and
two phone systems,” Riddell said. “The Avaya system gave us no way
to transfer calls between locations, no way to listen in on calls,
and no way to add queues to respond to call volume. In addition,
anytime we wanted to make changes we had to involve IT.”
Blinds.com selected CIC based on its open, single-platform
software architecture. “We liked that CIC was developed from the
ground up by one vendor and designed to run on a single, open
platform,” Riddell said. “This eliminated the finger-pointing of a
multi-vendor system, and ensured simplified management and flexible
customization options.”
Blinds.com purchased CIC from Interactive Intelligence reseller,
Automated Voice & Data Solutions
(AVDS), who also helped deploy the software.
“AVDS was incredibly knowledgeable about CIC, which helped us
complete deployment over the course of a weekend without a single
hiccup,” Riddell said.
CIC has continued to effectively support the company’s growth.
“Following our initial CIC deployment, we consolidated our two
offices into one,” Riddell said. “Less than a year later we
acquired another major competitor. Our staff grew by 60 percent and
we had to move 900 toll-free numbers overnight to CIC. Had it not
been for CIC’s open, software-based architecture, that move
would’ve caused lost business and major disruption.”
About Blinds.com
Blinds.com is the largest online provider of custom window
treatments in the world. The company serves more than one million
customers throughout the U.S. and Canada and offers huge savings on
high-quality window blinds, shades, plantation shutters, and
draperies. Blinds.com is the 10th fastest-growing e-commerce
company in America. It employs more than 100 people at its
headquarters in Houston, Texas. For more information, call
800.505-1905 or visit www.blinds.com. Or follow Blinds.com on
Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/BlindsDotCom; Blog:
http://blog.Blinds.com; YouTube: http://www.YouTube.com/Blindscom;
and Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/Blinds.com.
About Interactive Intelligence
Interactive Intelligence Group 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’s solutions, which can be deployed via an
on-premise or hosted model, include vertical-specific applications
for insurance and collections. Interactive Intelligence was founded
in 1994 and has more than 4,000 customers worldwide. The company is
among Software Magazine’s 2010 Top 500 Global Software and Services
Suppliers, and Forbes Magazine’s 2010 Best Small Companies in
America. It employs approximately 1,000 people and is headquartered
in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company has 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. Or follow Interactive
on Twitter: http://www.inin.com/twitter; Blog: www.inin.com/blog;
YouTube: http://www.inin.com/YouTube; Facebook:
http://www.inin.com/facebook; and LinkedIn:
http://www.inin.com/linkedin.
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 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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