I explore the benefits and challenges of the Alexa Flash Briefing after doing one for two weeks.

Although making a purchase through a smart speaker is seldom done today, it was the same for ecommerce 20 years ago. Those brands, such as Blue Nile and Amazon, who jumped in early are today's marketshare leaders. The time to get started is now.

Adding conversation AI to a business process should start with one question: will it improve the user experience? That is determined by understanding your target user's context for using conversation AI.

Alexa offers smaller businesses the opportunity to claim the keywords that describe their products or services. At least for now.

Voice can take the place of screens and keyboards where it makes sense but it's not going to replace things that are better done by eyeball. We didn't suddenly go blind when we learned how to talk.

Although it is possible to develop a Siri skill (called a Shortcut), the app store adds friction that developers do not have on Alexa and Google Assistant.

One popular mobile app expertly bundles them both into the same UI.

Which platform will back you bot? Here's a high-level look at the use cases and differences between IBM Watson and Alexa.

Voice AI is a pivotal technology just as ecommerce was 20 years ago. As with ecommerce, you don't want to be late to the party at the cost of tomorrow's marketshare.