--- title: "Chatbot prerequisites" slug: "preparing-your-contact-center-for-chatbots" description: "Key prerequisites to prepare your contact center before you create a chatbot." updated: 2025-09-22T16:22:13Z published: 2025-09-22T16:22:13Z canonical: "docs.voiso.com/preparing-your-contact-center-for-chatbots" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.voiso.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Chatbot prerequisites **Who should read this article**: Administrators Key prerequisites to prepare your contact center before you create a chatbot. This is part 3 of the **Build your own chatbot** use case. ## Contact center prerequisites To create an inbound digital interaction flow, you first need to set up your contact center, including creating digital channels, setting up agents to handle interactions handed off by the chatbot, and preparing your backend data service. ### 1. Create a digital channel The Omnichannel Workspace supports the following channels: | Icon | Channel | | --- | --- | | ![Voice Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Voice%20Channel%20Icon.png) | [Voice](/v1/docs/agent-panel-getting-started) | | ![SMS Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/SMS%20Channel%20Icon.png) | [SMS](/v1/docs/how-to-start-sending-sms-with-voiso) | | ![Webchat Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Webchat%20Channel%20Icon.png) | [Webchat](/v1/docs/omnichannel-webchat) | | ![WhatsApp Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/WhatsApp%20Channel%20Icon.png) | [WhatsApp](/v1/docs/omnichannel-whatsapp) | | ![Telegram Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Telegram%20Channel%20Icon.png) | [Telegram](/v1/docs/omnichannel-telegram) | | ![Viber%20Channel%20Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Viber%20Channel%20Icon.png) | [Viber](/v1/docs/viber) | | ![Facebook Messenger Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Facebook%20Messenger%20Channel%20Icon.png) | Facebook Messenger | | ![Instagram Channel Icon](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Instagram%20Channel%20Icon.png) | Instagram | Follow the directions in the articles linked above to set up your digital channels. ### 2. Enable users for Omnichannel Workspace - If your contact center users [Basic user roles](/v1/docs/basic-user-roles), on the [user configuration page](/v1/docs/users-users), assign the **Omnichannel Workspace Enabled** permission. - If your contact center uses [Security Access Groups](/v1/docs/administration-security-access-groups), enable the following permissions in the access group assigned to users who will receive interactions that are not handled by the chatbot: - Access to Web interface (optional) - Omnichannel Workspace Enabled - View Call History ### 3. Prepare your users To grant access to digital channels, assign the channels to users on the [user configuration page](/v1/docs/users-users). Click **Manage** in the **Assigned channels** section, then select one or more digital channels. ![Flow Builder Chatbot Assign Channels Masked](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Flow%20Builder%20Chatbot%20Assign%20Channels%20Masked.gif) Remember to set the user's message handling capacity and, if the user is assigned to the [WhatsApp channel](/v1/docs/omnichannel-whatsapp), ensure that you also assign a WhatsApp outbound profile. ![Flow Builder Chatbot Assign Capacity Masked](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Flow%20Builder%20Chatbot%20Assign%20Capacity%20Masked.gif) ### 4. Set up your data service Voiso digital interaction flows use RESTful API requests to GET and POST data to web services, helpdesk platforms, CRMs, and other API-based integrations, such as Make, Zapier, and Google Docs. Contact and account information, transaction data, and inventory details can be securely stored in your web service and readily accessed through your interaction flow. Prepare your data service so that common information is available for the Flow Builder **HTTP request** node to retrieve or update data. ### 5. Create a Flow To create an inbound digital interaction flow, navigate to **Inbound > Flows**, then click **Add flow**. Choose **Digital** from the **Type** menu. Refer to [Flows](/v1/docs/inbound-flows) for information about setting up the interaction flow. ![Flow Builder Chatbot Select Digital Flow Type](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Flow%20Builder%20Chatbot%20Select%20Digital%20Flow%20Type.png) In the **Assigned digital channels** section, click **Manage**, then select one or more inbound digital channels. Once your flow is set up you are ready to use the **Flow Builder** visual flow building canvas to create your chatbot. Click **Launch builder**. ![Flow Builder Chatbot Launch Builder Button](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Flow%20Builder%20Chatbot%20Launch%20Builder%20Button.png) ### 6. Test your flow The following video walks you through the steps you can use to test that your chatbot is working. The video covers these basic steps: 1. Add a digital channel., such as Webchat, to your contact center. 2. Create a test inbound digital flow and add your channel to it. 3. Launch Flow Builder to design your flow on the visual canvas. 4. Send a test message from your digital channel and receive an automated response from the chatbot. 5. View the interaction in the Agent Omnichannel Workspace. [Video](https://cdn.document360.io/44ae307a-3737-4fbf-98e0-9b888deb90dc/Images/Documentation/Flow%20Builder%20Chatbot%20Test%20Your%20Chatbot.mp4) ## Related - [Digital flows](/digital-flows.md) - [Digital channels](/digital-channels.md) - [Omnichannel Workspace Overview](/omnichannel-workspace-overview.md) - [Security Access Groups](/administration-security-access-groups.md) - [Users](/users.md) - [Basic user roles](/basic-user-roles.md) - [Flows](/inbound-flows.md) - [Flow Builder Overview](/inbound-flow-builder-overview.md)