A channel is the technology or application with which a user interacts with the Pega Platform application. A chatbot is the part of an application that handles natural language processing (NLP), case processing, and artificial intelligence to interact with a user in a conversational way. Different types of channels are supported. You add each channel separately to Pega Platform and configure and extend each channel as a channel interface to fit the needs and requirements of your organization.
Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant extends Pega Platform to create conversational channel experiences for users. From the channel interface dashboard, you can build conversational interfaces for Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant to carry out actions. Users communicate with Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant and indirectly with the application by using a simple question and answer form. For example, a user of a conversational channel can open a case to report a problem or display a menu of options.
Conversational channels are a great fit for an organization that wants to reach additional users of their enterprise application. They add value to an organization because a user can interact with a Pega Platform application to report or solve an issue by using Facebook Messenger, Amazon Alexa, email, or text (SMS) messaging.
The Facebook channel includes a built-in preview console. You use the preview console to test the configured Facebook chatbot during design time before moving it to a production environment. To help recognize the user's intent in responses more efficiently, you can also define text analyzer rules for a Facebook chatbot.
The following integration components are provided for and must be defined as channel interfaces. You can communicate with a Pega Platform application by using the following components:
For more information, see the Conversational user channels PDN article.
Note: You must purchase a separate license before using Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant in your application. With the exception of the Email channel, you must also obtain and install each channel component from Pega Exchange.