Enterprise chatbots for advanced automation
Crossing “The Authentication Divide” with Botcopy & Google.
With the Botcopy/Google stack, enterprise chatbots can now authenticate users by passing a JSON Web Token (JWT), multiplying your bot’s skills, and reducing operational expenses.
(Quick reminder, when we reference the “Botcopy/Google stack,” it’s crucial to know that Botcopy is the front-end UI layer, and Google Cloud Dialogflow is the back-end NLU framework. This all-star stack comprises the best-in-class solution for some of the world’s biggest brands.)
Now, let’s jump into the deep end and define “passing a JWT.” After reading, also be sure to check out this video.
If you don’t fully understand the technical aspects in the next two paragraphs, that’s okay. The goal is to give you a big-picture sense of the exciting new possibilities. You don’t fully need to even know what a JWT is, other than that it’s a JSON payload signed with a private key and it’s super-secure and trusted by some of the world’s biggest players. (Even Google OAuth relies on JWTs to keep Google logins secure.) That said, if you’re looking for a deeper dive into JWTs, I’ve added a link at the bottom.
Passing JWTs, defined (loosely)
Botcopy’s front-end web chat window can now receive a window trigger from your website’s login flow once a user has successfully logged in, prompting your Botcopy bot to send a JWT to Dialogflow, which in turn communicates with your server.
The chat window can also detect preset parameters in your website, indicating whether credentials are required. It can then broadcast Botcopy window events to end-users, pass in headers to a webhook you’ve assigned to an intent in Dialogflow (ES or CX), which routes the webhook to your server and back. 🤓 🤯
The key takeaway
All you need to know is that the processes described above can create an utterly secure loop. Your JWT will be signed with an encrypted key, and decryption happens on the server-side. Botcopy and Google can’t decipher the sensitive info. Neither can anyone who happens to intercept the API call.
Why bots passing JWTs is a good thing
To illustrate the benefits, let’s back up and look at bots that don’t authenticate. Even without authentication, a well-designed bot still comes with significant advantages. They can do all the things shown on the left side of the chasm:
- Handle lead generation
- Answer FAQs
- Schedule appointments
- Route users to the right people & resources
- Feel natural and engaging
- Take non-linear paths toward goals
- Work 24/7
- Learn from its mistakes
Bots on the left side of The Authentication Divide are still pretty good. That’s fine if “pretty good” is all you want. But what if your core values dictate that you pursue something exceptional?
Getting to exceptional
Let’s take a sec to fantasize about using an exceptional bot. Imagine you’re an end-user who visits a website because you need help or want to do something. You start by chatting to a “friendly digital assistant.” Something like below — our website chatbot, Keystroke, by way of example.
At first, you don’t expect much. You figure the bot will gather your contact info and hand it off to someone more capable. But in the world of JWT-passing, the bot IS that someone.
Let’s take this little fantasy further:
- Imagine a bot that not only starts the process but finishes it.
- Imagine not getting passed around to various departments like a hot potato.
- Imagine not having to contend with a feature-bloated website to get something simple done.
- Imagine not waiting in a queue listening to horrendously looped torture music coming out of what sounds like the first Gramophone ever made.
You no longer have to imagine.
The reality is here. Bots can now handle higher-value tasks because they now have an easy way to transport users across The Authentication Divide safely.
To the right side of the treacherous chasm, the high-value tasks await the brave and the bold: account info, ordering, records, payments, status, balances, upgrades, history, and other personalized stuff.
Ordinary bots don’t have a way of crossing that yawning abyss to get to the promised land on the other side. They’re stranded on the left side forever. 😞
Where do you want to be?
Enough about the end-user. Let’s talk about YOU.
I hope imagining yourself as an end-user was a helpful exercise. Let’s switch gears and talk dollars and cents. Here are some ways that passing JWTs will help your organization thrive beyond measure:
- Save time and money by automating more tasks
(How much money are we talking about? Take a look at The $200 billion problem no one in AI wants to talk about.)
- Reduce or eliminate bottlenecks, backlogs, and inefficiencies.
- Liberate your staff from the insanity of playing catch-up all the time.
- Personalize the chatbot UX, creating more brand affinity and loyalty
- Collect glorious heaps of data that make your bot smarter and inform business and marketing decisions. Data is gold. 🥇
Using the Botcopy/Google stack and adding JWTs to your roadmap, you join the innovators’ ranks — tomorrow’s leaders.
Here’s a visual you’ve probably seen. Where are you on this bell curve?
I started this article by talking about chasms. But there’s another chasm people talk about: the chasm between early adopters and the early majority. (From Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore.)
Given the exponential return rate with conversational automation backed by machine learning and the relatively easy entry point with Botcopy and Google Cloud Platform, can anyone afford not to be an early adopter?
I assume your organization has at least some form of a facile bot presence. Or maybe you don’t. In any case, if you want to explore deploying a bot that can cross The Authentication Divide, Botcopy is here to help. We’re a SaaS company but have an agency background, and we’re Google Cloud Partners – we know how to make the process easy for you. Schedule a meeting.
For more in-depth setup instructions for passing JWTs check out this article by Botcopy’s lead developer, Matthew Porter.
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