FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future

Kiwi Stories

Hectre raises NZD $12m to power AI fruit data push
Agricultural Technology

Hectre raises NZD $12m to power AI fruit data push

Auckland agritech firm Hectre raises NZD $12m in an oversubscribed Series A to scale its AI-powered fruit data platform globally.

By Kaleah Salmon • 4 min read • Thu, 12th Feb 2026
Elevate NZ backs Pacific Channel Fund III with $10 million
Physical Security

Elevate NZ backs Pacific Channel Fund III with $10 million

Elevate NZ Venture Fund commits $10 million to Pacific Channel's Fund III to boost deep-tech startups and expand investment in New Zealand's innovation sector.

By Catherine Knowles • 3 min read • Fri, 23rd May 2025
Nuance announces strategic partnership with Lexmark for NZ
Partner Programmes

Nuance announces strategic partnership with Lexmark for NZ

Nuance has formed a strategic partnership with Lexmark to provide document imaging solutions in New Zealand and worldwide.

By Ashton Young • 2 min read • Wed, 17th May 2017

Global Stories

Chief Justice anticipates significant AI impact on law
Artificial Intelligence

Chief Justice anticipates significant AI impact on law

Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Roberts, urges careful implementation and underscoring the irreplaceable values of human judgement.

By Shannon Williams • 3 min read • Wed, 3rd Jan 2024
Microsoft spends $19.7b to acquire AI software firm Nuance
Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft spends $19.7b to acquire AI software firm Nuance

The acquisition enables Microsoft to capitalise on Nuance's 'decades' of experience in both enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare.

By Staff Writer • 3 min read • Tue, 13th Apr 2021
Nuance revamps AI authentication to protect seniors from fraud
Unified Communications

Nuance revamps AI authentication to protect seniors from fraud

Nuance enhances Gatekeeper AI to better protect seniors from fraud, prioritising elderly callers in call centres amid rising cyber threats during COVID-19.

By Staff Writer • 3 min read • Fri, 5th Jun 2020
Nuance utilises AI to solve contact centre woes
Customer Relationship Management

Nuance utilises AI to solve contact centre woes

Nuance has unveiled Voice-to-Agent, an AI-powered tool designed to alleviate the pressure on contact centres exacerbated by COVID-19 disruptions.

By Staff Writer • 3 min read • Fri, 17th Apr 2020
Nuance announces updates to biometric fraud detection offering
Unified Communications

Nuance announces updates to biometric fraud detection offering

Nuance unveils upgrades to their biometric solution, enhancing fraud detection and customer authentication with AI-driven features and cloud-native scalability.

By Staff Writer • 3 min read • Thu, 10th Oct 2019
You only get one chance to make a first impression
Customer Relationship Management

You only get one chance to make a first impression

Regardless of where you come from one thing is for certain, businesses only get one chance to make a first impression.

By Robert Schwarz • 4 min read • Mon, 20th May 2019
Avaya and Nuance to deliver an AI-enhanced customer experience
Unified Communications

Avaya and Nuance to deliver an AI-enhanced customer experience

Avaya integrates conversational interfaces into its contact center solutions, improving self-service automation capabilities and customer experience.

By Staff Writer • 2 min read • Tue, 2nd Apr 2019
Nuance biometrics fight back against fraud
Unified Communications

Nuance biometrics fight back against fraud

Nuance Communications claims its biometric technology has thwarted over USD $1 billion in fraud, as fraud attacks via contact centres rise sharply.

By Sara Barker • 3 min read • Mon, 25th Mar 2019
Nuance aims to reinvent agent AI for the contact centre
Unified Communications

Nuance aims to reinvent agent AI for the contact centre

Nuance Communications unveils a new technology bundle to revamp Agent AI, merging human agents and AI for an enhanced customer experience in contact centres.

By Staff Writer • 2 min read • Thu, 7th Mar 2019
Avaya announces A.I.Connect initiative to boost AI technologies for enterprise communications
Unified Communications

Avaya announces A.I.Connect initiative to boost AI technologies for enterprise communications

The company-led initiative brings together vendors and options to deliver AI capabilities into the contact centre and unified communication industry.

By Kai Ping Lew • 3 min read • Thu, 2nd Nov 2017
Datacom recognised for implementation of IP Australia's intelligent assistant, Alex
Customer Relationship Management

Datacom recognised for implementation of IP Australia's intelligent assistant, Alex

Datacom's intelligent assistant 'Alexa' has scooped an award at the 4th Annual Intelligent Assistant Awards in San Francisco this week.

By Sara Barker • 3 min read • Fri, 22nd Sep 2017

Stories from Other Regions

Bank Australia rolls out voice biometrics designed by Nuance
Unified Communications

Bank Australia rolls out voice biometrics designed by Nuance

After a successful test rollout at the end of 2020, the bank is now offering voice-based biometric protection to all customers.

By Staff Writer • 2 min read • Thu, 1st Apr 2021
Nuance releases med-tech speech recognition in Aus
Artificial Intelligence

Nuance releases med-tech speech recognition in Aus

Nuance is launching its speech recognition platform Dragon Medical One in Australia, saving clinicians time on updating records and documentation.

By Ben Moore • 3 min read • Tue, 20th Aug 2019
Why voice biometrics will end the password era
Unified Communications

Why voice biometrics will end the password era

Voice biometrics is a tried and tested security measure that more and more organisations are putting in place as more consumers ask for it.

By Sasha Agafonoff • 3 min read • Mon, 9th Jul 2018