Nuance Buys Varolii In Cloud Expansion Effort
Nuance Communications, one of the leading computer software technology companies, announced that it is acquiring Varolii which will help boost their automated cloud based customer support.
Varolii’s cloud platform is currently used by large corporations, comprised of over 400 customers, for their expertise in automated alerts. As per Nuance, Varolii is used by 20% of American adults. In 2008, Varolii was in the midst of filing for an IPO however that filing never came to fruition as Varolii cited market woes.
While Nuance is known for the broad range of automation software technologies, the deal will further strengthen their customer relationship capabilities via its On Demand Service Cloud. Robert Weideman, executive VP of the Nuance Enterprise Division, said, “The greatest opportunity to deliver superior service is when you can anticipate a need and proactively contact the customer in a personalized and intelligent way. The combination of Nuance and Varolii not only represents the best of inbound customer service with the best in outbound customer communications, but the opportunity to deliver automated yet natural conversations with customers that are more compelling and effective.”
It is not known exactly how many of the 200 employees from Varolii will transition to Nuance however David McCann, CEO of Varolii voiced his excitement. “Varolii has been trusted as a leading provider of repeatable customer engagement applications across six B2C-intensive markets, enabling leading companies to reduce costs, increase customer reach and improve customer outcomes.”
Nuance is located only a few blocks from Varolii offices and therefore plains to keep the Varolii team at its current offices. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Nuance did comment that they intend to use Varolii as the product and development center for Nuance outbound support. A Nuance spokesperson stated, “Pending the close of this acquisition — which we expect next week — our plan is to retain Varolii as the development and product center for Nuance Outbound, leveraging the Varolii team, especially in development, hosting, sales and marketing.”
