Nuance Teams up with TalkTalk to Roll out Voice Biometrics to UK Consumers for a Better Customer Experience

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that TalkTalk has chosen Nuance’s voice biometrics technology to improve the customer experience in their automated phone system. This innovative authentication solution is being integrated with TalkTalk’s intuitive interactive voice response (IVR) system, which uses Nuance’s natural language understanding (NLU) technology to allow customers to speak naturally instead of navigating through a phone menu. Customers at TalkTalk can now use the sound of their voice to easily and securely confirm their identity when calling in for service.

Through a partnership with Nuance, TalkTalk is the first telecoms company in the UK to tap into voice biometrics in order to provide a more seamless and secure path for customers to gain service and support. Rather than stating passwords and personal details, enrolled customers can now use their voice as their password, simply saying: “With TalkSafe, my voice is my password.” Nuance’s powerful voice biometrics technology goes to work on the back-end, comparing a customer’s voice to their unique voiceprint and securely authenticating the customer or flagging the call if fraud is suspected.

By layering voice biometrics into a company’s customer experience strategy, Nuance is able to power more human customer service conversations, leveraging seamless voice-enabled solutions to deliver customers the help that they need quickly and securely.

Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk’s consumer managing director, said: “We’ve listened to what our customers have told us about wanting a simple, secure service. TalkSafe is an important and exciting step on that journey.”

“As the first UK telecoms provider to roll out voice biometrics as standard, we’re proud to be leading the way in making this advanced technology accessible to millions of homes across the country at no extra cost.”

“It is no secret that consumers have higher expectations and demands for the type of service they receive from the companies they do business with,” said Robert Weideman, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Division, Nuance. “TalkTalk is taking a giant step in the right direction by setting the bar high when it comes to offering a differentiated and personalized interaction with their customers. The experience is more natural and compelling from the second the phone call begins and lasts throughout the entire length of the customer service process.”

Nuance’s voice biometrics solutions have been adopted globally by other large organizations such as ING Netherlands, Tangerine Bank, Tatra Banka, Turkcell, Santander Mexico and Vodacom South Africa.

Around the world, voice biometrics is quickly becoming an accepted form of authentication which has proven to be both secure and convenient. New data from Opus Research shows that the voice biometrics authentication market is poised to grow from $200M (2013) to $750M globally in 2017. Nuance voice biometrics technology leads the industry, with over 60 million voiceprints deployed by its customers. (Opus Research: Census Report: Voice Biometrics Census and Forecast, November 2014).

To learn more about how voice biometrics can reinvent a customer experience, go here.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.
Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) 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.

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