Alexa for Business will allow companies to build workplace skills for internal use, such as booking conference rooms, setting temperatures, launch meetings, bring up data and much more.
Amazon’s AI and machine learning enabled voice assistant will soon be going to work. After making a name for itself in the smart speaker space with the Echo range of devices, Amazon’s AI assistant Alexa will take on new roles within a workplace environment, as reported by WSJ.
Amazon is expected to announce Alexa for Business at its on-going annual AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. According to reports, Alexa for Business will allow companies to create custom skills for the workplace. Alexa Skills are like apps and allow users of the AI assistant to complete a variety of tasks, play games, get the news, search the web, play music and much more. You can read more about Alexa’s functions on Amazon’s Echo speakers in our Echo Plus review here.
Alexa for Business will be a separate platform, though. It will reportedly be used for automating various workplace tasks such as booking conference rooms, setting temperatures, launching meetings, bringing up business data and more.
Amazon will launch the new Alexa platform with a set of partners and skills initially. CNBC reports that Alexa for Business will also feature enterprise-grade security for identifying and authenticating personnel using the business skills. A separate store for business-specific Alexa skills is also expected to be announced by Amazon.
India got a taste of Amazon’s Alexa when the company launched the Echo range of smart home speakers in the country back in October. Since then, Amazon claims to have sold “Tens of Thousands” of Echo devices in the country.
Also Read: Here's what it's like to use the Amazon Echo Plus in India
Speaking about the inspiration behind Alexa, Puneesh Kumar, Country Manager, India, Alexa Experience & Devices at Amazon told Digit, “The inspiration behind this was actually Star Trek. Growing up people looked and watched this computer with whom Captain Kirk could talk to just using his voice. So we thought let’s try and invent something along those lines.”
“After US, UK and Germany, we prioritised India as the fourth country based on the immense potential that lies over here. We did not just want to bring a US Alexa as if it is visiting India. We wanted to bring in something that understood India and knew about its history, religion, music, Bollywood and sports,” he added.
When Alexa was first launched in the US, it only had 13 skills. Over the years, Amazon has rapidly expanded Alexa’s prowess and gained a considerable lead in the smart speaker market thanks to Alexa’s abilities. In India, Amazon launched Alexa with over 10,000 skills.
It will be interesting to see how Alexa perform in a workplace environment. Alexa for Work will definitely put Amazon ahead of rival Google, which does not have any enterprise specific version of the Google Assistant.
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Adamya Sharma
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