anchorWhat is a Voice Virtual Agent?

In essence, a Voice Virtual Agent interacts with callers during voice calls and performs the following key functions:

1. Transcribes the caller's speech to text for AI processing.
2. Utilizes Natural Language Understanding to identify the caller's intent.
3. Maps the identified intent to an existing workflow (OR) uses Generative AI to create a text response.
4. Converts the generated text to speech which is then prompted to the caller back.
5. For escalated calls, provides the human agent with context by supplying the Virtual Agent's transcript or a summary.

Fig 1: A sample Virtual agent call that is escalated to a human agent

anchorPhase 1 - Development

Dialog Connector Simulator

Fig 2: Architectural Diagram for provisioning an Virtual Agent

The Dialog Connector Simulator is a sample Java application that demonstrates how to integrate an external conversational interface with Webex Contact Center IVR. Refer to the Dialog Connector Simulator Sample Code for guidance.

All media from Universal Harness (media platform) is streamed using gRPC APIs, and the Virtual Agent APIs use bidirectional streaming to send and receive media from the 3rd party provider.

1. Start by getting yourself a Webex Contact Center Sandbox.
2. Request Voice Virtual Agent entitlements via developer support.
3. Go through the protobuf definition.
4. Sample Code: https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/webex-contact-center-provider-sample-code

Catch the code walkthrough demo here: https://app.vidcast.io/share/41f3d470-07cc-412d-bd50-d5c9e00d3183?playlistShareId=1f4a2dff-8be4-4dd5-a1fb-d5aae8441bd3&autoplay=1

Note: Start testing in the cloud sandbox, and the same service app can be used for testing on a CCE test setup for validation.

anchorPhase 2 - Authentication

Authentication is set up using “Bring Your Own Data Source,” which gives developers the flexibility to register a unique URL and a token for every customer they onboard. Developers can create a Service App to start using the Voice Voice Agent schema.

Service App creation and authorization

Step 1: Login to the developer portal via a sandbox user credentials (You can recreate a service app later in your official webex account). Create a Service app with spark-admin:dataSource_read/dataSource_write scopes.

Step 2: For connecting to your Voice Virtual Agent application, choose the voice virtual agent schema in the "Data Sources" section. Also add the domain of the URL to which the connection should be established in the "Data Exchange Domain. For Eg. if the connection must be established for the URL (www.virtualagent.cisco.com), enter (cisco.com) :

Step 3: After creation, you need to submit your app to the customer org admin for authorization:

Important Links

1. Service Apps
2. Bring Your Own Data Source
3. BYODS SDK
4. Demo of Bring your own Data Source

anchorPhase 3 - Data Source Registration

To use the service app created, follow these onboarding steps:

1. Org admin authorization: A user with organization or contact center admin role (you can login to (www.admin.webex.com) with the admin credentials of your sandbox) needs to authorize the app by going to Control Hub -> Apps.

   

2. Generate Service App Token: As the provider, you must generate an access token for the authorized service app. Navigate to your service app in the developer portal and choose Generate Token for the customer org by selecting the org from the dropdown menu.

3. Register Data Source: Using the generated token, register your data source by making a POST request to the dataSources API:

   POST https://webexapis.com/v1/dataSources
   

   Include the following fields in your request body:

   • name: Unique identifier for the data source
   • displayName: Human-readable name
   • url: Your Virtual Agent endpoint URL
   • authToken: Authentication token (nonce) for secure communication
   • providerId: Your service app's provider ID
   • schema: Voice Virtual Agent schema ID (5397013b-7920-4ffc-807c-e8a3e0a18f43)
   • state: Set to ACTIVE to enable the data source

   For detailed API documentation, refer to the Data Sources API.

anchorPhase 4 - Integrating Data Source

Once the data source is registered, you can integrate it into your contact center configuration:

1. Config creation: Navigate to Main Menu -> Contact Center -> Integration -> Features to create a new CCAI Config:

   

2. Flow Creation: Create a flow with the Virtual Agent Voice Activity and use the AI configuration you created above in the Flow Control UI.

   

3. Entry Point Mapping: Map the EntryPoint to the newly created flow (Contact Center -> Channels -> Entry Point)

   

After these steps, make a call to the phone number specified in the entry point via your cell phone or Webex Calling Extension for Chrome if you are not in the US or Canada.

anchorPhase 5 - App Hub Submission Process and Review

All marketplace vendors need to go through the App Hub Submission Process. Once you have submitted the app for review, the application will be reviewed against these test cases: