Alva Review-Courier -

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Office workers who fumble through dialing into conference call numbers could soon have Amazon's Alexa start the meetings for them.

The online retail giant is announcing the new functionality called Alexa for Business at its web services conference in Las Vegas.

The service envisions an office technical manager setting up multiple voice-activated smart speakers called Amazon Echo for workers at their desk or in conference rooms. Users can use their voices to access custom-made apps called skills or tap into team schedules created in Google's G Suite or Microsoft Outlook.

Amazon is using its new service to leverage its massive internet infrastructure serving the technology world's back end. Amazon Web Services already hosts thousands of websites and is a key platform for artificial intelligence applications and data storage.