Azure Bot Service

  • Author: Ronald Fung

  • Creation Date: May 11, 2023

  • Next Modified Date: May 11, 2024

A. Introduction

Azure Bot Service provides an integrated environment that is purpose-built for bot development.

B. How is it used at Seagen

As a biopharma research company using Microsoft Azure, you can use Azure Bot Service to create and deploy conversational bots that can help you to improve customer engagement, automate customer support, and streamline your workflows. Here are some ways you can use Azure Bot Service:

  1. Customer support: Azure Bot Service can help you to create chatbots that can answer customer questions and provide support 24/7. This can help you to improve customer satisfaction and reduce the workload on your support team.

  2. Virtual assistants: Azure Bot Service can help you to create virtual assistants that can automate tasks such as scheduling appointments, booking travel, and managing expenses. This can help you to improve your overall efficiency and reduce the workload on your employees.

  3. Process automation: Azure Bot Service can help you to create bots that can automate your business processes, such as order processing, inventory management, and billing. This can help you to reduce errors and improve your overall productivity.

  4. Data collection and analysis: Azure Bot Service can help you to create bots that can collect and analyze data from customers, employees, and other sources. This can help you to gain insights into customer preferences, employee performance, and other key metrics.

  5. Integration with other services: Azure Bot Service can integrate with other Azure services such as Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Functions, and Azure Logic Apps. This can help you to extend the functionality of your bots and create more complex workflows.

Overall, Azure Bot Service can help your biopharma research company to create and deploy conversational bots that can improve customer engagement, automate customer support, and streamline your workflows. With customer support, virtual assistants, process automation, data collection and analysis, and integration with other services, Azure Bot Service can help you to improve your overall efficiency, reduce workload, and improve customer satisfaction.

C. Features

A chatbot is an application that has written or spoken natural language as its user interface. In other words, a conversation is the means through which questions are answered, requests are serviced, and so on.

This article provides an overview of some of the chatbot solutions Microsoft provides. If you’re new to making chatbots, we recommend starting with Power Virtual Agents.

The following lists Microsoft products and services for building bots, who they support, and a brief description. Following sections describe each product in more detail.

Power Virtual Agents

Power Virtual Agents is designed to support fusion teams—where professional developers and various subject matter experts collaborate. It also supports citizen developers and specialized vendors.

Power Virtual Agents is a tool for chatbot development that’s included in Microsoft Power Platform—a business-application platform that incorporates data analysis, solution building, and process automation. You don’t need to write code or understand the details of the underlying AI technologies to build bots in Power Virtual Agents. Such bots can apply automation and other capabilities within the Power Platform, and you can rapidly develop sophisticated chatbot experiences.

  • You can connect virtual agents to various user platforms, such as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

  • You can use over 600 prebuilt data connectors, available through Power Automate.

For more information about Power Virtual Agents, see the product overview page. For details about pricing, see Power Virtual Agents pricing.

Health Bot

The Health Bot Service is a cloud platform that healthcare organizations can use to build and deploy compliant, AI-powered virtual health assistants and health bots. The service can help organizations improve processes and reduce costs. It offers your users intelligent and personalized access to health-related information and interactions through a natural conversation experience.

The Health Bot Service is ideal for developers in IT departments of healthcare organizations such as providers, pharmaceutical companies, telemedicine providers, and health insurers. Healthcare organizations can use the service to build a health bot instance and integrate it with their systems that patients, provdiders, and other representatives interact with.

The Health Bot Service contains a built-in medical database, including triage protocols. You can also extend a health bot instance to include your own scenarios and integrate with other IT systems and data sources.

For more information about the Health Bot Service, see Health Bot Overview. For information about pricing models, see Choosing the right Health Bot plan.

Bot Framework SDK

Microsoft Bot Framework and Azure Bot Service provide tools to build, test, deploy, and manage intelligent bots. The Bot Framework includes a modular and extensible SDK for building bots, including tools, templates, and related AI services. With this framework, developers can create bots that use speech, understand natural language, handle questions and answers, and more.

Azure Bot Service and the Bot Framework offer:

  • The Bot Framework SDK for developing bots.

  • Bot Framework tools to cover end-to-end bot development workflow.

  • The Bot Connector service to send and receive messages and events between bots and channels.

  • Bot deployment and channel configuration in Azure.

Additionally, bots may make use of other Azure services:

  • Azure Cognitive Services to build intelligent applications.

  • Azure Storage for cloud storage.

For more information about the Bot Framework SDK, see What is the Bot Framework SDK. Once you have created and deployed your bot to Azure, the chatbot service consumes resources. For details about pricing, see Azure Bot Services pricing. Costs associated with the consumption of resources on Azure are in addition to the cost of the chatbot service itself.

Skill bots

As an advanced scenario, you can create a skill bot that provides features to other bots. You can develop the skill bot and the bot that consumes the skill in different products. For more information about skill bots, see:

D. Where implemented

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E. How it is tested

Testing Azure Bot Service involves ensuring that the bot is functioning correctly, securely, and meeting the needs of all stakeholders involved in the project. Here are some steps to follow to test Azure Bot Service:

  1. Define the scope and requirements: Define the scope of the project and the requirements of all stakeholders involved in the project. This will help ensure that Azure Bot Service is designed to meet the needs of all stakeholders.

  2. Develop test cases: Develop test cases that cover all aspects of Azure Bot Service functionality, including deployment, management, and security. The test cases should be designed to meet the needs of the organization, including scalability and resilience.

  3. Conduct unit testing: Test the individual components of Azure Bot Service to ensure that they are functioning correctly. This may involve using tools like the Bot Framework Emulator for automated testing.

  4. Conduct integration testing: Test Azure Bot Service in an integrated environment to ensure that it works correctly with other systems and applications. This may involve testing Azure Bot Service with different operating systems, browsers, and devices.

  5. Conduct user acceptance testing: Test Azure Bot Service with end-users to ensure that it meets their needs and is easy to use. This may involve conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups to gather feedback from users.

  6. Automate testing: Automate testing of Azure Bot Service to ensure that it is functioning correctly and meeting the needs of all stakeholders. This may involve using tools like Azure DevOps to set up automated testing pipelines.

  7. Monitor performance: Monitor the performance of Azure Bot Service in production to ensure that it is meeting the needs of all stakeholders. This may involve setting up monitoring tools, such as Azure Monitor, to track usage and identify performance issues.

  8. Address issues: Address any issues that are identified during testing and make necessary changes to ensure that Azure Bot Service is functioning correctly and meeting the needs of all stakeholders.

By following these steps, you can ensure that Azure Bot Service is tested thoroughly and meets the needs of all stakeholders involved in the project. This can help improve the quality of Azure Bot Service and ensure that it functions correctly in a production environment.

F. 2023 Roadmap

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G. 2024 Roadmap

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H. Known Issues

There are several known issues that can impact Azure Bot Service. Here are some of the most common issues to be aware of:

  1. Configuration issues: Configuration issues can arise when setting up Azure Bot Service. It is important to ensure that all configurations are set up correctly to avoid issues with deployment, management, and security of the solution.

  2. Performance issues: If the bot is not properly sized, it can impact performance and availability, causing issues with the speed and reliability of Azure Bot Service.

  3. Integration issues: Integration issues can arise when integrating Azure Bot Service with other systems and applications. It is important to ensure that Azure Bot Service is designed to work seamlessly with other systems and applications to avoid integration issues.

  4. Security issues: Security is a critical concern when it comes to Azure Bot Service. It is important to ensure that Azure Bot Service is secured and that access to the solution is restricted to authorized personnel.

  5. Accuracy issues: In some cases, Azure Bot Service may not be accurate or may not apply to a specific use case. It is important to review Azure Bot Service carefully and validate it before taking action.

  6. Compatibility issues: Azure Bot Service may not be compatible with all platforms, devices, or languages. It is important to ensure that Azure Bot Service is compatible with the organization’s existing infrastructure before implementation.

  7. Testing issues: Testing issues can arise when testing Azure Bot Service. It is important to ensure that testing is carried out thoroughly and that all aspects of Azure Bot Service functionality are tested.

Overall, Azure Bot Service requires careful planning and management to ensure that it is functioning correctly and meeting the needs of all stakeholders involved in the project. By being aware of these known issues and taking steps to address them, you can improve the quality of Azure Bot Service and ensure the success of your project.

[x] Reviewed by Enterprise Architecture

[x] Reviewed by Application Development

[x] Reviewed by Data Architecture