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Agents, agents, agents. It is the latest technology to widen our business applications’ impact. But without being integrated into the right flow of work, then how much impact can they have? There is a direct correlation, and quite often causation between creating the right culture and adoption framework with how we present our solutions to users. But what if we do not do things right?
I can only show you the door, you’re the one that has to walk through it
I was reflecting on a recent Wall Street Journal article I read about one the biggest Financial Services deals for Enterprise ChatGPT between OpenAI and BBVA. For context, BBVA is Spain’s second-largest bank by market capitalization.
Some of the big numbers to fathom here:
The original enterprise license agreement was for 3,000 users
Different BBVA teams got involved such as marketing and finance got involved. Even legal and risk functions. Now that is wonderful considering the natural complexity surrounding the latter functions. Plus it’s all about winning hearts and minds!
All the involved teams crafted over 2,000 GPTs to suit their needs in less than a year!
80% of initial users report that the tools help save more than 2 hours of work a week.
In the next 6 months, they will expand their user base and let data guide what’s next
Whilst the expected productivity increases have been reported, for such a complex and regulated industry such as banking, there are still a lot of open questions around scalable integrations with legacy systems. Whilst not every system may or will be eligible for a migration into Dynamics 365 or Power Platform, these products do offer great integration opportunities. From the simplest Iframe approach, to virtual tables, plugins and connectors, plus so much more.
The matrix of possibilities
To walk the walk, BBVA has their own Head of Global AI Adoption, Elena Alfaro. It is clear to the company that not only a user-centric approach is important, but there is still a lot to learn. In the case of users creating their own GPTs, I do wonder if:
They integrated them into their channel of choice or had the separate OpenAI interface?
If they did integrate them, who provided that knowledge/ skills, authentication and authorization for them? (a.k.a. governance, where art though?)
If IT was involved, how actively did they integrate into the users’ preferred channel?
This is why we need to start with the basics of integration. Some of these include building Copilot Studio agents which are then integrated into Power Apps or Power Pages we built.
So how do we do that?
Cue Channels.
This is where you can explore in Copilot Studio the various integration points. For example:
Take the red pill into the Iframe world
Whether you have built a Power App let’s say for your customer service representatives or a Power Pages site for your customers, integrating your agent directly and seamlessly is the name of the game.
First, we go into Channels and select the Custom website option.
Then, we take the embed code for the agent. Whilst you see the default code in HTML format, it is enough to get the link in the first quotes as highlighted.
Something to bear in mind, in case you are wondering what the rest of the link is meant for.
https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/environments/1d141906-716b-eaa3-94e0-7a6fa0f1ae19/bots/cr896_share1/webchat?__version__=2" frameborder="0" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;"
You can use it should you want to adjust the dimensions of the agent depending on the device preferences.
By default, you get it quite wide, not as tall and in the center of your page
Compared to a side car experience, it may not always render as well.
Getting your agent into your Power App
1) Open your app and go into your preferred form. In this case, it’s a Contact-like Main form called Applicant.
2) Go into the Components section and search for External website. This is a Display component.
3) You will now be asked to add the Site URL for the agent. This is what we got earlier from the Channels of Copilot Studio.
In specific, we will add https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/environments/1d141906-716b-eaa3-94e0-7a6fa0f1ae19/bots/cr896_share1/webchat?__version__=2 and select Done.
4) Save and publish your app, then Play it to see your agent come to life!
Getting your agent into your Power Pages site
5) In the Design Studio, add a section.
6) Choose the standard Iframe component.
7) You will now be asked to add the URL of the agent. This is what we got earlier from the Channels of Copilot Studio.
In specific, we will replace the default Bing one with:
https://copilotstudio.preview.microsoft.com/environments/1d141906-716b-eaa3-94e0-7a6fa0f1ae19/bots/cr896_share1/webchat?__version__=2 and select OK.
8) An actual preview of your agent. be alarmed. In the Design Studio, you will not see an actual preview of the agent. Instead, you will see the below message. “You need to enable JavaScript to run this app.”
That is not a problem. Just preview your site on Desktop.
9) Tada! The S.H.A.R.E. agent has now been embedded onto our Power Pages site!
Bonus tip: No matter where you are integrating your agent into, you need to have a think about your authentication. For example, since you are integrating with a Power App in one of the above scenarios, you can choose the "Authenticate with Microsoft" option which automatically uses Entra ID for a seamless sign in experience.
Alternatively, like I have in the below scenario, you can set up manual authentication which involves a few different steps in the Azure portal for the admin as described here.
This is YOUR world, YOUR world!
We can create the best agents and infuse business processes with the most purposeful of AI intentions. As Satya Nadella exclaimed at Ignite this year, “With every platform shift, we need to build a deep context and understanding.”
This principle should not just apply to scaling laws and how performance increases with the resources used in training models.
We should always consider, as we build apps or sites, how we can keep building that deep context and understanding for end users’ needs. This includes, but is definitely not limited to, how we integrate agents into their channels of choice.
So, ready to get integrating?
