Operators are standing by!(Ronco Inventions utilizes Interactive Intelligence software) (Brief Article)

• Author: Kaelble, Steve

Coming soon to late-night television: "The Father of Indiana Software Meets the Godfather of the Infomercial."

That would be Donald "Doc" Brown, the gifted Hoosier inventor of sophisticated business software, and Ron Popeil, the man behind the Vega-a-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and a host of other favorites hawked on TV. In spite of his famed talent for innovation, Popeil needed Brown's help in finding a better way for those operators who are always standing by to answer the phone.

That's why Popeil's California-based company, Ronco Inventions, placed an order with Brown's Interactive Intelligence of Indianapolis. Ronco picked the Indiana software firm's Enterprise Interaction Center to run its new customer-service center.

But wait[ldots]there's more! Enterprise Interaction Center, or EIC, not only will take Ronco's incoming calls but also handle faxes, e-mail and World Wide Web interaction, all via a single computer server! It won't slice, dice or make julienne fries, but it will allow Popeil and his employees to handle and monitor all dealings with customers seeking to purchase the Popeil Pasta Maker with the Free Sausage Attachment, the GLH Formula #9 baldspot remover or the latest must-have, the Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, currently the top-selling product on television ("from vegetables to fish to kabobs[ldots]just set it and forget it!").

Ronco needs the most sophisticated "computer telephony" software to help it transition from a 20-person office with an outsourced call center into a self-sufficient marketer with more than 200 employees.

Unlike the Ronco Inside-the-Shell Electric Egg Scrambler...