Conversation, with a next step.

Start with the job

If the job is to explain a service or help someone find an answer, a conversational interface with reliable information may be enough. If the job also involves a CRM, a calendar or another business tool, the system needs the appropriate connection and permission.

Chat interfaces can have tools attached. An agent can also appear inside a chat. The useful distinction is the behaviour you need: answering, preparing an action, or carrying out an approved action.

Follow one enquiry through

An enquiry arrives with a question and some contact details. An assistant might gather the missing information and prepare a response. A connected workflow might also find the relevant customer record, propose an update or check available appointment times.

Each step depends on the actual connection and scope. A proposed appointment is different from a confirmed booking. A prepared reply is different from a sent message. Make those states visible to the person using the system.

Define the authority

Agree which information the assistant can access, what it may change and where approval is required. A person should be able to inspect the source context and the exact action awaiting their decision.

Start with a small, understandable workflow. Review failures and unanswered questions as carefully as successful results, then expand the scope when the behaviour is reliable.

• What information can it use?
• Which actions can it prepare or perform?
• When does a person review or take over?

One screen, three levels of authority

In a fictional appointment workflow, the assistant first explains the available services. With calendar access it can then show possible times. Confirming a booking requires permission to write to the calendar and a checked set of details. The chat screen may look the same at each stage; the authority behind it changes.