Setting up Amazon Alexa for Brightidea!

Use the Brightidea Alexa Skill to conveniently save ideas and insights to your Brightidea without needing your computer or phone in front of you. Just speak the words and your ideas will be posted.

Place your Alexa device in a communal space, like a break room, and anyone nearby can use the device to immediately post ideas to a campaign. Happy innovating!

Amazon Alexa Setup

• Go to your Alexa app (either in your desktop browser or mobile app). Under ‘Skills’, search ‘Brightidea Breakroom.’ Select the Brightidea Breakroom Skill. Here, you may enable the skill.

• You will then be prompted to link your Brightidea account to your skill. Enter your Brightidea username and password.
  • Since an Alexa device may be linked to only one Brightidea account at a time, any ideas posted will be made through the Brightidea account that is singly linked to the Alexa account. However, any idea submitter will be prompted to give a name and employee ID so that ideas can be easily traced back to the proper submitter, if needed.

• Once your credentials are verified, choose an affiliate with which to log into the Brightidea Alexa Skill.
  • Only one affiliate can be linked at a time. If you wish to change the affiliate linked to the Skill, you must manually revoke permissions of the app and re-login to your Brightidea account. 

• After your login credentials are verified and an affiliate is selected, you must authorize the BI Alexa Skill to access your BI site.

• When authentication and authorization steps are complete, your Alexa app should say “Your Brightidea Skill was successfully linked.”

• Now that you have successfully enabled and linked the Alexa Skill to your Brightidea account, it’s time to set up a specific campaign to receive all the ideas that will be posted through the Alexa device.
• Go to your Brightidea account. Go to a specific Initiative (or create a new one) which you want to hold all the ideas input through the Alexa device.
• To enable Alexa in the Initiative, navigate to Site Setup > Ideas > Ideas and select 'Enable Amazon Alexa Submissions.'
• This will signal to the Alexa skill that ideas should be created in this Initiative:

• Set up the Alexa device where you would like it to be used, and begin using it to post ideas to your Brightidea platform!

Invoking the Brightidea Skill

• Invoking the Brightidea Skill is simple and easy. Here is a list of phrases you can speak to the Alexa device to invoke the skill:
  • “Alexa, launch Brightidea.”
  • “Alexa, post an idea.”
  • “Alexa, record an idea.”
  • “Alexa, submit an idea.”
• After one of the above phrases is spoken, the Alexa device will prompt you for a title to give to your posting.
• When Alexa has understood a title, the device will then ask for your name and Employee ID. This info will be included in the idea description so that all ideas can be tracked to the idea submitter, if needed.
  • You: Alexa, launch Brightidea.
  • Alexa Device: Welcome to Brightidea. To post an idea, say an idea title.
  • You: Make innovation part of our culture.
  • Alexa Device: What is your name and employee ID?
  • You: Kelly BI 123
  • Alexa Device: ‘Make innovation part of our culture’ has been posted.
• To cancel or leave an interaction without completing it, use the keywords “Stop” or “Cancel” to exit the interaction.
  • You: Alexa, ask Brightidea to save an insight.
  • Alexa Device: What is the title?
  • You: Stop.
  • Alexa Device: Goodbye.

• After completing an interaction, you can go to your web browser or Brightidea mobile app to check out the post you just created on your Brightidea platform through your Alexa device!

Changing Alexa Site/Affiliate Access

• In a web browser, visit your profile settings in the Brightidea account currently linked to the Alexa Brightidea Skill. Once there, click ‘Edit Your Profile.’

• Scroll to the bottom of the page until you see "My External Applications."
• Under this list, revoke the permissions of ‘BI Alexa App’ by clicking on the "X" next to it:

• Go back to your Alexa App. Disable the Brightidea Skill and Enable again. You should be taken to a window to grant an affiliate permission again.
• Choose the affiliate for which you would like to grant permissions. Complete the authentication/authorization process. Now, you are now able to post ideas to campaigns under this new affiliate!

Important Things to Note!

• Right now, the Brightidea Alexa Skill will only inquire the submission title and the submitter’s name and employee ID to create a post.
  • All other features of an idea (category, tags, etc.) are given default values.
• Only one Brightidea account may be linked to Alexa at a time.
• Only one challenge may be chosen in which to post ideas through the Alexa device.
  • If you include the signal text “#alexa-test” in the description of more than one challenge, Alexa will choose only one of those challenges in which to post the ideas.
• Only one affiliate can be granted permission at a time.
  • If you wish to change the affiliate, you must first revoke permissions from the account that is currently linked, and then re-login, granting the new affiliate access. Read the ‘Change Affiliate Access’ section above for more information. 
• Only the following languages are currently supported by the Brightidea Alexa skill:
  • English (India), English (Australia), English (US), English (Canada), and English (UK)
• Admins can set up a user account per Alexa so that Brightidea can associate a submitter for each idea submitted via Alexa, however we recommend setting up a separate Alexa user to post ideas from. Otherwise, ideas will show up as coming from whichever account is associated with the Brightidea Breakroom skill.
• Admins can set up multiple Alexa devices from different locations that send ideas to the same initiative.