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May 27, 2009

Voxeo Broadens Unified Communications with IMified Acquisition



By Amy Tierney, TMCnet Web Editor


In a move to boost its communications efforts with customers, an Orlando, Florida-based provider of IVR and VoIP hosting platforms announced today that it acquired a company that makes software for instant-messaging applications.

 
Under the deal with Sacramento, California-based IMified, Voxeo can build an enhanced instant-message response system into its platform and in turn design its own communications applications for customer service use. The acquisition is part of Voxeo's strategy to enable Unified Self-Service and live Unified Communications (News - Alert) applications that work across voice, video, SMS, USSD, IM and the mobile Web, the company said.
 
There will be no changes to the terms of service for existing IMified customers and developers. All IMified employees have joined Voxeo (News - Alert).
 
As technology changes, consumers are adapting to new forms of communication. As such, IM has become a preferred communication mode among the business world, Voxeo said. Not only is easy to use, but using IM could help save on business costs, as well.
 
"Instant Messaging is a natural extension to voice self-service and is an important piece of any company's unified communication strategy," Jonathan Taylor, Voxeo's president and CEO, said in a statement today. "IMified significantly expands Voxeo's unified communications offerings with the world’s largest IM application platform and most experienced development team. We look forward to working with the IMified team to launch several exciting new IM features, platforms and services in 2009 and beyond."
 
IMified’s solution allows users to send and receive instant messages and determine the availability of other IM users. On average, an IM interaction is one-tenth of the cost of Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and one- one hundredth of the cost of a live agent phone call, Voxeo said.
 
According to IMified, the company takes headaches out of building and hosting IM agents, which in the past were hindered by standard protocols that didn’t support various IM networks. The company offers enterprises and developers a single Platform-as-a-Service, or “PaaS” API to communicate with any IM network or platform.
 
According to a TMC (News - Alert) report, 68% of respondents are using instant-messaging of one sort or another in their businesses. And the popularity of IM seems to be catching on.
 
"IM is a key, and increasingly ubiquitous, real-time communication channel,” Bern Elliot, a Gartner (News - Alert), Inc. analyst said in a statement. “It is critical that enterprises consider IM as they build out their next-generation communications channels. IM offers a simple way to increase customer satisfaction, while simultaneously cutting costs and increasing employee productivity."
 
IMified is the fifth company Voxeo has acquired over the last five years. In December, the company acquired Voice Objects, a provider of self-service application development and analytics solutions. As TMC reported, Voice Objects was slated to boost Voxeo’s support for advanced application features, including intelligent call personalization, interaction reporting and analytics and large-scale replication.



Edited by Amy Tierney


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