Amazon Lex V2

Amazon Lex V2 is a third-party platform that provides voice virtual agents. Virtual agents interpret what your contacts say and respond appropriately. They do this using technologies such as:

• Speech-to-text Also called STT, this process converts spoken language to text. (STT)
• Text-to-speech Allows users to enter recorded prompts as text and use a computer-generated voice to speak the content. (TTS)
• Natural language processing Also called NLP, this process understands human speech or text and responds with human-like language. (NLP)
• Artificial intelligence (AI)

Virtual agents are flexible and can provide a range of functions to suit the needs of your organization. For example, you can design your virtual agent to handle a few simple tasks or to serve as a complex interactive agent.

Conversation Flow for Voice Virtual Agents

To start an interaction with a voice virtual agent, contacts The person interacting with an agent, IVR, or bot in your contact center. call a phone number and reach your organization. The contact may be connected directly to the virtual agent, or they might need to choose an option in an IVR Automated phone menu that allows callers to interact through voice commands, key inputs, or both, to obtain information, route an inbound voice call, or both. menu. Once the conversation with the virtual agent begins, the contact's utterances What a contact says or types. are transcribed Also called STT, this process converts spoken language to text. into text so the virtual agent can analyze them. The virtual agent's responses are converted to synthesized speech using a text-to-speech Allows users to enter recorded prompts as text and use a computer-generated voice to speak the content. service before being sent to the contact. Transcription and speech synthesis can happen in CXone or, in some cases, in the provider's platform.

After the conversation has started, the virtual agent analyzes the contact's utterances to understand the purpose or meaning behind what a person says. This is known as the contact's intent. When the intent is identified, the virtual agent sends an appropriate response to the contact.

Requests and responses are sent via Virtual Agent Hub and the script with each turn. This option allows for customization of the virtual agent's behavior from turn to turn. For voice virtual agents, this is the utterance-based method of connection. All text virtual agent providers use this method.

At the end of the conversation, the virtual agent sends a signal to the Studio script. It can signal that the conversation is complete, or that the contact needs to speak with a live agent. If the conversation is complete, the interaction ends. If a live agent is needed, the script makes the request. The contact is transferred to an agent when one is available.

Once the conversation is complete, post-interaction tasks can be performed, such as recording information in a CRM Third-party systems that manage such things as contacts, sales information, support details, and case histories..

Prerequisites

To use Amazon Lex V2 virtual agents A software application that handles customer interactions in place of a live human agent. with CXone, you need:

• An Amazon AWS account.
• An Amazon Lex V2 virtual agent configured with and trained to use the responses that fulfill your contacts' requests. In the context of Amazon Lex V2, these responses are called intents. This definition differs from the meaning of intent The meaning or purpose behind what a contact says/types; what the contact wants to communicate or accomplish elsewhere in the CXone online help.

Components of an Integration

The integration of Amazon Lex V2 involves the following components: 

• CXone: CXone must have a configured voice channel A way for contacts to interact with agents or bots. A channel can be voice, email, chat, social media, and so on. to use with the integration.
• Virtual Agent Hub in CXone: Virtual Agent Hub holds the configuration information for connecting to your virtual agent A software application that handles customer interactions in place of a live human agent. provider. This includes choosing the options you want to use for TTS Allows users to enter recorded prompts as text and use a computer-generated voice to speak the content. and transcription Written form of a voice or digital interaction, if your integration requires these services.
• Studio scripts: You need at least one script that includes a virtual agent Studio action. The action must be configured with the connection information for your virtual agent. The point of contact for the channel you're using with the integration must be configured to use this script.
• Amazon Lex V2: Your virtual agent must be fully configured in the provider's platform. See the prerequisites on this page for any specific requirements.

Conversation Transcripts

You can capture the transcript and intent information from all Amazon Lex V2 voice conversations. You can use the captured data in any way you want. For example, in cases where an interaction is transferred to a live agent, you could display it for that agent. Another option could be to save it as a permanent record of the conversation. You can choose to capture just the transcript, just the intent information, both, or neither.

If you want to capture this information, you must enable it in the Amazon Lex V2 configuration settings in Virtual Agent Hub. You must also configure a Studio script used with your virtual agent. The script must include a action configured to manage the captured data. Captured data is stored temporarily for the life of the contact ID. If you need to save it, you can configure the script to send it to an archive. You are responsible for scrubbing all saved data for PII (Personally Identifiable Information).

Custom Scripting Guidelines

Before integrating a virtual agent The meaning or purpose behind what a contact says/types; what the contact wants to communicate or accomplish, you need to know: 

• Which script you want to add a virtual agent to.

• The virtual agent Studio action you need to use.

• Where the Studio actions must be placed in your script flow.
• The configuration requirements specific to the virtual agent you're using.
• How to complete the script after adding the virtual agent action. You may need to: 
  • Add initialization snippets as needed to the script using Snippet actions. This is required if you want to customize your virtual agent's behavior.
  • Re-configure the action connectors to ensure proper contact flow and correct any potential errors.
  • Use the OnReturnControlToScript branch to handle hanging up or ending the interaction. If you use the Default branch to handle hanging up or ending an interaction, your script may not work as intended. This branch is used only when the virtual agent state is Fulfilled or ReadyForFulfillment.
  • Complete any additional scripting and test the script.

You may be able to obtain template scripts for use with virtual agent integrations from NICE CXone Expert Services. If you need assistance with scripting in Studio, contact your CXone Account Representative, see the Technical Reference Guide section in the online help, or visit the NICE CXone Community site.

Supported Studio Action

Voicebot Exchange Action

The Voicebot Exchange action is for complex virtual agents, or for when you need to customize the virtual agent's behavior from turn to turn. It monitors the conversation between the contact and the virtual agent turn by turn. It sends each utterance What a contact says or types. to the virtual agent. The virtual agent analyzes the utterance for intent The meaning or purpose behind what a contact says/types; what the contact wants to communicate or accomplish and context and determines the response to give. The action passes the virtual agent's response to the contact. When the conversation is complete, the action continues the script.

If you want to configure barge in or no input, additional scripting is required.