Nuance, the technology company whose technology powers voice capability on more than 6bn mobile devices, including the Apple iPhone’s Siri, and 70m vehicles, is to create 40 new jobs at its new EMEA headquarters in Dublin.
Nuance’s technology enables voice recognition on a slew of smartphones, navigation devices, cars and personal computers and as technologies like Apple’s Siri, voice recognition on Android TVs and the next generation of smart TVs proliferate, the company is set for major growth.
Nuance software has now shipped on 6bn mobile phones and 70m cars; there are 22m registered users of its desktop systems and companies such as Barclays, BT, Deutsche Bank and the Office of Irish Revenue use the technology in their call centres.
The general manager of Nuance’s EMEA operations Neil Weston told Siliconrepublic.com that the majority of the new roles will be in finance, sales and HR.
“Our vision is that everything in technology will be voice-enabled at some point in the future,” Weston explained.
“There are some practical limitations but the application of the underlying technology can eventually be applied to everything.
“We are pretty much in every car navigation system and mobile device with voice recognition.”
Inflection point for voice technology
Weston’s colleague, Nuance head of communications Rick Mack, explained that the company has reached an inflection point in terms of the application of voice and it has grown from revenues of US$7m in 2001 to US$1.6bn last year. The company is maintaining a compound annual growth rate of between 15pc to 20pc. Worldwide, Nuance employs 10,000 people, including 1,000 in Europe.
Weston said the investment will be supported by IDA Ireland.
Key reasons for choosing Ireland, he explained, were financial in terms of tax supports but also based on his own experience of Ireland through Adobe and Siebel.
“I have been impressed by Ireland’s talent pool and the scope of growth for people across manufacturing, finance, HR and distribution.
“The talent pool in Ireland is so broad and the available multilingual skills were an additional decision point.”
I asked Weston if he foresees further employment and operational growth for the Dublin operation.
“We want this to be the centre of our European operations. We have engaged in conservative but sensible planning, but it is logical to assume that if our European business were to double you can expect commensurate growth in our requirements. You have a great talent pool here,” he pointed out.
Voice technology image via Shutterstock
