Zoom Rooms and Alexa for Business Empower Hands-Free Meetings

With employees around the country beginning to transition back into physical offices, many teams are making decisions related to how they can prepare their technical infrastructure for the post-pandemic world. One of the recurring themes has been the need for hands-free and voice-controlled meeting rooms. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Gartner predicted that by 2022, 40% of formal meetings will be facilitated by virtual AI and advanced analytics.

Starting today, Alexa will be integrated into Zoom Rooms Appliances and available for organizations of all sizes. This update extends support to Zoom Rooms Appliances manufactured by DTEN, Logitech, Neat, and Poly. By using natural language such as “Alexa, join my meeting,” or “Alexa, find me an available room” administrators can help employees focus on the meeting itself rather than the technology. No more touching screens, switching between technologies, or remembering how to use different devices.

This new offering enables administrators to set up Alexa for Business with a few clicks within the Zoom Rooms portal itself and without having to purchase additional hardware. Once enabled, for an individual room, floor, building, or campus, Zoom Rooms users can ask Alexa to join their scheduled meeting, start a new meeting, book a room for their ad-hoc meeting, or find an available room by simply using their voice. 

“How we work is changing,” said Jeff Smith, Head of Zoom Rooms at Zoom. “By integrating Alexa for Business into Zoom Rooms Appliances, we’re reducing friction for organizations as they look towards ways to bring back their employees safely.”  

Alexa for Business lets employees be more productive at work. By linking Alexa for Business to the organization’s calendar system, users can ask "Alexa is this room free?", "Alexa, extend the meeting for half an hour," or "Alexa, find a room." Keeping employees on time is also essential, so Alexa reminds employees when there are only 5 minutes left in a meeting. Alexa can even help them check the weather, stay up-to-date on the news, or listen to their favorite podcast. Alexa has more than 100,000 skills to help make their lives easier and more meaningful by letting them voice control their world.

“We are delighted to work with Zoom to introduce touchless voice control to their industry-leading room solution. By integrating directly into Zoom Rooms and not requiring any additional hardware, Alexa for Business has made it easy to deploy Alexa across a range Zoom Rooms Appliances,” said, Aaron Rubenson, VP of Amazon Alexa Voice Service and Alexa Skills. “Together we are delivering an end-to-end solution to increase productivity, improve the meeting room and video call experience, and enable businesses to be voice-first.”

Alexa for Business helps organizations unlock innovation, growth, and efficiency through application of Alexa’s artificial intelligence. Companies are using Alexa’s workplace capabilities to increase productivity and implement safe and easy-to use meeting experiences.

For more information on Alexa for Business and how to enable touch-free experiences for your organization, go to our Getting Started page.