Using Solve for Slack

What is this?

You can create your own AI Agent for Slack using Solve. Solve for Slack integrates Forethought’s AI-powered solution directly into Slack, providing your internal team with real-time answers by tapping into your knowledge base and Workflows.

Why does this matter? 

For many organizations, Slack has become the go-to platform for managing both internal and external communications across various business areas like human resources, customer support, finance, legal, and more. Solve for Slack offers the same flexibility as the Solve Widget, automatically responding to inquiries in all these use cases.

By integrating Forethought directly into Slack, you can streamline workflows and enhance productivity without switching platforms. Whether it's answering employee questions about HR policies, assisting customers with support issues, or providing quick access to financial information, Solve for Slack empowers your team to communicate more efficiently and increase productivity.

Supported Use Cases

Company-Wide Knowledge Base Access

• Enable everyone in your company to find answers faster by tapping into a shared knowledge base.
• Example: The Product Enablement team can help any team member get up to speed by providing easy access to comprehensive product information.

Department-Specific Enablement

• Customized Support for Each Department: Respond to frequently asked questions with answers and content pulled directly from a department’s dedicated knowledge base.
• Example: The HR department can onboard new employees more efficiently by providing instant responses to common questions.
• Example: The Sales department can generate leads through Slack, the Forethought Slack Agent can be called upon to promptly answer customer inquiries and provide forms to capture additional information. This not only improves customer engagement but also helps in efficiently managing and nurturing leads.

Setup

To integrate Slack into your Forethought dashboard, you must have admin access. Then, follow these steps to complete the integration:

1. Click Solve > Configuration > Slack tab.
2. Click Integrate.
   

   

3. Choose the permissions you want Forethought to access and perform actions on. Once you've made your selections, click Allow.
   
4. You will be redirected to your Slack workspace to complete the integration.
   

   

How to build a workflow

Before using Solve in Slack, make sure your help desk is connected to your Forethought dashboard and that you have a workflow set up. If you haven't created a workflow yet, you have two options: Classic or Autoflow. Follow the steps below to get started:

1. Navigate to Solve.
2. Select Workflow Builder.
3. Click Slack.
4. Create a workflow, either Classic or Autoflow: 
   • To create a Classic workflow:
     • Click + Create New Intent. For more information on creating intents, see How to Build Your First Workflow in Classic Mode.
       

       Note: In Solve for Slack, there are only four available business logic components that you can use: Create new Options, Create new Conditions, Create new Forms, and Add an Image.

   • To create an Autoflow policy:
     • Click + Create New Intent. For more information on creating an Autoflow, see Getting Started with Autoflows and Examples and Best Practices to Follow in Creating Autoflows Policies.
5. You can also copy an existing workflow from a different channel.
   
6. After customizing your workflow, be sure to publish it. If you already have an existing workflow, make sure it is activated. This will ensure that you can view it in Slack.

How to Access and Use the Forethought App in Slack

Two Ways to Access the Forethought App:

1. Add the Forethought App Directly to a Channel

• • For All Channel Participants: By adding the Forethought app to a Slack channel, every member of that channel can interact with it.
  • How to Use:
    • Step 1: Add the Forethought app to your desired Slack channel.
    • Step 2: In the channel, tag the app by typing @Forethought in your message or comment.

      

2. Start a Direct Message (DM) with the Forethought App

• Personal Assistance: You can have a one-on-one conversation with the Forethought app by sending it a direct message.
• How to Use:
  • Step 1: Navigate to your Slack direct messages or App section.
  • Step 2: Start a new DM with the Forethought app.
  • Step 3: Simply type your questions without needing to tag the app.
    

Getting Responses from the Forethought App

Visual Confirmation with Emoji:

After you've reached out to the Forethought app, it will react to your message with an 👀 emoji. This signifies that it's searching through your connected knowledge base for relevant information.

Timely and Informative Replies:

Within a few seconds, the app will reply with the information you've requested. It may also provide links to related articles or resources for further reference.

Monitoring Usage

Once in use, I’m sure you’ll want to monitor the activity of the conversations your users were conducting with the Forethought app. You can simply monitor this by visiting the Slack tab on the Forethought dashboard. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

1. Are all conversations automatically marked as "Deflected"?
   Yes. Slack is a special channel where we've disabled the option to hand off conversations to a Help Desk. Therefore, all conversations initiated through the Forethought app in Slack are automatically marked as "Deflected" by default.
2. Do I need to recreate my Workflows from scratch?
   No. You can go to another tab, go to the first step, and click on "copy all below", then you basically copied the whole workflow.This makes it easier to replicate or rebuild workflows from other tabs without starting from scratch.
3. Can I enable multi-turn responses like Solve Widget?
   Yes. So long as you keep on replying within a single thread, the Forethought app will go through the sequence of the Workflow that you've designed. Please refer to the Forethought dashboard to view the different types of business logic components supported by the Solve for Slack (e.g. Options, Forms, etc).

4. Can the "Solve for Slack" bot access the entire conversation history within a Slack thread?

   No, it cannot. To maintain user privacy and confidentiality, the Slack bot is restricted to accessing only the messages within the immediate chat thread where the interaction occurs. It does not have the capability to view or retrieve messages outside of that specific conversation.