For the third consecutive year, Opus Research has listed Nuance Communications as its highest-rated vendor in the Enterprise Intelligent Assistants (EIA) Decision Makers’ Guide. The Guide provides businesses with detailed evaluations about a number different virtual assistants, with top marks going to those that promote openness and are compatible with multiple proprietary and third party resources.

To that end, Opus analyzed the various solutions based on four criteria, examining the quality of the AI and machine learning tech used to build each platform and how easy it is for companies to deploy those solutions for use across multiple channels. Opus also looked at each company’s delivery track record and their future plans for their technology. Nuance Communications was the only company to receive the top score in all four categories.

“Nuance scored highly with solutions and professional services that integrate with existing systems, processes, and workflows that keep humans in the loop and support biometrics-based authentication,” said Opus Lead Analyst Dan Miller.

“This rating directly reflects the approach we have taken as a business, ensuring our solutions are flexible and able to integrate into the complex systems that exist across today’s enterprises,” added Nuance Enterprise General Manager Robert Weideman.

Nuance’s conversational AI tech has been utilized for a variety of applications, including medical records, smart cars, and call center security for financial institutions. However, the company’s automotive division was spun off as its own separate entity earlier this year, with Cerence making its official market debut in October.   

This is the second major accolade for Nuance Communications in the past few months after the company took home the Financial Services prize at the AIconics Awards. The company recently released a new Gatekeeper authentication platform, and formed a strategic partnership with Microsoft in an effort to improve healthcare with ambient clinical intelligence.