From small seeds grow mighty oaks

South African companies who bought the vision of a unified, all-software communications platform ten years ago are still
reaping the rewards today.

In 1998, a small company entered the South African telcoms space and took on established industry giants with its fresh approach to business communications. Now a global provider of unified IP business communications solutions, Interactive Intelligence’s SA
revenue has grown by over 1,000 percent in ten years, and it still services the very first customer it signed in SA.

According to Dave Paulding, Interactive Intelligence’s regional sales manager for UK and Africa, local companies who bought into the solution ten years ago were one of the earliest adopters worldwide.

“In those days, the concept of a unified, all-software communications platform was quite new,” he says.

Some local companies, like Interactive Intelligence’s first customer, Eternity Private Health understood the possibilities of an
all-in-one solution, and it is still reaping the benefits ten years later.

“We could have gone for a solution from the big vendors ten years ago, but Interactive Intelligence”s platform seemed to be what our business needed at the time,” says LesNel, MD of Eternity Health.

“Engaging with a new player in the market was a leap of faith, but it is a decision we have never regretted.”

According to Nel, over the past ten years only one hardware upgrade has been necessary, which is quite a feat. “The flexibility of the solution is unsurpassed, and the ability to scale the solution up or down according to our requirements has been invaluable,”he says.

“Over ten years we have grown from three agent seats to over forty agents handling 1 500 calls a day. The platform has been able to grow with us, has significantly enhanced our productivity and we’ve always been able to take advantage of the latest technology offerings.”

By Elanza Mouton,