Tim
EDFY news. looks good
magnets 5.25 neutral zone, 7.875 quarter zone, 9 downtrend
my optimistic target is 9
One of the World's Largest Speech Recognition Systems Is Ready to Greet Callers This Holiday Season
PR Newswire - November 23, 1998 09:16
Sears Implementation Leads to Partnership Between Edify and Nuance
SANTA CLARA, Calif. and MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Edify Corporation (Nasdaq: EDFY), a global leader in enterprise self-service solutions, announced today a partnership with Nuance Communications to develop and market an integrated natural language speech-enabled interactive voice response (IVR) solution for large, complex call centers. The integrated solution, currently in beta testing, will be available in the first quarter of 1999 and will incorporate Nuance 6, the industry's most advanced and scaleable enterprise-class natural language speech recognition software. The two companies collaborated last year to develop the retail industry's first speech-enabled automated call handler and one of the world's largest implementations of natural language speech recognition for Sears, Roebuck and Co. The automated solution, announced by Nuance in April, is now handling more than 120,000 information calls each day, routing callers to the right department at 800 Sears stores nationwide. It has enabled Sears to redeploy almost 3,000 telephone operators. This year, because the automated system can handle multiple calls simultaneously to each store, callers will experience quicker service, even when calling volume increases significantly as holiday shopping moves into full swing.
"Our customers will enjoy substantially improved service during this busy holiday season, with calls to stores answered and routed to appropriate extensions more quickly," said Jim Dutton, manager of Sears store operations. "In addition, we're pleased with the reduction in operating costs which we are achieving with the speech recognition solution developed by Edify and Nuance."
Sears recognized the contributions made by the Sears call center project team who implemented the Edify-Nuance solution this year with a special "Chairman's Award."
Speech Recognition Drives Stronger Customer Relationships
Edify's partnership with Nuance is part of its ongoing initiative to develop integrated solutions targeted at large, complex call centers that build stronger, more profitable relationships with customers. Speech recognition enhances IVR and enables self service applications that were previously too complex for automation. A recent study by Nuance has shown that natural speech recognition can save a minimum of $.90 per call versus using a live operator, allowing large call centers to realize a return on technology investment in as little as two months.
"We are pleased to align ourselves with the industry leader in natural language speech recognition," said Jeffrey Crowe, president and CEO of Edify Corporation. "Our partnership with Nuance demonstrates our commitment to provide large, advanced call centers with proven innovations that strengthen relationships across the enterprise."
"Edify is a recognized leader in providing IVR solutions for call centers and we are excited that they have integrated Nuance 6 with Electronic Workforce/LS," said Ronald Croen, president and CEO of Nuance Communications. "Edify's strong presence in financial services, human resources and telecommunications will spur the adoption of natural speech recognition in those areas."
Electronic Workforce/LS Provides an Open, Scaleable Environment for IVR Solutions
In addition to fostering stronger and more profitable relationships with customers, speech-enabled Edify solutions are expected to offer two advantages for complex call centers. First, Electronic Workforce/LS is designed to provide companies wishing to quickly speech-enable existing IVR applications the ability to do so quickly and cost-effectively by leveraging a single application development and runtime platform. Second, because the Electronic Workforce/LS has an open architecture built on Windows NT(R), the new speech recognition solution from Edify will allow call centers to integrate new "best of breed" innovations for building customer relationships, without the costly and disruptive upgrades required with proprietary configurations.
About Nuance Communications
Named one of Upside's Hot 100 Private Companies and Red Herring's Top 50 Privately Held Companies, Nuance Communications provides enterprise-level speech recognition and speaker verification software to automate V-Commerce(TM) and communications transactions. Users interact with deployed Nuance systems over one million times per day using everyday conversational language. The company's target markets include the travel, financial services, and telecommunications industries. Nuance's products support a variety of languages including U.S. English, U.K. English, Australian English, German, Japanese and Latin American Spanish. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California and maintains subsidiaries and offices in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. For more information, see Nuance's Web site at nuance.com or call 650-847-0000.
About Edify Corporation
Edify Corporation is a leading provider of enterprise self service solutions used by Global 2000 organizations to deploy automated service solutions via the Internet, corporate intranets, and the telephone. Edify's self-service solutions offer organizations the means to automate, integrate, and personalize interactions with customers and employees, yielding stronger, more profitable relationships. The company's software has been licensed to more than 1,150 organizations worldwide. Edify software is distributed directly and through leading solutions providers, application partners, and distributors worldwide. With more than 400 employees, Edify Corporation is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with European headquarters in London, England. Additional information about Edify may be obtained by calling 408-982-2000 (USA) or 44-181-263-2710 (Europe, Middle East, Africa) or via the World Wide Web at edify.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains statements regarding the development and availability of an integrated speech-enabled IVR system and the benefits to call centers of utilizing such system, including anticipated customer return on technology investment. These statements are forward looking statements and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. The markets for IVR systems are rapidly changing and are characterized by intense competition, and the development of software products is subject to delays and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that the system will be developed on time or at all, or that the company or its customers will be able to implement applications in the anticipated time frames or with the anticipated features, functionality or benefits. Further information on the important factors that could affect the results or outcomes discussed in the forward-looking statements is included in Edify's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NOTE: Edify and Electronic Workforce are registered trademarks of Edify Corporation. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Edify Corporation
/CONTACT: Terese Tricamo of Edify Corporation, 408-486-1713, or
prdept@edify.com; or Todd Berkowitz of Nuance Corporation, 650-847-0000, or
toddb@nuance.com; or Jan Drummond of Sears, Roebuck & Co., 847-286-8316, or
jdrumm2@sears.com/
/Web site: edify.com
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