Today, we’re following the story of the inspirational Bob Stolzberg of VoiceXP, and giving you some deep insights into how you can turn Alexa for Business into a business.
We’ve already discussed the challenges of making money through Alexa. It’s hard for Skill builders to turn a profit without relying on subsidies from Amazon. So, instead of trying to monetise customer-facing apps, Bob and his team are targeting enterprise clients and SMEs and helping them create business efficiencies by using Alexa for Business, and it’s going very well!
In this episode, Dustin and I are getting into the detail of how VoiceXP came to be, how Bob almost made $14,500 profit from his first Alexa Skill, why voice is such a big opportunity and how he turned Alexa for Business into a business.
We’re also discussing the features that come with Amazon Alexa for Business and some example use cases taken from Bob’s experience, as well as plenty of other areas such as:
- Selling to corporate clients
- The difference between a skill builder and a business
- The risk of using amazon alexa in business
- Security concerns and DR compliance
- The risks that corporate clients face and mitigations
- The importance of being a Amazon partner
- Private vs public skills
- Locking down devices
- Use cases and future use cases
- Reporting and analytics
- Agnostic roadmaps
- The hard work required to start a startup
Our Guest
After spending 20 years working in the enterprise IT field, Bob Stolzberg founded VoiceXP, the voice first company that helps businesses create efficiencies and increase productivity through voice. Bob and his team work with enterprise clients and SMEs to implement Alexa for Business within organisations. From designing and building specific skills for clients, to the full implementation of the devices and platform.
Bob’s experience of the enterprise IT environment gives him a unique understanding of the corporate IT world, the kind of people that make purchasing decisions and the kind of risks or concerns IT professionals will perceive with new technology platforms such as this. He’s managed to overcome those concerns, mitigate those risks and build a thriving business that’s just joined one of the top startup accelerators in the US, Capital Innovators.
Bob’s an immensely engaging and passionate guy, and offers some amazing guidance and pointers for anyone looking to turn voice into a business. This is a truly inspirational listen.
Links
- Visit the VoiceXP website
- Follow Bob on Twitter
- Listen to the VoiceFirst.FM podcast featuring Bob
- Check out Dustin’s book: Voice applications for Alexa and Google Assistant
Where to listen
- iTunes/Apple podcasts
- Spotify
- Stitcher
- TuneIn
- iHeartRadio
- Pippa
- Any other podcast player you use or ask Any Pod to play V.U.X. World on Alexa
