Alexa for Business

Alexa for Business paves way for smart A.I. assistants at work

Amazon hopes to push Alexa into the office. At the same time, Cisco and Microsoft also see the potential for voice-activated A.I. assistants to automate mundane tasks such as starting video conferences and booking meeting rooms.-Alexa for Business

Much as smartphones did in the late 2000s, voice-activated A.I. assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant appear poised to move from homes into the workplace. That’s the idea behind this month’s launch of Alexa for Business by Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary, Amazon Web Services.

The virtual assistant unveiled at the company’s Re: Invent conference, is aimed at automating and simplifying a variety of tedious office tasks. It allows users to check calendars, reorder supplies, set up meetings and kick-off video conference calls using voice commands directed at its Echo devices.

Amazon is not the first to target its intelligent assistant for workplace uses. Cisco, for example, announced its Spark Assistant last month; it’s designed specifically to take some of the pain out of organizing video conferences. Microsoft, meanwhile, has integrated Cortana with its Office 365 applications. Continue reading →