Smart assistants, like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, are Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms that can assist pastors and parish tech staff with productivity. But what are they exactly and how can they help?
Smart assistants are electronic devices that use voice commands to help you to find information quickly and easily on the internet. These devices have features that could help with parish administrative planning and personal organization tasks like calendaring, as well as providing conferencing features for small meetings. Offices of all kinds increasingly connect using smart assistants and smart speakers.
One key to understanding each of the leading smart assistants is to first know that they all operate on a basic algorithm that responds to voice commands. The more the smart assistant is used, the more it learns, and over time can become more and more helpful around the parish office.
Here is a quick look at Amazon, Apple, and Google’s smart assistant and smart speaker features:
Amazon
Smart Assistant: Alexa
Smart Speaker Device: Echo
Amazon’s Echo smart speaker devices feature a smart assistant called Alexa. With smart assistant conferencing tools and integrated features, Alexa and Echo can now connect and manage other devices and apps for increased integration. Alexa’s superiority comes from its purchasing and ordering capabilities, as well as linking to other devices and apps.
Apple
Smart Assistant: Siri
Smart Speaker Device: Homepod
Apple introduced Siri in 2011, and is still the go-to iPhone assistant due to the number of languages she speaks and her coordination capabilities. Earlier this year the new Apple Homepod smart speaker device was made available on the market. If you are an iPhone user, Homepod might be a better pick over the Amazon Echo.
Smart Assistant: Google Assistant
Smart Speaker Device: Google Home
Google Home offers a healthy range of integration with music sharing apps as well, but the search engine is the most used feature. A new enhanced speaker called Google Home Max was recently released and it has one of the best smart speakers on the market.
There are other smart assistants out there, but these are our top picks. Is your parish office currently using one? Once you work you try out these smart assistants at your parish, we would like to hear what you think by commenting below.
