Nuance

Nuance is now known mainly as the developer of the Dragon series of speech recognition packages. The company was born in 1994 as an independent division of SRI. In 2005, ScanSoft, a company engaged in scanning and text recognition technologies, merged with Nuance. (It, in turn, merged with Visioneer in 1999.)

The well-known Siri speech recognition system used in Apple products was also developed by a company that separated from SRI at one time. Based on Nuance technologies, it would be possible to implement an electronic assistant capable of competing with Siri, Microsoft Cortana and Google Now, observers say.

In 2011, Nuance Communications introduced solutions for the corporate segment and mobile devices to the Russian market, including in the field of synthesis and recognition of spontaneous speech, as well as voice biometrics technology. Nuance's voice biometrics product line has recently been complemented by VocalPassword and FreeSpeech solutions that meet the security requirements of financial institutions, telecommunications providers, medical institutions, enterprises, law enforcement agencies and government agencies. The experience of the company confirms that the high quality of communication services provided provides a personalized approach to the provision of service, which not only contributes to customer loyalty, but also reduces the volume of incoming calls and costs for contact centers.

Nuance Communications is also known for its electronic document products: solutions help increase the efficiency and security of processes related to the creation, transfer and exchange of documents. Dragon NaturallySpeaking allows you to dictate texts, send e-mail, search the Internet, manage and control PCs - all exclusively by voice. Nuance T9 ® and PDF solutions for scanning and converting documents also help increase employee efficiency.

Nuance Recognizer, Nuance Vocalizer, and Voice Biometrics have proven to be successful worldwide and have been integrated into the call centers of leading international industry companies such as T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telefonica Moviles.

• Nuance's voice identification solutions are a safe and cost-effective way to ensure comprehensive caller identification by combining biometric technologies and questions on personal information ownership: most processing identification schemes rely entirely on database questions that are up to 25% vulnerable to third-party attacks.
• Nuance's Vocalizer solution for converting text to speech helps automate the processing of more calls and avoid unnecessary switching, for example, when a subscriber requests information that is difficult to record in full in advance: names, addresses or information from the database.
• Nuance Recognizer is a key solution in the field of software for automating the operation of contact centers, the technology helps to protect customers from long and complex menus and submenus, reduce operating costs and average response time without compromising the level of customer service.

Activity indicators

2018: Revenue - $2 billion, net losses - $159.93 million

In fiscal year 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018, Nuance Communications' revenue amounted to a little more than $2 billion against $1.9 billion a year earlier.

The car software development division, which is allocated to the new company Nuance Auto, registered sales in the amount of $279 million, which is 7% more compared to the fiscal year 2017.

Healthcare clients brought Nuance $984.8 million in turnover in 2018 compared to $899.3 million in 2017. The company earned $483.2 million on corporate customers, which also exceeds the figure of a year ago ($474.3 million).

Nuance Financial Performance

In Document Imaging, a division specializing in software for recognizing and editing scanned documents, revenue turned out to be $212.9 million, decreasing compared to the 2017 financial year, when revenues were measured at $217.7 million. At the beginning of 2019, Document Imaging will be part of Kofax  as part of a deal worth $400 million, which was announced in November 2018.

In 2018, Nuance raised $1 billion for the sale of professional and hosting services against $976.89 million for the previous year. Product sales and licensing brought the company revenue at $684.23 million, while a year earlier it was measured at $635.39 million. Finally, earnings on support services decreased from $327.08 million to $317.98 million.

Nuance remains a unprofitable company: in 2018, net losses rose to $159.93 million from $151 million a year earlier.

Along with the publication of financial statements, Nuance announced an operational transformation program, in which the company optimizes the organizational structure. Due to this, Nuance hopes to save $50 million in fiscal year 2019.^[1]

History

2021: Microsoft bought Nuance for $19.7 billion

On April 12, 2021, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Nuance Communications. The value of the transaction is $19.7 billion, it includes the debts of a sold developer of voice recognition technologies.

In terms of one share, Nuance is estimated by Microsoft at $56, which is 23% more than the rate of quotes by April 9, 2021. On April 12, the company's securities rose by the same 23%.

Mark Benjamin will remain the CEO of Nuance and will report to Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of cloud technology and artificial intelligence at Microsoft.

Microsoft acquired Nuance for $19.7 billion

According to Reuters, the merger of Microsoft and Nuance occurs after two years of cooperation between companies in terms of the development of automation technologies for administrative work in medical institutions. Companies benefited from the boom in telemedicine technologies that occurred against the backdrop of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, in which people began to resort to online medical consultations more often.

Nuance provides a layer of artificial intelligence in medical institutions, "said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, adding that" artificial intelligence is the most important technological priority, and healthcare is its most necessary application.

For Microsoft, this is the second largest purchase in the history of the company. More was paid only for the acquisition of a business social network LinkedIn ($26.2 billion) in 2016.

The Financial Times notes that the acquisition of Nuance Communications will allow Microsoft to expand its customer base in areas such as healthcare, financial services and telecommunications. Nuance could enter the part of Microsoft's business that serves business and government entities. Nuance earns revenue from the sale of speech recognition and transcription tools during doctor visits and calls to customer support and voice mail.^[2]

2018

Automotive Software Business Branch to New Company

On November 19, 2018, Nuance announced the separation of the automotive technology division into a new public company. Thanks to these actions, Nuance intends to focus on products for corporate customers and healthcare, as well as provide its automotive direction with more opportunities to develop a dialogue AI platform. More details here.

Sale of Kofax document software business for $400 million

On November 12, 2018, Nuance announced the sale of Document Imaging, a division specializing in software for recognizing and editing scanned documents. The company buys these assets Kofax for $400 million.

According to Reynolds Bish, CEO of Kofax, thanks to the deal, the company will have access to such key Nuance technologies as scanning documentation with subsequent transfer to the electronic archive and business processes, print management, file security and organization of compatibility of cloud services. All this will be used in the comprehensive platform Kofax Intelligent Automation.

Nuance Sold Scanned Document Business

In addition, we will be able to combine in one product portfolio the best capabilities for managing scanning and printing images that are in the modern market, "added Bish.

It is planned to close the deal in early 2019. After that, Kofax will transfer Nuance Document Imaging services to its package of robotic process automation  (RPA) solutions.

The main product of Nuance Document Imaging is the Omnipage Pro professional optical character recognition program, which allows you to convert scanned documents into a text document, and the resulting document can be processed in almost any text editors while preserving its structure

The Nuance Document Imaging division in fiscal year 2017 received $217 million in revenue, which corresponded to 11% of the total turnover of the company. Such solutions for working with documents by November 2018 are used by more than 6 million people.

Thanks to Kofax, our customers will receive additional and expanded capabilities of the Kofax Intelligent Automation platform, as well as solutions that meet their unique needs, "said Al Monserrat, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Nuance Imaging[3]

Purchase of VoiceBox for $84 million

In May 2018, it became known about the sale of the developer of technologies for voice artificial intelligence and natural language perception VoiceBox Technologies to Nuance Communications. Judging by documents provided to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the value of the transaction was $82 million. More details here.

2014

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nuance Communications is negotiating a sale with a number of potential buyers, including Samsung and private investment firms.