Dive Brief:
- Amazon business customers can now use Alexa for Business Blueprints to create private skills for the enterprise, the company announced Thursday.
- Designed as a low code solution, the skill builder takes developers out of the process, allowing a company's employees to enter requests and responses into the Blueprints. IT administrators then review and enable the skill.
- Employees can use the skills builder to answer questions about the guest Wi-Fi password or the IT operating hours, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
In the technology world, Alexa devices are often considered consumer tools. Thoughts of Echo devices bring up visions of children struggling to ask Alexa questions or of an in-kitchen DJ that can play almost any song.
But, Amazon is trying to morph Alexa into an enterprise tool, drawing on a new pool of buyers. Apple has made a similar shift with its mobile enterprise push, creating solutions tailor-made for businesses.
A key obstacle is businesses perceiving Alexa as a novelty. High-profile partnerships will become a key tool for making Alexa lucrative to enterprise operations.
Amazon is working with Accenture to create software tools that integrate with Alexa, expanding a community of developers to build solutions. Box is weaving Alexa into its conference room facilities. And the hospitality industry has taken to introducing Alexa into hotel rooms to serve as an intelligent assistant to play music or call room service.
