Alexa for Business opens up to third-party device makers

Amazon is giving the Alexa for Business platform a big upgrade by opening it up to third-party device manufacturers to build their solutions with Alexa built into it.

Through Alexa for Business, thousands of companies were given the “ability to introduce Alexa to their organization and build custom and scalable voice experiences,” says the company. But businesses prefer having “Alexa built into their existing devices to minimize the amount of technology they need to manage and monitor,” Amazon said.

Alexa for Business allowed organizations to schedule meeting rooms, create voice apps for employees, etc. It is made available for Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Dot and other IoT devices from Amazon. Customers have been able to use the voice-assistant to control equipment from device makers like Polycom by pairing the equipment to an Echo device.

But now, with this new update, device makers like Polycom can simplify the user experience by directly integrating the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) SDK into their products. “… It will take our customer experience to the next level of convenience and ease of use,” noted Laura Marx, VP of Alliance Marketing at Plantronics – which is also planning to offer a product through Alexa for Business.

“We are working with popular brands like Plantronics, iHome, and BlackBerry, and solution providers like Linkplay and Extron to bring delightful and productive Alexa experiences to organizations,” AWS general manager Collin Davis said in a blog post.