---
layout: post
title: The Bot Platform That Operates Like Alexa Will Win
image: >-
  http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api_evangelist_site/blog/amazon_alexa_blue.png
atomdate: 2016-09-28T22:00:00.000Z
tags:
  - Platform
---
I'm going through [Amazon's approach to their Alexa voice services](https://developer.amazon.com/alexa), and it is making me think how bot platforms out there should be following their lead when it comes crafting their own playbook. I see voice and bots in the same way that I see web and mobile--they are just one possible integration channel for APIs. They each have their own nuances of course, but as I'm going through Amazon's approach, there are quite a few lessons on how to do it correctly here--that apply to bots. 

Amazon's approach to investment in developers on the Alexa platform and their approach to [skills development](https://developer.amazon.com/alexa-skills-kit) should be replicated across the bot space. [I know Slack has an investment fund](http://apievangelist.com/2016/08/10/investing-in-your-api-community-like-amazon-and-slack/), but I don't see the skills development portion present in their ecosystem. Maybe it's in there, but it's not as prominent as Amazon's approach. Someday, I envision galleries of specific voice and bot skills [like we have application galleries today](https://apievangelistbots.slack.com/apps)\--the usefulness and modularity of these skills will be central to each provider's success (or failure).

[I had profiled Slack's approach before I left for the summer](http://apievangelist.com/2016/04/25/slack-meets-the-minimum-viable-api-platform-requirements/), something I will need to update as it stands today. I will keep working on profiling Amazon's approach to Alexa, and put together both as potential playbook(s). I would like to eventually be able to lay them side by side and craft a common definition that could be applied in both vthe oice API, as well the bot API sector. I need to spend more time looking at the bot landscape, but currently I'm feeling like any bot platform that can emulate Amazon's approach is going to win at this game--like Amazon is doing with voice.