In spite of recent recognition, voice biometric-based authentication, identification and verification remains an under-appreciated phenomenon. That’s why Opus Research is organizing a new event with a strong focus on voice biometrics as a cost-effective and efficacious candidate for strong authentication deployments. It’s time for the primary stakeholders on the enterprise side – ranging from enterprise IT, security specialists and customer care executives to meet the companies that are constructing voice biometric-based solutions.

In a vaudevillian display of man versus machine at last week’s Conversations customer and partner event in Orlando, Florida, Nuance effectively demonstrated speech recognition as the most efficient and “intuitive” interface for wireless phones. By outpacing the world’s fastest text messenger, Nuance showcased the potential in speech-enabled mobile search [SEMS] – a critical competitive battleground that includes the Internet heavyweights (Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL) and represents the next “disruptive” opportunity. With billions at stake, there are opportunities for first movers to differentiate and adopt go-to-market strategies with voice as the interface or a key component of a mobile-search offering.

The automated speech community’s flagship event led off with a keynote by Paul English, where he provided a prescriptive list of improvements that could be made to the user experience. He argued this would be more empowering to callers – more humanizing and less humiliating. His efforts have induced two leading technology providers – Microsoft and Nuance – to join GetHuman.com in an effort to produce a published “standard” of the practices that go into producing a user experience that is gratifying for the caller. But automated speech technologies represent only a small fraction of caller frustration with today’s call centers.

For purchasers of voice self-service platform or hosted vendor services Sterling Audits, in conjunction with Opus Research invite you to participate in a groundbreaking survey. Upon completing the survey, you can register to win a free iPod shuffle!

Oracle has announced its acquisition of Telephony@Work (T@W) and will package its product line as the core of its “CRM on Demand” service that extends Siebel’s reach into mid-tier businesses. The new service is designed as a frontal assault on Microsoft by making the combination of intelligent routing, business analytics and interactive voice response easier to implement at a lower cost.