Amazon will let companies create Alexa apps for their employees
Alexa for Business opens up the Skill store to workplaces.
Amazon is now letting companies create voice skills for use in the office with the launch of Alexa for Business. Members can use one of dozens of blueprints to create their own voice-activated commands on Alexa without having to write code. The voice apps will only be accessible to employees of their organization and can't be used on any devices outside the company.
The blueprints include many of the questions employees regularly bug HR or IT desks about, including; "What's the guest WiFi password," "When does open enrollment start?" and "How do I set up email on my phone?" Other Alexa for Business blueprints can help with onboarding new employees, answer common questions, and even broadcast pre-recorded messages.
The addition of Blueprints to Alexa for Business is the latest effort by Amazon to let users customize Alexa to fit their own needs. Last year the company introduced a set of 50 personal skills blueprints for Alexa, allowing users to program inside jokes, create custom quizzes and more. Much like apps, creating a voice-activated skill for Alexa normally can take months. But with blueprints, which work like templates, Alexa users simply have to input their own responses.
