BURLINGTON, Mass. – September 13, 2018 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced it has expanded the capabilities of the Nuance Omnichannel Customer Engagement Platform by joining Google’s Early Access Program to help enterprises take advantage of Rich Communication Services (RCS) business messaging. RCS is the next generation of SMS messaging and allows for group messaging, rich media (maps, high-res photos, etc.) and read receipts. RCS business messaging offers organizations an opportunity to bring branded and interactive conversational experiences to a smartphone’s native messaging application, providing customers a simple and convenient method to engage with businesses and access service.
According to the GSMA, by 2020 the business messaging market is projected to reach $74 billion and 86% of smartphones will be RCS-enabled. A recent Nuance study also found that more than half of overall consumers prefer to use messaging applications as the first option to communicate with companies. Nuance supports business messaging through a variety of channels, including traditional SMS, and third-party and native apps. This participation in the Early Access Program further strengthens Nuance’s ability to design one conversational experience and extend it across all the channels today’s consumers engage by combining AI-powered virtual assistant technology with agent-assisted messaging. With Nuance, enterprises can engage in millions of intelligent RCS conversations with their customers, using the same machine learning output they’ve deployed on other channels.
Todd Parker, Global Head of Business Development, Messaging for Google said, “RCS business messaging makes it possible for brands to send messages to their customers in a whole new way, sharing and receiving high-res photos, maps and calendar invites all while taking advantage of suggested replies and other interactive experiences right within their customers’ native smartphone messaging application.”
Google’s RCS business messaging supports the GSMA’s Universal Profile for interoperability across operator networks and devices. Through the Nuance Omnichannel Customer Engagement Platform, organizations can understand and send interactive notifications most relevant to customers. The platform also enables responding to customer inquiries with interactive buttons, carousels and multimedia content tailored to an individual’s profile and engagement history.
“There’s a huge opportunity for organizations to take advantage of the latest innovations in RCS messaging that enable highly interactive, personalized and branded conversations,” said Tony Lorentzen, SVP, Omnichannel Solutions Group, Enterprise Division, Nuance. “We are excited to work with Google to enable yet another channel for our enterprise customers to extend their conversational AI engine to, the same one that powers their web-based virtual assistant and IVR, to bring personalized experiences and fast resolution no matter which channel an individual chooses to engage.”
Learn more about what RCS can do for your business here or stop by Nuance’s booth at the Opus Conversational Commerce Conference in San Francisco today, where Nuance executives and customers will be presenting.
The Nuance Omnichannel Customer Engagement Platform powers one billion digital messaging interactions between consumers and enterprises each year. For more information on the messaging platforms Nuance supports, visit: https://www.nuance.com/omni-channel-customer-engagement/digital.html.
About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is the pioneer and leader in conversational AI innovations that bring intelligence to everyday work and life. The company delivers solutions that can understand, analyze and respond to human language to increase productivity and amplify human intelligence. With decades of domain and artificial intelligence expertise, Nuance works with thousands of organizations – in global industries that include healthcare, telecommunications, automotive, financial services, and retail – to create stronger relationships and better experiences for their customers and workforce. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.
Trademark reference: Nuance and the Nuance logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.
Contact Information
For Press
Katie Byrne
Nuance Communications, Inc.
Tel: 781-565-5000
Email: katie.byrne@nuance.com