So there you are, on a site visit, and the busy CFO can’t see you right away. “You can talk to my assistant in the meantime,” the CFO says. “She’s right here—you can ask her anything.” You look around, and there’s no one else in the room. “Ask who?” you query. “She’s right in front of you! Alexa, can you give me the trailing 12 months of EBITDA?” The CFO is talking to a small cylindrical gadget on the desk that obeys the command. Far-fetched? No, because voice input to accounting systems is coming, maybe soon, according to an article in AccountingToday. That gadget could be the Echo, which is connected to Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service over the internet and can interact with other internet-connected devices in the home or office. Will it help you get the information you need? We’ll see. Hopefully, business owners won’t be asking, “Alexa, what is my company worth?”
A new candidate for management interviews?
BVWireIssue #177-1
June 7, 2017
Please let us know if you have any comments about this article or enhancements you would like to see.