November 19, 2012
By Judith Aquino,

Interactive Intelligence to Roll Out MarketPlace for Apps

Interactive Intelligence, a software maker that helps companies streamline their human and automated communications, announced today its plans to launch the Interactive Intelligence MarketPlace, an e-commerce site that features third-party and internally developed applications to enable customers to better leverage the company's offerings.

"We know that we can't create everything that our customers need, so the MarketPlace lets us give our customers access to products prepared by third-party developers and provide more value for our products," explains Rachel Wentink, senior director of strategic initiatives at Interactive Intelligence.

Interactive Intelligence joins the list of other companies, like Salesforce.com and Microsoft, that have taken a page from Apple, and are offering their own marketplaces for apps.

The MarketPlace, which will be launched in December, will open with approximately 50 apps, including apps for process automation templates, custom reports, and dashboards. In terms of submitting user comments about the apps, only customers who have purchased the product will be able to comment on it. The participating developers include ACP, Adapt, Common Insights, EDCi, GM Voices, The IEC, and more.

The developers will set the product prices, which could range from zero to $25,000, according to Wentink. Interactive Intelligence will take a percentage (Wentink declined to say what the percentage will be) of the sale and developers will be paid quarterly.

Apps that are submitted for the Marketplace will be reviewed and tested by Interactive Intelligence. The company also plans to eventually add a bidding component, in which customers will be able to submit requests for specific app functions and receive bids from developers.