How Amazon's Alexa Can Help Your Business

Every executive wants an office assistant that can assist with daily “grunt work.” These office assistants handle a lot of work that the owner simply doesn’t have time for. Alas, small businesses are working with a small budget, making the odds of affording extra help slim to none. Can Amazon’s Alexa offer another option for this predicament?

What to Consider Before You Invest in Alexa
One of the first things you need to do before investing in Alexa as a virtual assistant is to contemplate the lack of privacy that a user gets when utilizing it; the same goes for most virtual assistants out there. Your office needs to be mindful of what they say around the virtual assistant because you never know what it could tell other people. An uncomfortable situation could be created that accomplishes the exact opposite of what you intended if you and your staff are not careful.

Thus, it’s imperative that you take steps toward limiting the trouble that a virtual assistant like Alexa could provide for your business. Some of these steps include disabling voice shopping and enabling PIN security. You should also set up your Alexa so that only a specific voice profile can utilize the device; this makes sure only authorized users are understood by Alexa.

Alexa Can Manage Your Meetings
Once you’ve properly dealt with the privacy issues, you can add your calendar to your Alexa so that it can manage your appointments. To set this up, go to alexa.amazon.com or open up the Alexa application. Go to Settings > Calendar. Alexa has compatibility with common business suites like G Suite, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Office 365, and even iCloud, making it a versatile solution. Once these have been added, you can create an event by simply saying, “Alexa, add an event to my calendar.” Alexa can read back your events for the day and answer any questions related to your calendar.

Alexa for Business

Amazon is exploiting the popularity of Echo to build a successful product with Alexa. These days, Amazon issues Echo devices that have Alexa for Business built right into them. Because of this, businesses can take advantage of Alexa’s new capabilities, which include:

• Performing queries on local databases
• Permitting access to sales data
• Checking and managing inventory
• Ordering supplies
• Setting reminders
• Managing lists
• Controlling AV equipment
• Initiating phone calls
• Notifying support for IT & building maintenance

Amazon has even taken their development of new technology a step further by considering enterprise-level security and management that integrates enrollment tools that can help you manage access to your vital systems. This is part of the Amazon Web Services division; businesses will have to pay for any devices separately, but the cost of management remains static according to the Alexa for Business model.

Alexa for Business is being utilized by several large organizations that have found a way to make it profitable for them, so the possibility is still there for your business as well. Amazon’s power play to make the best, most efficient virtual assistant out there is ringing loud and clear all throughout the industry, so it would be foolish not to at least consider the thought.

The Alexa Skills Kit
Even if someone who isn’t associated with an Alexa for Business-sponsored organization can take advantage of several features built into the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Tap, to create their own personal assistant. Here are some of the apps included in the Skills Kit:

• Conference Manager: This app was constructed by Vonage. It permits your Google Calendar to tell you what your next conference call is. It can also connect you to your call by calling any of your Alexa-enabled devices. It supports many different conferencing options, including Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, Citrix GoToMeeting, and Vonage Business.
• Scheduling Assistant: Alexa can also schedule meetings via the integration of an automated app called the FreeBusy Scheduling Assistant. It can see if a person is available and schedule a conference call for when all available parties can meet. This app also integrates with Google Calendar, Exchange, Outlook, and Office 365.
• Email Assistant: Thanks to the productivity software developer EasilyDo, Email Assistant for Alexa can help travelers confirm reserved times by crawling through their inbox and collecting all important information for an at-a-glance look.
• Chat Bot for Slack: Development for Slack is on the way, but third-party integration will have to do in the meantime. This app can update your communications and collaboration platform whenever the data needs to be updated, keeping your business as up-to-date as possible.
• Edit Docs: You can construct documents, sheets, and slides, as well as edit them and list your most utilized files with this app.
• Mastermind: This app is mostly utilized for communications. Alexa can be connected to the user’s smartphone so that it can send and receive text messages, make calls, or view call information.

Could your organization use Alexa? Have any further questions or concerns regarding Alexa? Call Macro Systems at 703-359-9211 for more information.