I am absolutely excited about this announcement:

Minneapolis, MN – May 2, 2012 – Avtex, a provider of integrated, interaction solutions, today announced the acquisition of Reliant CCS, a contact center solutions provider based in Greenville, South Carolina. The acquisition expands Avtex’s already strong geographic reach by strengthening their presence in the southeast.

Reliant CCS, founded in 2007, has built a solid portfolio of customer service focused solutions leveraging the Interactive Intelligence contact center platform and had recently started to expand its offering to include Microsoft Lync based Unified Communications solutions.

“We are thrilled to have Reliant join our team at Avtex,” said George Demou, President of Avtex. “They share the same passion for technology enabled customer experience solutions and a deep commitment to the key platforms of Interactive Intelligence and Microsoft that we believe are critical to make that happen.”

The deal also helps support Avtex’s recent inclusion into the Microsoft Premier Support for Lync Partner program which targets elite Microsoft partners around the world to provide support for customers leveraging Microsoft Lync for voice solutions.

“In our industry the Avtex name is synonymous with quality and commitment to success,” said Alan Shaw, President of Reliant CCS. “We at Reliant are excited to become part of an organization that shares our goals, values, and vision for the future.”

As we’ve gotten to know know the good folks at Reliant and some of their customers, this is an exciting opportunity for Avtex. Reliant’s strong expertise in our core platforms and the terrific people who do business with them are a true benefit to Avtex’s vision of optimizing the customer experience. I welcome our new collegues at Reliant and our new partners in business.

On a personal note, I love the southeast and have some family roots there, so I look forward to spending more time in the Palmetto State and its neighbors.