Customer relationship management (CRM) producer Onyx Software and Interactive Intelligence, a global developer of Microsoft-based business communications solutions, have signed an alliance agreement that the two companies hope will help reduce the cost and complexity of contact centre automation and CRM integration.

Under the agreement, the companies are set to deliver a new connector which will integrate the latest version of Onyx Employee Portal, a web-based CRM solution that consolidates customer information, and Interactive Intelligence's Customer Interaction Centre (CIC), a contact centre automation software product that includes applications such as automatic call distribution, interactive voice response and web chat.

The deal is the culmination of a long history of partnerships between Onyx and Interactive that has seen the two carry out a series of joint implementations at more than a dozen customer sites, including Amway Korea, Netegrity, and Sony Music Entertainment.

Dr. Donald E. Brown, president and chief executive officer for Interactive Intelligence says that with customers already using Onyx/Interactive Intelligence, businesses can be confident that they're getting a solution that's delivered by proven market leaders.

'Our relationship with Interactive Intelligence is fundamentally about saving our customers' time, and increasing productivity in the contact centre," added Ben Kiker, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Onyx.