Interactive Intelligence has launched Interaction Process Automation (IPA), a new communications-based product which the company claims will provide a quantifiable return on investment for unified communications by automating the processes.

According to the company, IPA is as an alternative to traditional process management suites and tool-kits, which require professional services, custom programming, and lengthy implementation cycles.

Interactive said that it has leveraged its IP-based unified communications platform to orchestrate the delivery of work, and give organizations the tools they need to capture, prioritize, route, escalate and track each step of a business process. The new offering targets mid-size to large organizations across all industries that require the automation of multi-step, people-centric business processes.

Dr. Donald E. Brown, founder and CEO of Interactive Intelligence, said: IPA is a completely new approach to process automation. We’ve taken mature communications technology and applied it to the broader area of business process automation.

IPA helps organisations increase efficiencies and cut costs by decreasing the number of employees and the amount of time involved in a given business process; by eliminating process latency; by reducing the chance for human error; and by providing standardised methods for handling business processes.