Pegasystems expands generative AI in CX, BPA cloud platform

Pegasystems released a quarterly update to its cloud automation and CX platform today. With it, users gain a clearer picture of the company's AI strategy.

The Pega Infinity platform, which covers both business process automation and CX with an emphasis on marketing, sales and customer service, includes low-code app development and now supports Google, OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock large language models. Users can build digital agents called coaches to lead marketing, sales or customer service workers through processes.

Also included in the most recent update is AI brand voice assistance, which suggests preset language to employees that reflects their company's brand values and identity as they interact with and create materials for customers. Cloud software and service companies in the CX and content management spaces such as Salesforce, Sitecore, Oracle and Zendesk have added brand voice capabilities to their generative AI (GenAI) toolboxes.

Generative AI evolves the idea of brand voice in general, said Stephen Bixby, Pegasystems senior vice president of product engineering. Prior to large language models, brand voice words and phrases were more cut-and-paste; customers would tire of them being repeated from one conversation to the next.

"We now can generate phrases so they're not just canned things that every customer is going to see the same thing, or every customer service agent is going to read the same thing [every time]," Bixby said. "It will sound more natural because [GenAI makes it] super relevant, context aware, and it's being generated on the fly."

Pegasystems also extended the availability of coaches to all Pega apps, including those that support back-office processes. Coaches, roughly equivalent to AI assistants some vendors call "copilots," can be programmed to do things such as suggest next steps for salespeople to close a sale, weigh in on marketing campaign construction, and assist customer service agents to resolve customer issues. Coaches bring generative AI to the rank-and-file employee, Bixby said.

Infinity also adds to its Blueprint workflow builder, introduced earlier this year. Now, direct import into Pega's low-code app builder generates a punch list of tasks, such as data connections required, to get a Blueprint workflow operational.

Predrag Jakovljevic, an analyst at Technology Evaluation Centers, said that Pega Infinity integrates generative AI in a "pragmatic and practical way."

"[Pegasystems' approach] quickly yields tangible results and helps organizations rethink the way their processes work, how they want to engage with customers, and how they will onboard them," Jakovljevic said. "It targets the complexity in business processes and helps businesses answer questions like, 'Are we implementing this the right way, and can we do better?'"

Don Fluckinger is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial. He covers customer experience, digital experience management and end-user computing. Got a tip? Email him.