When a warehouse packager's hands are busy with boxes and tape guns, having a voice assistant to read off in-coming orders and print out shipping labels could be a time-saver and a stress-reducer.
That seems to be the bet that Austin-based ShippingEasy is making with its new integration with Amazon's Alexa voice assistant -- a "first-of-its-kind" offering that brings the consumer oriented assistant into a warehouse setting. The shipping software company, which was acquired by Stamps.com for about $55 million in 2016, says the new offering will free shipping workers from shipping stations in warehouses and cut down on the time and labor required to fulfill orders.
The integration lets shippers manage orders, print labels, buy postage and get updates on how many orders you have and balances on postage accounts. Warehouses have used a variety of systems to communicate and automate shipping tasks, but adding Alexa brings a more universally-understood assistant to the floor.
“Our brand promise is to make shipping easy for e-commerce sellers of all sizes, from single-channel stores to multi-store, multi-warehouse, international operations,” Katie May, ShippingEasy’s CEO, said in a news release. “Leveraging voice capabilities to emancipate the shipper from the shipping station and keyboard is a perfect example of our commitment to that promise."
ShippingEasy's integration is just one piece of Amazon's larger effort to expand its Alexa voice assistant from kitchens and living rooms to factories and warehouses. And it's competing with the likes of Google and Microsoft to become the go-to solution for IoT devices, voice assistants and other enterprise-grade solutions.
Amazon launched its Alexa for Business section that shows skills and integrations that could be useful at your work desk, conference rooms and elsewhere back in November 2017.
That enterprise-grade work has happened as the company has also iterated on its assistants with the launch of Echo Auto for consumer vehicles and several new speakers.
