US-based firms Interactive Intelligence (Inin), a provider of business communications solutions, and Buzzient, a top technology firm, have partnered to provide an integrated social media monitoring, routing and reporting solution.

The agreement combines Buzzient’s social media analysis and integration capabilities with the Inin multichannel queuing, routing and reporting applications for more effective and efficient handling of online social media content.

The combined offering enables enterprises and contact centers to monitor social media “chatter” on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other sites for customer-defined keywords. It then routes the content as e-mail messages to the most appropriate individual or department based on business rules and agent skill.

For instance, social media interactions can be tagged with quantitative sentiment scores for tone (positive, negative, neutral), then routed to the right person in the organization according to vertical focus (financial, retail, gaming, insurance, healthcare), product, competitor’s name, or any other pre-determined rule, a statement said.

The offering also provides customizable, integrated reporting so organizations receive a comprehensive view of customer service, whether the content and interactions come from a phone call, fax, e-mail, Web chat, or social media platform.

“Most organizations today understand the benefits of social media applications – from improved customer service and retention, to better products and services,” said Buzzient CEO, Timothy Jones.

“Without integration to a company’s communications routing and reporting systems, however, there is a far greater chance for wrong, inappropriate, or inefficient responses, which can turn minor customer annoyances into major public crises,” he added.

“Social media now represents an amazingly fast-growing communications channel,” said David Paulding, regional sales director for UK, Middle East and Africa, Inin.

“For years our solutions have enabled customers to effectively manage phone calls, faxes, e-mails, Web chats, and business objects. Buzzient now adds social media content to our multichannel mix, so regardless of the media type users are assured that information is routed to the right person for strengthened customer relationships and enhanced brand opinion.”

The joint offering includes monitoring across Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, wikis, online forums and other social media platforms. It recognizes content in more than 60 languages and supports sentiment analysis for English, German and French.

“In addition to collecting content in real-time from a huge number of online sources, Buzzient uniquely offers proven integration with enterprise applications in the contact center and other customer relationship management operations,” Paulding added.

“This gives our joint customers a unique competitive edge.” – TradeArabia News Service