BURLINGTON, Mass., – March 8, 2016 – Nuance Communications, Inc. today announced that it emerged as a leader in delivering intelligent self-service solutions, winning across seven categories for innovation and excellence at The 2016 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Nuance was selected as a winner from more than 2,100 companies nominated, validating the Company’s transformational nature in creating seamless experiences through multi-channel self-service solutions.

Nuance, alongside its customers, was awarded in seven categories during the March 4th Gala Banquet held in Las Vegas. This recognition acknowledges Nuance’s role in creating more natural, human-like experiences with technology that simplify the way customers get what they need from the companies they do business with. These intelligent self-service solutions include conversational IVR, Nina- the virtual assistant, voice biometrics, and proactive engagement.

Nuance and its customers were honored with the following 2016 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service:

• Nuance’s Nina and USAA Savings Coach – Gold, Best Use of Technology in Customer Service. USAA collaborated with Nuance to introduce one of the first proactive virtual assistants for banking. The app leverages natural language understanding and artificial intelligence to provide a truly proactive and personalized experience with the goal of helping users to navigate the world of personal banking.
• Nuance’s Voice Biometrics & Conversational IVR and Manulife– Silver, Best Use of Technology in Customer Service. Manulife is the first company in Canada to introduce voice biometrics as well as natural language understanding in a single interactive voice response (IVR) system offered in both English and French to provide a more natural and secure customer experience in the call centers.
• Nuance’s Voice Biometrics and Eastern Bank – Silver, Innovation in Customer Service (Financial Services). Eastern Bank was the first bank in North America to launch voice biometrics in the call center to help customers achieve desired end-results more efficiently. Customers engage in natural conversation with a customer service agent, and during that time, voice biometrics technology signals to the bank representative when the customer’s identity has been verified, and grants them access to their account.
• Nuance’s Conversational IVR and CenterPoint Energy– Silver, Innovation in Customer Service (Other Service Industries). CenterPoint implemented a Conversational IVR solution that understands customers’ wants and needs through advanced NLU technology, with their intent and reason for calling already predicted, making the path to resolution more efficient and streamlined.
• Nuance’s Voice Biometrics and ING Netherlands – Bronze, Innovation in Customer Service. ING Netherlands incorporated voice biometrics into its mobile banking app powered by Nuance’s Nina. This unique pairing of the virtual assistant and voice biometrics technology created a truly end-to-end mobile experience that allows customers to simply speak via a human-like conversational interface to control the mobile banking app.
• Nuance’s Voice Biometrics and SK Telecom – Bronze, Innovation in Customer Service (Telecommunications). SK Telecom deployed voice biometrics to allow customers to easily authenticate into their accounts simply using the sound of their voice, streamlining the call center process and providing customers with a quick and convenient experience.
• Nuance’s Conversational IVR and American Airlines –Bronze, Innovation in Customer Service (All Other Industries). American Airlines deployed a world class Conversational IVR system that has advanced functionality, including the capabilities to book a new trip, change an existing reservation, and change/upgrade seats, to meet consumers’ needs in an exceptional timeline.

“Entries to the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service continue to grow every year, further validating the essential roles that business development, customer service, and sales play in business success,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “The widespread support of this program made the 2016 competition that much more intense among finalists. The judges were deeply impressed by the winner’s accomplishments and we congratulate all of the winners on their commitment to excellence and innovation.”

“It’s a wonderful honor to see so many of our customers recognized for the game-changing experiences they are providing to customers through collaborating with Nuance,” said Robert Weideman, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Division, Nuance. “In today’s fast-paced world, the level of customer service a business provides is crucial to its success. Through our expertise in natural language understanding and artificial intelligence, we are proud to enable businesses to deliver compelling self-service experiences that act as real differentiators and create loyalty.”

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world’s top sales awards, business development awards, contact center awards, and customer service awards. More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were evaluated in this year’s competition, an increase of 11% over 2015. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 115 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. More than 60 members of several specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging earlier this month.

Details about the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and the list of Stevie winners in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/sales.

About The Stevie Awards

The Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.

About Nuance Communications, Inc

Nuance Communications, Inc. is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

Nuance and the Nuance logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Nuance Communications Contact:
Erica Hill
781-888-5518
erica.hill@nuance.com