Smart AI agents in chat and phone

Tip

In chat and on the phone, a smart AI agent works live in the conversation as a chatbot or voicebot. There is no resolution plan and no approval by service agents: the AI agent acts at the customer's request. Separate instructions can be set for both channels.

Which AI agent leads the conversation

The conversation starts with the AI agent set in the subchannel under Associated AI Agent:

Chat: It handles the first communication with the customer.
Phone: It handles the greeting and the first communication for calls. In the call flow, an AI agent and a greeting can also be set in the voicebot step.

If enneo detects a request in the conversation for which another AI agent is responsible, the AI agent calls it as a tool (see Tools of a smart AI agent).

Separate instructions for chat and phone

In the Instructions tab, a smart AI agent has the tabs Standard, Chat and Telephony (Chat and Telephony appear when the AI agent is assigned to these channels). The matching instruction applies to each channel; if no separate instruction is set for chat or telephony, the standard instruction applies. How to write instructions: Writing instructions.

A separate instruction is especially worthwhile for the phone, because spoken language needs different rules than text:

short sentences, one question at a time
phrase numbers, amounts and dates so that they are easy to understand when read aloud
no lists, links or formatting
read uncertain values – such as an IBAN or a meter reading – to the customer for confirmation

When actions are executed

	Chat	Phone
When the action is executed	When the action matches the customer's request. If the AI agent has corrected a value, it states the change and asks first. If the customer declines or hesitates, nothing is executed.	Immediately, as soon as the AI agent chooses the action.
Safeguard	Follow-up question for corrected values	The voicebot reads out uncertain values beforehand – this must be in the instruction for phone.

There is no separate switch for this behavior; it follows from the channel. The system messages in the conversation history show which actions the AI agent has executed (see Observability).

Handover, ending the conversation and identification

These capabilities are not set in the AI agent but via the channel:

Capability	Channel	Where to set
Handover to a service agent	Chat	Subchannel: Transfer to human agent possible. If no one is available, the chat waits in the queue.
Forwarding to a service agent	Phone	In the call flow
End conversation	Chat	Always available
Hang up	Phone	In the call flow
Identify customer	Chat and phone	Active as soon as authentication rules are set and the customer is not yet authenticated: Customer and contract search → Customer authentication rules for chatbot and voicebot, different per subchannel via Use specific customer authentication rules

What service agents see after a handover is described in Taking over a conversation from the chatbot or voicebot.