ScanSoft's eOmniForm.com Wins Rave Reviews from Customers

From the Healthcare Insurance Industry to the Education Sector to Professional Services, the Forms Publishing Software Saves Companies Time and Money

PEABODY, Mass., - January 4, 2001 - Just five months from the launch of their web-based forms hosting service eOmniForm.com™, ScanSoft®, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), the leading provider of paper-to-digital software, has already received fan mail from satisfied users. While the eOmniForm.com customers hail from a wide range of industries, they have all been faced with the same challenge: how to distribute and process forms more efficiently and cost-effectively. ScanSoft's eOmniForm.com has significantly cut time, costs and frustration for businesses of all sizes that need to distribute forms and collect data, including California's Small Business Institute, a worldwide insurance consulting and brokerage firm, and the State of Wyoming's High School Activities Association.

eOmniForm.com is designed to seamlessly integrate with OmniForm® 4.01, the newest version of ScanSoft's award-winning electronic forms software. eOmniForm.com features leading-edge technology that publishes forms on the web with a click of a button without any programming. The simple eOmniForm.com forms hosting solution completely eliminates the expensive, time-consuming work necessary to develop and maintain a data collection web site. Once a form is posted on eOmniForm.com, anyone with a web browser can access and fill out the form online, cutting the costs to print, distribute and manage paper forms. eOmniForm.com also collects completed forms on the ScanSoft-hosted web site, which allows the forms publisher to easily download the data into a local database. eOmniForm.com saves time and money for anyone who manages forms.

eOmniForm.com Turns a Tedious, Time-Consuming Task into a One-Step Process

California's Small Business Institute, a part of the Cal State Fullerton Management department, provides consulting services for small businesses in Orange County. The institute has experienced growth in recent years; as a result, business was beginning to take its toll on employees and their vehicles. Employees racked up miles driving across the congested Los Angeles metropolitan area to personally deliver or pick up applications. The practice, while admirable for its personal touch, was anything but efficient and cost-effective for processing urgent cases.

Since installing OmniForm 4.01 and implementing the eOmniForm.com service this fall, clients of the Institute are now able to fill out and submit completed forms online. The ability to post and change forms on the web helps the organization quickly and easily update the ever-changing forms. And the online backup of data and form files has made storage and management of files a breeze.

"eOmniForm.com saves us a great amount of time, not to mention the hassle and coordination efforts it took to pick up the forms personally," said Vi Pham, Small Business Specialist for the Small Business Institute.

eOmniForm Enables Insurance Broker to Conduct National Healthcare Survey

Insurance Broker Robert A. Kelly is new to OmniForm, but not so new that he can't see the clear benefits of the electronic forms conversion application. Kelly assists over 60 clients with their health and welfare benefit plans. The insurance broker first became acquainted with OmniForm when he was involved in a project to conduct an industry specific survey to gather demographic and plan offerings. By using the integrated eOmniForm service, which comes bundled with OmniForm, Kelly created and distributed the survey.

Kelly appreciates the ease of use and finds the tools for creating .exe files for distribution via email and the Web to be a valuable asset. "OmniForm saved my firm money and time as I was able to create the entire survey form without the help of programmers or other departments," Kelly said. "By eliminating these layers I was able to save the client money, produce the form promptly and receive and tabulate the data quickly and efficiently."

State Educational Association Brings Forms Processing into the Digital Age with Online Submission

Thanks to Scansoft's eOmniForm.com service, members of the State of Wyoming High School Activities Association can now submit requests and information in Internet time. The non-profit organization in charge of sports and fine arts for about 75 Wyoming high schools, uses OmniForm 4.01 in conjunction with the eOmniForm.com service to publish forms on the association's web site, dramatically cutting the cost and time associated with the traditional mail-in method. Member schools can now electronically fill out and submit information that traditionally has been filled out by hand and faxed or snail mailed to the office. OmniForm's capabilities allow the WHSAA to post applications, request forms and more right on the web site where members can then electronically complete them and submit them within minutes.

"The eOmniForm.com service is perfect for us," said Ron Erion, Associate Commissioner of the Wyoming High School Activities Association. "ScanSoft let us build an electronics forms submission system without any knowledge of HTML or CGI scripting, or having to learn to write code."

Easy to Publish, Fill Forms and Retrieve Data via the Web

Together, eOmniForm.com and OmniForm 4.01 provide the industry's only paper-to-web forms hosting service, enabling users to convert paper forms into web forms with the look and feel of the original. Converting forms from paper to web reduces the need to print and distribute paper forms. In addition, eOmniForm.com automatically saves completed forms in its database, eliminating the need for data entry and file cabinet storage. OmniForm 4.01 also features the most extensive set of design tools of any forms hosting service, offering the best solution for both converting paper-to-web and designing forms from scratch. These design features also allow users to easily update or edit forms, and since it's published on the web, the changes are made without wasting obsolete paper forms.

"eOmniForm.com gives anyone the power to collect form data from the millions of Internet users whether they're down the street or around the world," said Wayne Crandall, ScanSoft's Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development. "eOmniForm.com is a cost-effective, simple solution for any form whether it's a registration form, expense report, order form, project request or insurance form."

The new eOmniForm.com Internet forms host offers one year of Basic Service at no charge for anyone who purchases OmniForm 4.01. The Basic Service allows OmniForm customers to post up to five forms and collect 10,000 form entries. After the first year, the same basic service is available for $49.95 per year. In addition, eOmniForm.com is expected to provide two expanded levels of service to host a greater number of forms. The SOHO Service enables users to publish up to 20 forms for $89.95 per year, and the Enterprise Service allows users to post up to 50 forms for $174.95 per year.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

Headquartered in Peabody, MA, ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT) is the leading developer of paper-to-digital software that enables users to leverage the power of their scanners, digital cameras and other electronic devices. ScanSoft's award-winning product line - PaperPort Deluxe, Pagis Pro, TextBridge Pro, OmniPage Pro, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, OmniForm, eOmniForm, Paper Converter, PageKeeper, ImageAXS, Kai's PhotoSoap2, Kai's SuperGoo, Kai's PowerShow, and PhotoFactory - enables users to capture, recognize, edit, manage and share documents and photos electronically by taking advantage of ScanSoft's cutting-edge technology.

ScanSoft has established numerous strategic partnerships with the industry's leading scanner and multifunction vendors to deliver the most comprehensive and cost-effective solutions for its customers. Vendors who have chosen ScanSoft's cutting-edge OCR technologies to incorporate into their own product offerings include Brother, Canon, Epson, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Lotus Development Corporation, Microtek, Mustek, Primax, Sharp, Symantec Corporation, Visioneer, Xerox and others. ScanSoft's leading technologies have been licensed by Microsoft for use in future products. ScanSoft continues to cultivate and develop strategic partnerships to deliver the most comprehensive and cost-effective solutions for its customers.

ScanSoft software is sold and marketed worldwide through retail, dealer and OEM channels and the Internet, capturing the consumer, small office/home office (SOHO) and corporate markets. There are more than 6.5 million registered users of ScanSoft products. ScanSoft can be found on the Web at www.scansoft.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements as to the features, perceived benefits and availability of ScanSoft's products, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the market acceptance of ScanSoft's products, the impact of competitive products, and other risks detailed from time to time in ScanSoft's SEC reports. ScanSoft disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

PaperPort, PaperPort Deluxe, Pagis, TextBridge, OmniPage, OmniPage Pro Scan Suite Plus, OmniForm, eOmniForm, Paper Converter, PageKeeper, Scanner Suite, PageKeeper, Developer's Kit 2000, PhotoFactory, Kai's PhotoSoap2, Kai's SuperGoo, and Kai's PowerShow are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are hereby recognized and may be registered to their respective holders.

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