[Alexa/Google Assistant] Restore/Add bilingual voice assistant support

If I could post a wish to Santa Clause, it would be the simplification of the Smart Home! Everyone in our household loves Alexa, Ok Google is cool also. We are raising our kids bilingually, both kids fully enjoy both languages and know whom they should speak which language to. Alexa nor Google are bilingual, Alexa used to be, but she got dumbed down. Hmm, I am really wondering how far AI has come in general usage, but that would be a whole other topic. Granted voice recognition is a complex beast because of all its tonalities. Back to the Smart Home, I have had almost endless discussions over Wifi vs. Zigbee and other technologies with my colleagues at lunch. We always come to the same conclusion. Neither do we need multiple bridges, nor do we need other devices and apps to control our smart home system. Just voice should suffice! Back to my wish to Santa, I would love a smart home system that just works. Plug and Play were introduced by Microsoft over 20 years ago, I wish we could just have it back for Smart Home devices. I do not need yet another app to control my light bulbs, nor do I want to set up Alexa Skills or Google actions for my smart home to work. Both systems have great built-in functionality that could make everyone's life so much easier. One can even set-up different groups and scenes to control multiple devices in one room within the Alexa App. Turning on the TV could dim the lights and turn off the music. If you are really taking it to another level, a robot could probably be trained to bring you could beverages and peanuts at the same time. Back to reality! Finally, Sonos figured out how to control the speakers through Alexa. Google might be miles away, however! That leads me to my favorite subject, customer obsession. Customer centricity is a thing of the past, it must be customer obsession. I would really love to decide as a customer, which music streaming services I would like to use on either system. Please do not limit my choices just because you don't like one another. In plain words, Google and Amazon, just allow each other's services on your devices. The customer will choose what is best for them anyway, which is a key element of customer obsession and what it means and takes. Back to the smart home, dear Santa, can you please tell all the device manufacturers that it is really important to think about the retrofit. If you want to achieve maximum reach, people need to be able to install IoT devices in a way that they provide value and are simple to install, without exchanging light switches or other built-in devices. Retro and "Plug and Play" might be the new mantra. Ahh and there is one more thing! WTP - Willingness To Pay, who wants to pay 3 or 4 plus times the amount for a light bulb, just so I can be turned on and off in a room setting by voice or an app. It is really important that the prices come down for all smart home devices. How can this be achieved? Accept that Amazon and Google own the customer touchpoint (end user platform). Focus on standard protocols and don't try to invent new derivations. Oh and don't be greedy, 1bn devices will also get you plenty of profits :) Lastly, dear consumers! Think about the benefits of your smart home and voice-enabled devices. Our three year old has already figured out Alexa! (The future customers!) Would that be possible with any other devices like a CD-Player etc? I also love the functionality, when I am giving two kids a bath and I can just ask Alexa to play kids music so they calm down or you are cooking and have all hands full and can just ask for your favorite music. There are endless use cases and there will be tons more that we cannot even think about now. Yes, there are the few examples where some company was listening to your conversations at home. If you are concerned that someone is listing, you might want to change the way you are talking to one another! Having said all that, I am not going to have a camera-enabled device in our bedroom :). Season's greetings! Steffen #smartsmarthome #customerobsession #santa #merrychristmas #zigbee #easeofuse #plugnplay