Nuance Reinvents Agent AI for the Contact Center
Proven technology brings real-time insights to human agents, enabling more personalized, efficient customer interactions across channels

BURLINGTON, Mass., March 5, 2019 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced a new technology bundle that helps enterprises with Agent AI – uniting human agents and artificial intelligence to enhance customer experiences. Nuance’s approach to Agent AI enables contact center agents to be more productive by giving them easier access to information with relevant, real-time insights, visibility into active conversations, and proactive recommendations.

Consumers are demanding personalized, efficient conversations with brands – whether through a virtual or a live agent – and organizations who do not deliver risk losing business and damaging reputation. A recent study by Frost and Sullivan commissioned by Nuance found a single frustrating interaction with an agent triggered the desire to switch service providers in 77% of customers, and the majority of consumers say interactions with agents impact brand perception significantly1. With 95% of US consumers using at least three channels and/or devices to engage with customer service today and only 8.4% of organizations having those channels connected, delivering a unified and personalized experience can prove challenging.

Nuance gives agents access to its best-of-breed biometric, analytics and intelligent customer engagement technologies to help solve this problem, empowering them with real-time insights to not only more efficiently validate a given customer’s identity and understand past interactions the organization has had with that person, but also more quickly get to a resolution by having access to their company’s latest information and programs.

“Too often, when AI in the contact center is discussed, there is a concern that it will take jobs away from humans, when in reality the most successful customer engagement strategies include a blended approach between customer service professionals and AI,” said Robert Weideman, EVP and GM, Enterprise Division, Nuance Communications. “Agent AI is not about replacing humans. Instead, it is about strengthening the confidence of agents. By leveraging AI, we are actually empowering agents to succeed and enabling them to deliver the best experience possible with less frustration for both them and the customers they are serving.”

Intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces are important for agents to find answers faster and focus on the customer they are interacting with, not waste time deciphering how to use complex tools. Built to scale and taking advantage of the same AI that is driving IVRs and virtual assistants, Nuance’s technology for Agent AI lets organizations maximize agent efficiency and improve job satisfaction while delivering superior service to the end customer.

Enterprises who have already deployed Nuance’s technologies for Agent AI have seen impressive results:

- A U.S. bank found 60% of agents reported improved job satisfaction
- A major utility found sales conversion increased by 60%
- A collections agency reduced customer engagements with “escalation language” by 15%
- A mortgage services company reduced agent call time by 60%

“While automation and self-service are irreplaceable when it comes to the customer engagement of the future, not everything is solvable by a virtual assistant or IVR,” added Weideman. “Adding AI to the contact center means arming both humans and machines with insights gleaned from customer interactions—and making recommendations based on those insights. It won’t just help agents perform better, it will also increase the value that the enterprise is delivering to its customers.”

For more information on how Nuance is supporting Agent AI click here.

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
Nuance Corporate Communications
Katie Byrne
Katie.byrne@nuance.com
 

1 Frost & Sullivan, “Agent AI Adoption Patterns, Preferences, and Potential Benefits: Consumer and B2B Perspectives,” February 20, 2019