Case Study: Nuance Communications achieves automated open source compliance and customer assurance with Black Duck

A Robust Open Source Compliance Program—The Key to Customer Satisfaction

Nuance Communications is a leader in conversational AI and the maker of Dragon speech recognition, serving industries from healthcare to automotive and generating about $1.7 billion in annual revenue. With 12,000 employees and integration of its software into many customer systems, Nuance faced the challenge of governing widespread use of open source software to meet license, security and customer compliance requirements while keeping development fast and flexible.

Nuance implemented a five-step open source governance program led by IP counsel Kellen Ponikiewicz and partnered with Synopsys to automate code scanning (Black Duck), develop policies, and train teams. The program improved secure development practices, made it easier for developers to contribute to OSS, reduced ongoing maintenance and compatibility issues, and helped reassure customers during the sales cycle by demonstrating license and security compliance.

Nuance Communications

Kellen Ponikiewicz

IP Counsel