After an exhaustive search through credible sources, it appears the percentage of businesses in the United States that have smart speaker skills/actions, along with their reasons for doing so, is unavailable in the public domain.
HELPFUL FINDINGS
U.S. Business Smart Speaker Usage
- By 2018, there were over 50,000 Alexa skills globally, compatible with about 20,000 different devices, and utilized by over 3,500 brands.
- The number of Alexa skills in the US by 2018 exceeded 30,000.
- Specific to companies, several prominent household brands in the United States (e.g., LEGO, Betty Crocker) have created applications or skills to interact with consumers and promote their offerings.
- The companies that witnessed the most frequently named “branded” skill/application administered by owners of smart speakers were Tide (6%), Glad trash bags (5%), Quaker Oats (2%), Campbell’s soup (2%), etc.
- Some news companies with Alexa skills include: NPR’s Alexa skill known as NPR News Now, The Wall Street Journal skill, which provides command-based answers on news summary, latest podcasts, market updates, and the CNN Alexa news skill.
- According to the 2017 Enterprise Tech End-User Sentiment Survey from Unit4, 38% of specialists declared that they employ a digital assistant similar to Alexa for personal reasons. Meanwhile, 11% maintained that they use it for professional reasons.
- Around 91% of decision makers at companies are conducting major investments in voice technologies.
- At least 88% of business decision makers claimed they plan to uphold numerous voice assistants (e.g., Apple Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa).
- Less than one-third (22%) of companies in the U.S. have released a voice app, while about 44% intend to do the same during 2019.
Reasons for using smart speaker skills for their businesses
- According to a 2018 Strategy Analytics Consumer Survey, in the United States, more than two-thirds (61%) of smart speaker users utilize an Amazon device, and therefore, news sites publishing to audience that speak English "have the most to gain from creating an Alexa skill news show for their brand."
- A survey from Adobe revealed that U.S. consumers are routinely utilizing smart speakers to review news and weather updates and enjoy music.
- By September 2018, in the United States, the potential smart speaker audience reach amounted to 57.8 million, and it was expected to exceed 60 million by the conclusion of the year.
- Other reasons include the fact that smart speakers are more convenient than podcasts, they act as an additional revenue stream, and future proofing news sites.
- According to a survey done by Adobe, the three leading objectives of companies investing in voice apps are :
- Enabling customer purchase (45% of the surveyed respondents)
- Tracking orders (45% of the surveyed respondents)
- Facilitating renewals and repeat purchases (44% of the surveyed respondents)
Research Strategy:
Our research began by examining market research and industry analysis reports concerning the smart speakers market. We searched sites such as Technavio, GMInsights, Mordor Intelligence, Markets and Markets, Market Research, etc. for market research reports. Meanwhile, we checked sources such as PWC, Nielsen, Deloitte, BCG McKinsey, etc. for industry analyses. We wanted to locate data on the penetration of US businesses in the US market, either in terms of the percentage of companies using smart speaker skills or the share of smart speaker skills that businesses enjoy within the market. However, the information we found was limited to the overall usage of smart speakers, particularly by consumers, the share of companies, growth of the market (overall), etc., without providing any specific instance for the usage by businesses.
Next, we visited the sites of the providers of smart speakers, namely Amazon, Google, and Apple. We looked into sources discussing details on their products such as Alexa, Google Assistant, etc. We explored their websites for growth and performance reports, investor presentations, etc. We aimed to find out what these companies said about their share in the business smart speaker market, or the number of companies adopting it. However, we could not find data on smart speaker skills/actions backed by market data, and the information available was mostly qualitative, discussing what these companies thought about the benefits of using their products or services.
Finally, we consulted sources that publish US-based news on technological companies or any news specific to technological businesses. These sources included sites such as Forbes, Business Wire, Business Insider, Fortune, WSJ, CNBC, Tech Crunch, Tech Republic, etc. Although we focused our search on discovering business usage related to companies having smart speaker skills/actions, the data we came across centered on the consumer usage of these services or products, or the latest technological advances made by a company.