Alexa is set to transform the office

Offices around the world will soon undergo an Alexa revamp – if Amazon has its way. With the rise of smart speakers and voice assisted technology in the home market place, Amazon is set to take its technology to the office.

At the AWS Reinvent conference, Amazon will announce Alexa for Business, according to the WSJ. The new platform will let companies build out their own skills and integrations for both practical and business use cases.

In terms of development, the Alexa for Business platform will work in a very similar way to the Echo system. Just as developers can build skills for Amazon Echo users, businesses will soon be able to build out Alexa skills for use within their own company. The WSJ expects businesses to use this platform to control everything from changing the temperature and turning on the lights, to calendar management and meeting room scheduling.

Alexa for Business will all come with all the same capabilities as a regular Echo, letting users get information about news, weather, set timers and alarms, and ask questions.

Amazon already boasts more than 20,000 third-party skills that people can install and then summon from Alexa. And Amazon has expanded its line of Echo devices and made it possible for other companies to insert Alexa into their devices. The introduction of Alexa for Business also presents an opportunity to let users access business information on their phones or outside of the building using the Alexa app on their phone.