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Alexa debuted on select Windows 10 laptops this year – built into a range of HP, Asus, Acer and Lenovo notebooks – and is now available for download on all compatible devices.
There are no PC-specific controls for Amazon at this point, Amazon said it plans to add "PC-specific capabilities" early in 2019.
Moving beyond managing entertainment and smart home apps, Alexa's presence on Windows 10 is moving to a new level of productivity.
There are more than 25,000 Alexa skills available.
Amazon is also forging deals with corporate partners. A range of companies, including Salesforce, SAP SuccessFactors, Concur, Central Ring and ServiceNow, all of them to their applications with Alexa for Business.
Amazon also recently announced that it has been opened up to third party vendors in a hardware office.
Are companies ready for Alexa?
The prospect of virtual assistants in the office is being met by senior IT leaders.
"We see virtual assistants as inevitable in the workplace," said Joel Jacobs, vice president, CIO and CSO at MITER Corporation in Bedford, Mass. "Home experience will be the expectation for voice interaction, inquiry, and control of other [IoT] devices. I think they will expect that if they can have these capabilities at home, why not the office? "
"Intelligent assistants have already come out of their hands," said Jim Rinaldi, CIO and director for IT at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
He said voice interfaces can save time compared to the keyboard inputs and allow multitasking in a more convenient way. "I envision having intelligent assistants to the various dashboards I have to answer questions [rather than] having access to the dashboard every time.
Tom Cullen, CIO at Driscoll's, the $ 3.5 billion supplier of fresh berries, envisioned an Alexa-type device handling user self-service requests – as opposed to logging workflow typically depends on another staff member.
Virtual assistants might also be helpful, "he said.
Tom Anfuso, senior vice president and CIO at National Life Group, said the company, based in Montpelier, Vt., Prototyped a simple proof-of-concept Alexa skill for its insurance agents last year.
"We will likely continue working with Alexa in the context of our innovation R & D program this year," he said. Although there is no firm plan at the moment to go beyond the concept, Anfuso said the company is "generally bullish on the growing Alexa ecosystem."
IPG Mediabrands, the media arm of the New York-based advertising firm Interpublic Group of Companies, has been exploring Alexa for Business Integration in its organization, said Frank Ribitch, senior vice president, technology, for the Americas.
"We have seen the benefits that virtual assistants like to bring to the table," he said. "In my perfect world, we would be able to walk to a conference room, ask Alexa to start their video conference,
Conferences, conferences, conferences, conferences, conferences, conferences, etc. "I'd love to be able to remove my staff from these meetings, and have them focusing on other, more pressing issues."
Security concerns
There are still challenges to overcome, however, with the protection of sensitive data. Said Cullen: "The main drawback [for virtual assistants] is security.
"The reason I do not really know where to go is really going to be with you," he said.
Ribitch agreed: "Like many others, we are concerned about a device that is always on and always listening.
"Over the past several months, our CISO and our Legal / Privacy teams have been drafting an internal policy to address IoT devices. We are taking a closer look at our capabilities, and more importantly, how to secure them on our network. We hope to have the final policies completed later this quarter. "
Jacobs also questioned where data would be created in virtual assistant interactions would reside. "For example, if the voice interpretation is 'in the cloud,' does that mean that the voice track and transcription is being stored by the service provider? If so, how can they be used? "
"I do not see major drawbacks, but they will always be concerned about privacy and security," said JPL's Rinaldi.
The inherent challenges facing the introduction of voice-activated smart assistants in some ways mirrors the influx of smartphones in work environments over the past decade. That revolution forced IT with the introduction of a new technology by the end of the world.
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