In version 8.4, Pega introduced the Email BOT channel, an advanced automation tool designed to understand correspondence and respond accurately using self-learning capabilities. As soon as we learned about this functionality, we immediately came to the conclusion that it looks promising, so it’s worth taking a closer look.
Our exercise aimed to test its business usefulness and implementation ease for new and existing projects.
Check out the detailed test results.
What is Email BOT?
Advanced automation tool for understanding correspondence and responding to it with high precision
With it, you can monitor one (or several) email boxes and take actions tailored to the needs and expectations of recipients.
In short, this is a component that allows for analysis and monitoring of incoming emails and taking actions characteristic of Pega, such as:
- initiating case workflow
- responding emails
- case actions
- access management
- other predefined tasks
How to use the email BOT channel in practice?
It can be an independent, reusable component/application or implemented as part of an application layer.
There is no denying that the solution brings many benefits (compared to manual handling of the same actions). You can count on performance improvements in cost, time, accuracy, and precision. You can use the license for multiple users.
Moreover, emali BOT can be used by non-Pega applications to receive some data or integrate through APi’s
24h Support email account can be configured as AI bot to respond fast and accurately. If you need an effective tool to check the status of applications, FAQs, etc., without having to log into the system, this is also a solution for you.
Prerequisites and preparation to start setup
- New Pega Email Channel
- Email listeners are created automatically when email channel is saved. Users don’t need to configure it manually
- Repository must be set by developers.
- Access to Prediction Studio required for custom models
- Pega Email Account(s) and external email account(s) (for example Gmail)
- Separate Access Group to access this channel
Configuration
Initial configuration – how to set technical details
- Go to Channels and Interfaces and create New Email interface
- Add existing email account(s) – email accounts need to be configured as sender and receiver
- Configure Additional settings (optional)
- Add Reference operator – (technical non-sso operator) and Languages that are going to be used
- Save the rule – when it’s saved then email listeners should create automatically
Behavior configuration – how to set supported scenarios
- Add suggested cases (designed separately), click gear icon and enter mapping for input parameters that come from emails
- Configure Suggested replies (optional)
- Enable Text Analyzer (optional)
- Based on the input conditions configure Intelligent routing
Training data – how to teach BOTs
- Add new training record – Click Add records, choose Topic (case type) and write or paste an email template
- Review training data
- If it’s correct click Mark reviewed if not change Entities (right-click on the selected text)
If needed new entity can be added, but then the mapping in the Behavior tab must be also modified.
- Mark all training records as reviewed
- Select Build Model
Training data has been added and model is ready to use.
Learning model
- Pega OOTB model can be used without any additional configuration
- New custom model can be created using Prediction Studio in Pega
- Data: Application properties can be reused in Email BOT channel. No need to create new properties for input data – existing properties can be reused as input parameters for BOT channel.
Use cases
Assigning a case to the correct team (development tram, support, release management etc.)
- How it works?
- Based on the prerequisites (for example email template) issue is addressed to the correct team
- What are the advantages of using Email Bot?
- End Users can use one email for all queries, and don’t need to remember all support departments
Email can initiate and perform basic operations instead of a user manually performing these operations, for example:
-
- Enable, disable, create Operators
- Reviving a disabled user account based on an incoming email
- How it works?
- Verify the content of the email.
- The system decides “what to do” based on the verification.
- If verified correctly: create/enable/disable operator.
- Notify the requestor about the access granted/rejected.
- What are the advantages of using Email Bot?
- Verify the content of the email and take immediate action
- Save time, access verification in a few minutes
- Example
Requesting and enabling access to the environment
- How it Works?
- Verify the contents of the email and attachments.
- Based on the external data, Access Group can be added
- What are the advantages of using Email Bot?
- User doesn’t need to wait for verification if prerequisites for access are fulfilled
- Attachments can be automatically reviewed
- Example
Fetching case details and responding automatically
- How it works?
- An email BOT can open the existing case and analyze it
- The system can be configured to share some case data on request, with validated users who do not have an access to PEGA
- What are the advantages of using email bot?
- No full Access is need, only chosen data can be read
- Users don’t need to login to Pega
- External users can check some public data
- Example
Building a self-service FAQ
- How it works?
- the email BOT must be able to respond to the pre-defined FAQ
- What are the advantages of using email bot?
- Email BOT recognize the FAQ and respond using defined answers.
- Example
Translate incoming request via email into a ticket in the external system
- How it works?
- An email BOT can initiate the process when there is an issue and ticket must be raised to the appropriate team
- What are the advantages?
- There is no need to manually create a ticket, and use different systems. One email can start the whole process
- Example
Non-Pega Applications can use Pega Email Bot features via API integrations.
- How it works?
- Email Bot is using Pega to access and receive data from other systems.
- What are the advantages?
- The possibility to use Email Bot channel as a “integration tool” with other systems.
- Example
Provide OperatorDetails for Operator UKLANSKA
Duplicate checks
- How it works?
- Email Bot can recognize duplicate cases/duplicate email requests and react accordingly
- Advantages
- If a few people raise the same incident or ticket is already in progress, the Bot can recognize it and avoid duplicate cases
- Support team members can easily recognize if the received email is a new topic or a duplicate
- Example
Email Manager
Interface to manually triage the emails that the bot is not able to address.
Reports
For statistical purposes, better monitoring, and improving the effectiveness of responses, Pega Email Bot offers OOTB reports. Data is presented in charts that allow you to display:
- e-mails: all received, handled manually, handled automatically
- actions taken for automatic replies: creating a case, sending a reply or both
- preview of how cases are created: automatically or manually over time
This tool allows to detect of deficiencies in the channel configuration, and also indicates elements of the learning model that might need some improvement.
Below we present sample reports. However, it should be kept in mind that this was only a simulation for the purpose of the POC, so the data does not reflect the real business scenario.
Summary
This thorough analysis clearly leads to the conclusion that Pega’s email BOT functionality is very useful.
Its greatest advantages include:
- saving time
- No need for manual input and verification.
- Fast and precise responses.
- No access permission needed for dedicated information
- Easy to implement & adjust but updating and creating accurate learning models may require data science skills.