Ever wished for a lead to be created in Salesforce with a magic spell? Well, it is no more a magic or a dream with Amazon Echo and Alexa.

Amazon Echo is a voice command device with functions like question answering, playing music and controlling smart devices. It connects to Alexa, an intelligent personal assistant, which is capable of providing information, answer questions, music playback or podcasts streaming, preparing to-do lists, can set alarms, providing weather info or news and many more things. Alexa allow users to activate the connected devices using just a wake-word such as Echo. Some devices may require to push a button. Alexa as of now supports interaction in English and German.

The 2017 was all about development of AI applications for voice and image recognition softwares. The global market of voice recognition technologies Is expected to to grow from US$2.6 Bn in 2016 to US$16 Bn by 2021. The market has a projected growth rate of approx. more than 40%.  The reason for its promising growth is the adoption of these solutions in various devices and applications.

Other than Amazon Alexa, there are other major technology solutions in this space by Apple, Google and Microsoft. Apple’s Siri is one of the earliest entrants and enjoyed a first mover’s advantage for quite sometime. However, it has its limitations with IoT solutions only for Apple products.

Google’s virtual assistant and Microsoft Cortana still lags behind as compared to Alexa and it remains a frontrunner in the space.

Coming back to why Alexa is a must in Salesforce based apps, it can perform multiple tasks in Salesforce on commands of the user. From Creating the leads to knowing the Sales pipeline, Alexa definitely comes out as a saviour at all times.

Here are a few things Alexa is powered at doing:

• Perform search at your command: Alexa can get the List of leads, along with their status and other fields. It can perform powerful searches for lead records and can bring them to you quickly.
• Lead management made easy:  You can tell Alexa the first name, last name, and company name of the lead and it can create the record quickly.  It can also modify the lead record in the same manner.

• Everything you will need on the go: Alexa can read out relevant information about any account within Salesforce. Just tell Alexa to give you an update on an account. It can set alarms and reminders for meetings on your calendar and much more.

There are lot more functions that can be performed by Alexa through voice commands.

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There are growing number of connection possibilities which are changing what it means to connect to your Salesforce based app. These connections or solutions have augmented benefits for the end users. For some, it may be difficult to see an immediate impact and understand how IoT can change their lives. However, IoT and associated technologies are here to stay and in no time, they will be able to do away with all the mundane task while improving their interactivity with humans as well.

P.S. TargetRecruit is an applicant tracking and workforce management system built on the Salesforce platform. Listed in the Inc. 5000, Gartner’s Critical Capabilities Report and Market Guide for Service Procurement Solutions, TargetRecruit offers Alexa integration.

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