Blinds.com Increases Revenue Using Interactive Intelligence IP Business Communications Solution

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 10^th 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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