Amazon and The Value of Voice in an Untapped Market

Amazon Echo (home to ‘Alexa’) – 2nd generation

Amazon, just like many market leaders in the technology industry, saw a great deal of growth and transformation in 2017. As the industry evolved with new consolidations and acquisitions, Amazon became the Yahoo! Finance Company of the Year and purchased Whole Foods for $13.7 billion to boost their sales potential.

However, according to Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO, Andy Jassy, this is just the beginning for the technology giant. More companies than ever before are beginning to choose AWS for their network strategy, thanks to their versatile cloud platform and sustainable ecosystem, but the company is still looking for new ways to get ahead of competitors like Google, and Microsoft.

One of the technology solutions that AWS remain particularly invested in, is the opportunity of “voice-activated” applications, just like their virtual assistant, Alexa.

An “Explosion” of Voice Applications

Amazon already has a significant foothold in the voice application space. In terms of virtual assistant success, Alexa is the clear market leader, with hundreds of third-party devices using it to assist customers with their voice-related searches. However, the CEO for AWS believes that there’s still plenty of doors available to unlock in the voice space.

According to Jassy, the years ahead could unravel a future where voice becomes a more significant aspect of your day-to-day life – particularly as audio technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and more capable of performing essential tasks. With the right app, you could not only order a pizza but schedule your entire vacation from beginning to end.

AWS feels that voice is simply the next stage of convenient customer interactions. Jassy noted that while tapping on your smartphone felt revolutionary, to begin with, it’s nothing compared to the power of using a voice-driven system to manage everything you need, without ever needing to touch your phone. He believes that the evolution of the tech industry will drive an “explosion” of voice applications for the future.

Tapping into a Brand-New Marketplace

According to Amazon, we’re still only in the early days when it comes to the possibilities of cloud technology. Within the next decade or so, Jassy feels that fewer businesses will be managing their own data centres, as services transfer more routinely to the cloud. As AI and machine learning evolves, along with the Internet of Things, the cloud could deliver a more versatile solution for technology management. In fact, Gartner believes that worldwide revenue for the public cloud will grow by 58% by 2020.

Of course, for now, Amazon’s focus remains around the challenge of differentiating itself from the Google Cloud and Azure. AWS needs to maintain it’s competitive edge by implementing new features – potentially in the realm of voice. Jassy noted that the company will be focusing, as always, on the customer in the year ahead, rather than getting bogged down by what competitors are doing.

For Amazon, the key to success is empowering the people who make the decisions in the marketplace and giving companies the opportunity to innovate faster in a more agile tech world. We can only wait and see how the brand plans to use voice to achieve that goal.

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