Interactive Intelligence Inc. will ask shareholders at this year’s annual meeting to vote on a proposal to reorganize the firm as a holding company.

The Indianapolis-based business-communications software firm said Monday that, if approved by shareholders, Interactive Intelligence would become a wholly owned subsidiary of the new holding company—Interactive Intelligence Group Inc.

Companies purchased by Interactive Intelligence in the future will be rolled into the holding company to create a more streamlined operating structure, the company said.

In May 2009, Interactive Intelligence acquired Columbia, S.C.-based AcroSoft Corp., followed by the purchase of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Global Software Services Inc. (which does business as Latitude Software) in October 2010. And, in February, the company bought Agori Communications, a Frankfurt, Germany-based reseller of Interactive Intelligence’s products.
 
“Our vision is to continue to evolve with similar acquisitions, and this reorganized structure will enable us to make the best use of our overall infrastructure, while enabling each business to focus on its unique customer needs,” said Donald E. Brown, company founder and CEO, in a written statement.

The proposal to reorganize under a holding company calls for each outstanding share of Interactive Intelligence to automatically convert into one share of common stock of the new holding company.

Interactive shares have been on a tear lately, nearly tripling to about $38 each from a 52-week low of $14 last August. The surge has grown the company market’s value to more than $700 million.

Analysts say the only publicly traded software company based in Indianapolis appears to be buoyed most by a string of larger orders, and by its anticipation of the rise of “communications as a service,” or CaaS.

The acronym simply means a customer’s applications and communications system can be hosted and managed off-site instead of at the customer’s premises. With so-called cloud computing, customers don’t have to invest in equipment or additional IT people.

The company has more than 800 employees worldwide.

Interactive Intelligence has not yet set a date for its 2011 annual meeting.