The return to the office will prioritize health and safety in light of the lingering pandemic, so IT managers and their solutions providers will have to make sure their users and customers are equipped with technology that helps make that transition seamless.
One way to do that is through the use of artificial intelligence and voice-activation technology like Alexa, which Poly is leveraging in its new Alexa for Business for Zoom Rooms solution.
According to Poly, this new offering allows Poly customers to easily set up Alexa for Business and can ask Alexa to join meetings and book rooms without having to spend money on additional Alexa-enabled devices. The goal here is to simplify the enablement and management of Alexa for Business by building it into the Zoom Management Portal.
In addition to starting a meeting and booking a room, Poly Zoom Room users can ask Alexa to alert participants with end-of-meeting reminders.
Instead of an Alexa device, a Poly Zoom Rooms device detects a person’s voice to start a meeting or book a room. Poly boasts a broad lineup of professional-grade Zoom Room appliances that feature advanced speaker tracking and noise-filtering technology.
Specifically, the Poly Studio X series with TC8 touch interface, G7500 videoconferencing system, and Trio C60 smart conference phone are the latest Zoom Room appliances to support this Alexa for Business offering in the U.S.
The Poly Studio X Series and G7500 are both certified Zoom Rooms Appliances, as are the Trio 8500 and Trio 8800 smart conference phones, and all feature Alexa for Business capabilities, according to the company.
Alexa for Business also offers the same features as the consumer version of Amazon’s intelligent virtual assistant, including checking the weather, listening to the news and listening to podcasts.
In a statement, Jeff Smith, head of Zoom Rooms at Zoom, said voice-assisted technology is helping to address new ways of working.
“Zoom Rooms Appliances like the Poly Studio X Series and G7500 that support Alexa for Business are changing the game for organizations who are planning to return to the office safely, while also catering to employees who want to stay connected and join meetings quickly from home,” Smith said.
However, voice-assisted technology has more applications than just limiting contact with frequently touched surfaces. We’ve grown accustom to having Alexa turn our music in our homes off and on and asking the digital assistant other questions. Imagine being able to ask Alexa or another AI a quick stat about the business to impress a customer on the other end of a video call.
Check out my recent interview with Igor Jablokov, an early pioneer of voice recognition that helped lead to the development of Alexa, to learn more about how this technology can help transform the workplace.
