Governor Pat McCrory, North Carolina Commerce Secretary John E. Skvarla, III and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina announced Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ) will be expanding in Durham County. The company plans to create 200 new jobs in Durham within the next five years. Interactive Intelligence’s capital investment will be $1.2 million by the end of 2019.
“Nothing Compares to North Carolina’s IT workforce,” said Governor McCrory. This company knows it can find well qualified employees in the Triangle to stay on the cutting edge of technology.”
Interactive Intelligence provides software and cloud services for customer engagement, unified communications and collaboration to help businesses worldwide improve service, increase productivity and reduce costs. Employees at the Interactive Intelligence Durham location are responsible for the company’s newest cloud platform, PureCloud℠, and the recently released PureCloud Collaborate℠, Communicate℠ and Engage℠ cloud services. These are the first enterprise-grade, multitenant cloud services built for the way modern businesses find, connect with and engage customers, employees and partners.
Of the company’s 2,000-plus employees worldwide, more than 100 are based in North Carolina.
“Interactive Intelligence is on the leading edge of cloud technology, making it a great fit in the high-tech Triangle region,” said Secretary Skvarla. “We’re excited the business chose to grow in North Carolina.”
Salaries will vary by job function, but the average annual wage will be $70,000. The average annual wage in Durham County is 66,599.
“A few years ago we decided to bet the company on the creation of a sophisticated set of cloud services for collaboration, communications and customer engagement” said Interactive Intelligence Founder and CEO Dr. Donald E. Brown. “We had the option of locating this effort anywhere in the world. We chose the RTP area because of the wealth of technical talent, the concentration of great universities, and the business-friendly environment. That choice has paid off well as we’ve brought to market the most advanced cloud-based business services ever created in the form of PureCloud℠. We intend to continue to rapidly grow our presence in the RTP area over the course of the next few years.”
The project was made possible in part by an award to Interactive Intelligence from the state Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program, as voted by the state Economic Investment Committee. Receipt of the award is based on proof of job creation and other performance requirements. JDIGs are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state, and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the reimbursement.
Under the terms of the company’s JDIG, Interactive Intelligence is eligible to receive up to twelve annual reimbursements equal to 29 percent of the state personal income tax withholdings from the eligible new jobs. Receipt of each annual reimbursement is based on state-certified proof that the company has fulfilled incremental job creation requirements. Over twelve years, the JDIG could yield aggregate benefits to Interactive Intelligence of more than $1.6 million upon the creation of 200 jobs.
Nearly $55,000 in additional funds from the company’s JDIG could be added to the state’s Utility Fund for infrastructure improvements in economically distressed counties. When a JDIG is awarded to a company whose site is located in the state’s more economically prosperous counties such as Durham, a percentage of the company’s grant is allocated to the Utility Fund to encourage economic development in less prosperous counties. For more information on the county tier designations, visit: http://www.nccommerce.com/research-publications/incentive-reports/county-tier-designations
In addition to N.C. Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C., other partners that helped with this project include: North Carolina Community College System, NC Works, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Durham County and the City of Durham.