Amazon creates Alexa skill that allows customers and employees to access company data

Amazon has put an Alexa skill online with which companies and organizations can make data such as opening hours and information about employees available. The data is only available within an Alexa For Business group.

Example of template

Companies and organizations can use the skill to fill in data in spreadsheet templates, after which Alexa can answer questions with that data, Amazon writes. For example, visitors to a hospital can ask when the catering industry is open. When used within companies, it is possible to request the telephone number of a colleague, for example.

The data can be retrieved without first having to call a skill. That only happens within Alexa For Business and Alexa For Hospitality. These are non-public variants of the voice assistant for internal use at companies, organizations and in hotels, for example.

Using the Alexa skill does not require any programming skills; uploading a spreadsheet template is enough. The skill can then be tested and released. The skill requires companies to upload data to Amazon servers. Alexa For Business only works in the US.