Amazon.com Inc. is making another big push to bring its Alexa digital assistant into the workplace.

Today it launched a new kind of skill that lets users ask questions about data in a spreadsheet without writing any code or calling up a specific skill by name.

Currently in preview, Knowledge Skills allows users at organizations with Alexa for Business or Alexa for Hospitality services to add spreadsheets containing a range of business data, such as building and employee information, events, product catalogs and so on. That data can then be made accessible to employees via Alexa-enabled devices.

The big benefit is those employees can then ask questions about that data simply by saying “Alexa,” followed by their question. To create Knowledge Skills, the spreadsheet data is first mapped to templates corresponding to different use cases such as “events,” “how-to” and “in-store assistant.”

Alexa customers such as BayCare Health System and Saint Louis University have already deployed Knowledge Skills to provide answers to common questions from hospital visitors and students.

“Alexa Knowledge skills bring BayCare the opportunity to customize the Alexa experience across the health system without the need for complex coding and lengthy development processes,” BayCare Health System Director of Innovation Craig Anderson said in a statement. “We see massive potential at our 15 hospitals, BayCare’s many outpatient centers, and our HealthHubs to deliver answers in real time directly to our customers and Team Members via Alexa.”

Amazon has been pushing for businesses to adopt Alexa ever since it launched its Alexa for Business service last year. That was followed by the February launch of its Alexa Skills program for businesses and brands, and the March introduction of a dedicated business category on the Alexa for Business Blueprints website, which publishes third-party Alexa Skills.

Photo: Interactiveinteriors av/Flickr