Alexa moves from nightstands to Wall Street with JPMorgan partnership

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Dive Brief:

JPMorgan Chase and Amazon have partnered to bring Alexa to the bank's Wall Street clients, opening analyst reports and research up to voice commands, reports Bloomberg. JPMorgan is testing additional features, such as having Alexa report bond and swap prices. The Alexa project is the result of an internal innovation competition by JPMorgan.

Clients of JPMorgan Research who own devices housing Alexa can now log in and request the company's Corporate & Investment Bank research, such as analyst research or a stock tear sheet, "whenever and however they choose," according to JPMorgan.

JPMorgan is not the only company using Alexa. New York Life Insurance Co. is set to bring the intelligent assistant to its 12,000 agents to facilitate their day-to-day, and Capital One Financial Corp. has already used it to help customers manage their accounts, according to Bloomberg.

Dive Insight:

The growth of Alexa in office settings is yet another example of what was once a consumer-facing product now finding a place in the enterprise. Google took a flopped product, Google Glass, and relaunched it in the enterprise setting with much more success, and Apple has been making its own inroads with a Device as a Service program with HP Inc.

But the convenience and tools offered by intelligent assistants is hard to match. Amazon released Alexa for Business in November and has been steadily adding more enterprise clients, such as WeWork and Wynn Resorts. Alexa can integrate business apps, such as Concur, Salesforce and Service Now, and other office products, such as the Google and Microsoft suites, into the smart workplace.

Microsoft has its own voice assistant, Cortana, but Alexa still rules the market. The two digital companies announced plans to have their voice assistants work together last year, and in January Amazon announced plans to bring Alexa to PCs in 2018.

For JPMorgan, the partnership is another step in its relationship with Amazon. The bank already runs on the AWS cloud and has partnered with Amazon on a healthcare initiative.

From a technology perspective, intelligent assistants are adding to the bank's already robust technology portfolio. CIO Lori Beer, who joined the company last fall, oversees a $9.5 billion tech budget, running the gamut from software and Big Data to blockchain and AI.

The company is keenly looking at its cybersecurity, and figuring out how to further integrate a voice assistant that is always on and listening into a business with troves of sensitive information will demand greater attention in the coming weeks and months.