Mitel (TSX:MNW) has made another push to expand its presence in the contact centre market.
By Jacob Serebrin
On Tuesday, the Ottawa-based business communications company announced that it has acquired Arizona-based call recording software maker OAISYS for an undisclosed amount.
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The acquisition is just one of several “strategic investments in contact centres” that Mitel has made in recent months, said Chris Courneya, the company’s vice-president and general manager for contact centres.
Mr. Courneya has seen that investment first hand. Before he held his current role at Mitel he was the CEO of prairieFyre, a supplier of contact centre software and services that Mitel acquired in June.
The two companies have worked together for 17 years, according to Brian Spencer, the CEO of OAISYS.
Mr. Courneya said the acquisition will allow Mitel to streamline its offering.
“The biggest benefit is to our channel partners,” he said.
The acquisition will also give Mitel access to OAISYS’ intellectual property and expertise.
“Owning intellectual property is important to us,” said Mr. Courneya.
According to Mr. Courneya Mitel has “always done a great job at quantitative” measurement but the OAISYS solution allows for qualitative measurements.
Mr. Spencer said the company’s software goes beyond just recording calls. Supervisors can also use it to listen in to calls in real time and view the “computer screen associated with the phone.”
The system’s speech analytics feature also allow users to search for spoken words.
This gives managers the power to “evaluate telephone-based staff,” and find out “what are they doing and saying.”
He said the software could be used to tell whether an employee who serves fewer customers than one of their colleagues is actually providing better service or just wasting time.
OAISYS’ 45 to 50 employees will be staying in the suburbs of Phoenix, though they will be moving to a Mitel office near where they currently work.
“For the time being it’s business as usual,” Mr. Spencer said, describing his staff’s experience as “non-overlapping” with Mitel’s.
Mr. Spencer will be taking-on a new role with Mitel. He’s been named the company’s director of business development for contact centres.
The OAISYS team “fits really well with our culture,” said Mr. Courneya.
While Mr. Courneya said that mergers and acquisitions remain part of the company’s growth strategy, he wouldn’t say if Mitel is looking at acquiring any other specific companies.
In January, Mitel completed a merger with Concord, Ont.-based Aastra Technologies.
Mitel CEO Richard McBee “is very keen on growing the business,” said Mr. Courneya, using “very well thought-out purchases and investments. These are all net new add-ons and incremental revenue streams.”
