Alexa has taken the world by storm and given many people the opportunity to live in a smart home for an affordable price. Whether it’s controlling lighting and heating or making shopping lists and playing music, it’s clear that it still has a lot of surprises for its users in the years to come.
On the other side of the spectrum, Alexa for business is yet to catch on in quite the same way. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t already a number of interesting ways you can use it in your office.
Cutting down any time you spend on tedious tasks is a big win for businesses and Alexa is proving itself to be the tech product of choice for simplifying the working day and increasing productivity as a result.
To give you a better idea of what Alexa for business is, we’ve highlighted our best suggestions on how you can utilise it at your workplace. Read on to find out more or simply visit our Workplace page to find more of our articles.
Are there any business considerations to take into account with Alexa?
Privacy is the number one concern for any business when technology is involved. So, you need to take some precautions or be prepared to have certain aspects of your private information aired through Alexa’s speaker system.
It’s best to have an Alexa for your workplace that’s separate from your personal life. Or, you can disable voice shopping and add a pin code to help bolster your security. But, despite all this, you will still be speaking in your workplace and can therefore be heard by anyone in earshot of your conversation with Alexa.
How can you use Alexa for business?
Conveniently add meetings to calendars
Keeping track of a busy work schedule can be a struggle, especially when added on top of your general work duties. Thankfully, Alexa’s have the ability to easily allow you to add meetings, deadlines, and other work obligations directly to your calendar.
In order to do this, add your calendar by visiting this link or opening up the Alexa app and going into Settings > Calendar. You can add a wide range of different calendars, such as Google, G Suite, iCloud, Office 365, and Outlook.
Once you’ve added your calendar, simply say “Alexa, add an event to my calendar” in order to make an entry. To find out what’s on your agenda for that day, you’ll need to say, “Alexa, what’s on my calendar”. In addition to this, you can also ask, “Alexa, when is my next event?” and “Alexa, what’s on my calendar tomorrow at [time]?”.
Improve the flow of your conference rooms
With Alexa, you can start and control your conference meetings by using your voice alone. By saying “Alexa, start my meeting”, you can begin your meeting and get down to business. Any Alexa-enabled device can then be directly controlled in smaller settings as well as pieces of equipment in larger settings.
In addition to this, Alexa gives you the opportunity to join conference calls from your workspace. And, when you need the latest sales data and company inventory levels at a moment’s notice, Alexa can quickly bring up the information you need to make your meetings more productive.
Create to-do lists with ease
As with your calendar, you’ll need to make to-do lists to help keep your productivity up throughout the day. Alexa gives you the opportunity to use the in built Task List Manager or two-way sync with Any.do, AnyList, Cozi Lists, Picniic, or Todolist.
To connect to a third-party to-do list manager, head over to this link or open the Alexa app and go to Settings > List. After this, click on Get Skill next to the task list manager. Then click Enable in order to log in and authorise the new third-party tool.
Voice-enable your company’s workplace
Alexa’s always looking to help businesses innovate and that’s where Alexa Skills come into play. This gives you the power to voice-enable your workplace by creating custom Skills to make your operations run more efficiently.
You’ll be able to provide directions, identify available meeting rooms, order supplies, report any building issues, and notify your IT department about any tech-related problems.
Are you looking to update the technology in your workplace? To learn more or speak with an experienced member of our team, please contact Saxons today.
