Conversational SMS service channel
Summarize
Summary of Conversational SMS Service Channel
The Conversational SMS service channel app enables workspace agents to manage long-running SMS conversations efficiently alongside other service channels. Requesters can initiate support conversations via SMS, allowing agents to track ongoing interactions while also handling requests from different channels. This app allows agents to initiate or continue SMS conversations and accept SMS work items directly from the Workspace Inbox.
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Key Features
- Messaging Profiles: These profiles associate incoming phone numbers with requesters, ensuring accurate tracking of interactions. If a new SMS is received from an unrecognized number, a messaging profile record can be automatically created.
- Messaging Actions: Actions can be triggered based on messaging activity, such as sending notifications to agents or requesters, reassigning interactions, or changing the interaction state based on specific conditions.
- Ongoing Conversations: The Agent Inbox helps agents manage new SMS messages and locate assigned conversations. Long-running SMS conversations are tracked separately from completed ones.
- Initiating Conversations: Agents can initiate SMS conversations either by selecting a provider number or entering one manually, with automated handling of existing conversations.
Key Outcomes
By implementing the Conversational SMS service channel, ServiceNow customers can enhance their support capabilities through efficient SMS management, leading to improved requester satisfaction and streamlined agent workflows. Agents will benefit from a clear view of ongoing interactions and an organized approach to addressing requests across multiple service channels.
Using the Conversational SMS service channel app on the ServiceNow Store, workspace agents can provide support for long-running SMS conversations and conversations that use multiple service channels.
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Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
Overview
Requesters can initiate support conversations through SMS. Since these support conversations can be long-running, workspace agents need the ability to track ongoing conversations while also addressing requesters on other service channels. With the Conversational SMS service channel store app, workspace agents can initiate or continue SMS conversations and also accept SMS work items from the Workspace Inbox. Requesters in SMS conversations see a limited subset of system messages. This minimizes the number of system messages in case the conversation is long-running.
Messaging profiles
Messaging profiles provide a way to match an incoming phone number to a requester:
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| New SMS is received from a requester who is associated to a phone number on the User [sys_user] table but has no messaging profile match |
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| New message received from a requester who does not have a phone number match in the User table but does have messaging profile match |
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| New message received from a requester who does not have a phone number match in the User table or messaging profiles |
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| New SMS from a requester that conflicts with an existing User table or messaging profile |
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Messaging actions
Messaging actions provide a way to trigger actions based on messaging activity on a conversation.
| Messaging action parameters | Description |
|---|---|
Event
|
Sending of a message from a requester or agent starts a timer that can trigger an action |
| Duration | Time set to trigger an action based on the Event parameter being set |
| Filter conditions | Condition needed on the Interaction record for a messaging action to be triggered (for example, State is "On Hold") |
| Action | Possible actions include:
|
Ongoing conversations
The Agent Inbox displays new SMS messages and agents can locate currently assigned SMS conversations in the Ongoing tab. The tab indicator and record highlight indicate when an SMS conversation has a new message. Unlike chat conversations, SMS conversations can be long-running. Completed SMS conversations do not display in the Ongoing tab.
Requester initiated SMS conversations
When a requester initiates a support conversation, a virtual agent or a live agent addresses the conversation. Like other service channels, Advanced Work Assignment handles the routing of SMS conversations to live agents. This is how requester-initiated SMS conversations are handled:
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| There is no active SMS interaction |
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| There is an active interaction involving a live agent |
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| There is an active interaction involving a virtual agent |
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An active SMS interaction represents an ongoing conversation between a requester's phone number and a company's phone number.
Agent initiated SMS conversations
To initiate an SMS conversation with a requester, agents can select a provider number for an outbound service or manually enter a provider number. If there is a current ongoing SMS conversation, it automatically appears. When an agent initiates an SMS conversation:
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| There is no active SMS interaction |
|
| There is an active interaction involving an agent |
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| There is an active interaction involving VA |
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| There is an active interaction involving a different contact/consumer/user |
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An active SMS interaction represents an ongoing conversation between a requester’s phone number and a company’s phone number.