Amazon launches Alexa for Business Blueprints
Amazon is making another push to bring Alexa into the workplace with the official launch of Alexa for Business Blueprints and a dedicated business category on the Blueprints website. Amazon rolled out Alexa for Business more than a year ago and has steadily added features via AWS. Skill Blueprints were launched in April 2018 as a way to allow anyone to create skills and publish them to the Alexa Skills Store.
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In February, Amazon opened the Alexa Skills program up to businesses, publishers and brands, but this latest effort expands the business pitch significantly. With new private business skills, including the Business Q&A and Onboard Guide Blueprints, businesses can create voice-activated productivity services specific, and exclusive, to their company.
The Business Q&A Blueprint lets users to create a set of questions and answers for common workplace inquiries, like the number for the IT department or what guest WiFi password is. The Onboard Guide Blueprint is meant to create skills that answer questions for new employees, like instructions on how to submit an expense report, for instance.
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The privacy aspect is key for the business Blueprints, and Amazon said IT administrators will be able to review and enable the Blueprint's content for company users and managed Alexa-enabled devices. Amazon said there are currently dozens of business Blueprints available in the US.
"The expansion of Skill Blueprints to businesses brings the power of voice and AI to the workplace and builds on the numerous fun templates already available to customers today," Amazon said in the announcement.