Harvard Business School Publishing Offers Executive Symposium on Custo

Harvard Business School Publishing Offers Executive Symposium on Customer Experience

    Business Editors/Education Editors/High-Tech Editors

    MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 2005--

    Cosponsored by Nuance and Cisco Systems, Conference Features Keynote by Renowned Author and Business Strategist Jeffrey Rayport on How Improving the Customer Experience Delivers a Competitive Advantage

    Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN), the voice automation expert, today announced that Harvard Business School Publishing will present an Executive Symposium on the Customer Experience. Cosponsored by Nuance, Cisco Systems, the half-day event will provide professionals with a forum to discuss how the combination of people and technology can build customer experiences that drive customer loyalty and surpass typical levels of performance and service. The Symposium will be held on April 12th at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco.
    Led by Jeffery F. Rayport, co-author of Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces with Customers, the interactive symposium will discuss the impact that technologies are making on the customer experience and ultimately the bottom line. Among other topics, Rayport reframes the question from "what human jobs will technology eliminate?" to "what jobs are more efficiently performed by automation?" and "which jobs are best performed by people?" He will provide tips for how new roles for technology and people can radically reshape business and competition and create a "people rich" workplace that benefits customers, employees, and shareholders.
    The symposium will also feature a "best practices" panel hosted by Angelia Herrin, Group Editor, of Harvard Business School Publishing's Conferences and Newsletters, and featuring Rayport, Bruce D. Temkin, vice president of Forrester Research's Customer Experience group, Steve Jarvis, staff vice president for e-Commerce and distribution at Alaska Airlines, and others.
    "Technology is revolutionizing and humanizing service," said Jeffrey Rayport. "Today's visionary companies understand this critical service component and in turn are recruiting machines, as well as people, into the workforce for optimal results and value. I'm looking forward to speaking with some of the Bay Area's top companies about how they are utilizing technology to enhance the overall customer experience they provide."
    "The customer experience is a critical component in gaining a competitive edge - it drives business results in everything from customer satisfaction, retention and revenue to long-term profitability and valuation," said Chuck Berger, president and CEO, Nuance. "We are pleased to be working in conjunction with Jeffrey Rayport and Harvard Business School Publishing to develop and present such a topical and pertinent program."
    Following the San Francisco Executive Symposium, Nuance will present its V-World Summit, an event designed for users of voice automation solutions. Sponsoring the event are CommTech Professionals, Eicon Networks, Message Technologies, and Walsh Media. Topics include:

--	Customer cases studies revealing successful speech solutions
--	New research results on the impact of speech on customer service
--	Technical deep-dives on voice automation products, technologies implementation strategies
--	Revenue generation opportunities using voice automation
--	Next-generation speech applications
--	Special session on branding and voice user interface

    The Symposium will be held on April 12th from 8:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. The V-World Summit will be held on April 13th from 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. To register, please visit http://v-world.experiencesymposium.com.

    About Jeffrey Rayport

    Jeffrey F. Rayport is a former Harvard Business School (HBS) professor and chairman of Marketspace LLC, a strategic advisory, executive education, and software development business of Monitor Group, which is an international strategic advisory and investment firm headquartered in Cambridge, MA. At HBS for nearly a decade, Rayport developed and taught the first e-commerce course in the nation, authoring over a hundred HBS case studies. Business plans produced by students in his course contributed to establishing many high-tech start-ups, including Yahoo!. Prior to his leave from HBS, Rayport originated the concept of "viral marketing." He also became the only faculty member ever voted "outstanding professor" for three years running by the Harvard Business School Students Association.

    About Harvard Business School Publishing

    Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Harvard Business School Publishing is a wholly-owned, not for profit subsidiary of Harvard University. HBSP publishes for the general, professional, and academic markets. Its offerings include the widely-respected Harvard Business Review, books from Harvard Business School Press, the newsletters Harvard Management Update, Strategy and Innovation, Negotiation, and Balanced Scorecard Report, a portfolio of live event conferences and virtual seminars, the HBSP eLearning product lines Harvard ManageMentor, Leadership and Management Development Interactive programs, and Case-in-Point, videos, course books and the world-renowned Harvard Business School Case Studies. For more information, please visit http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu

    About Nuance

    In an era where a focus on the customer is essential to business success, Nuance provides leading companies with voice-automation solutions that enable both an outstanding customer experience and corporate cost efficiency. Nuance is a leader in the voice automation market, providing software and solutions to more than 1,000 companies worldwide. Clients include Avon, British Airways, Nomura Securities, OnStar, Sprint PCS, United Parcel Service, Vodafone and Wells Fargo. Nuance (NASDAQ: NUAN) is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., and has offices around the world. For more information, visit www.nuance.com or call 1-888-NUANCE-8.

    This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to Nuance, including, for example, those relating to the business and customer benefits attainable by using Nuance speech products. There is no assurance that the results contemplated by any forward-looking statements will be realized. The following factors, risks and uncertainties, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements: the risk that any of these products will not achieve anticipated or projected customer service and satisfaction or other benefits in some or all circumstances; and other factors described in Nuance's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, Nuance's last-filed Form 10-K. Nuance does not undertake to update any oral or written forward-looking statements that may be made by or on behalf of Nuance.

    Nuance is a registered trademark of Nuance Communications, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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CONTACT: Eastwick Communications for Nuance Becky Quinlan, 650-480-4032 (Media Contact) becky@eastwick.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: EDUCATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE MARKETING AGREEMENTS SOURCE: Nuance

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