Nuance just announced that the Nuance Recognizer which is a MRCP grammar-based ASR will reach EOL in June 2026. This decision affects a significant number of on-premise speech-enabled IVR systems that rely on the Nuance Recognizer, creating uncertainty for many businesses.

If you are impacted by this decision, this post outlines an immediate fix while preparing companies for an AI future.

Why is Nuance Ending Support for Recognizer?

The decision appears to be driven by two primary factors:

1. Transition to Modern AI Solutions: Traditional grammar-based speech recognition is being replaced by large-vocabulary Speech-to-Text (STT) systems, which are better suited for the era of AI-powered phone agents. These systems enable natural, conversational interactions, making them far superior to decision-tree-based IVRs.
2. Shift to Cloud-Based Platforms: Contact center vendors are migrating their solutions to the cloud, leaving behind older protocols like MRCP (used for on-premise VoiceXML-based IVRs). Modern STT offerings, such as those from Google and Nuance, use gRPC protocols, signaling a move toward cloud-native solutions.

Nuance’s Upgrade Options May Not Work

Nuance provides two upgrade options, but neither is fully compatible with existing IVRs:

1. Cloud-Based Grammar Recognizer: While this option supports grammars, it uses a gRPC-based API that is incompatible with VoiceXML-based IVR platforms.
2. Large-Vocabulary STT: Designed for conversational AI voice bots, this option requires a complete app rewrite to utilize conversational AI—making it a more time-intensive and expensive solution.

Challenges for Businesses

The EOL announcement introduces two major hurdles for businesses:

1. Costly App Rewrites: Transitioning to AI-powered phone agents requires a complete rewrite of IVR applications, which can be expensive. Many businesses are reluctant to undertake this on Nuance's timeline.
2. On-Premise Feature Gap: While cloud solutions offer many advantages, businesses with strict privacy and control requirements often prefer modern features in on-premise contact center environments.

If your business relies on Nuance’s MRCP-based ASR (as of November 2024), now is the time to plan for a replacement. Below, we outline a solution that allows you to continue using your existing IVR without major disruptions.

Voicegain MRCP ASR as "drop-in" replacement for Nuance MRCP ASR

Voicegain offers a seamless alternative to Nuance's grammar-based MRCP ASR. Our platform:

• Supports Existing IVR Apps: Voicegain natively supports traditional SRGS/grXML grammars and MRCP (versions 1 and 2). Your current VoiceXML-based IVR can continue running without changes.
• Simple Replacement: Switching to Voicegain is as easy as updating your IVR to point to our ASR server instead of Nuance’s—just replace the IP address of Nuance with that of Voicegain ASR in the VoiceXML platform configuration settings.

This allows you to maintain your current IVR workflow until you're ready to upgrade on your terms.

Future-Proof with Agentic AI

Over the next few years, many businesses will transition to generative AI-powered phone agents to improve caller experiences and increase automation rates. While this is a promising future, businesses shouldn’t feel forced to move to the cloud just to access these capabilities.

Voicegain’s deep-learning-based large-vocabulary STT engine is designed to evolve with your needs:

• Scalable and Flexible: Built using NVIDIA GPUs for high-throughput processing, our platform also supports CPU-optimized deployment in containerized environments for smaller workloads.
• Future-Ready: When you decide to build a Gen-AI-powered phone agent, Voicegain’s STT engine will be ready to integrate into your existing tech stack.

‍Test this today

To discuss your upgrade options, email us at sales@voicegain.ai. If you'd like to test our solution, sign up for a free developer account (no credit card required) and get 1,500 free hours of usage. Visit the link in the instructions, and once signed up, contact support@voicegain.ai to request MRCP access.

Start future-proofing your IVR system today with Voicegain.

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