Systems and methods facilitating bot communications

1. A processor-implemented method that facilitates delivery of messages from customers to bots, wherein tenants use a software program over a network to manage interactions with respective ones of the customers, and wherein the bots are created by respective bot providers, the method including the steps of:

receiving a plurality of bot schemas from respective ones of the bot providers, each of the plurality of bot schemas comprising a bot schema corresponding to a particular one of the bots;

providing a bot gateway, wherein:

the bot gateway includes a bot configuration library, the bot configuration library storing bot configuration data sets, each of which comprises data values related to respective usage cases pairing a particular one of the bots with a particular one of the tenants;

the bot gateway includes a bot schema library in which is stored the plurality of bot schemas; and

each of the plurality of bot schemas defines a data field arrangement in accordance with a unique template for sending requests to a particular one of the bots; and

pursuant to a process, using the bot gateway to format the messages for delivering to the bots, the process comprising the steps of:

receiving a first one of the messages (hereinafter “first message”)

analyzing the first message to determine therefrom:

a pertinent one of the customers (hereinafter designated as a “first customer”);

a pertinent one of the tenants (hereinafter designated as a “first tenant”);

a pertinent one of the bots (hereinafter designated as a “first bot”); and

a text message from the first customer that is intended for delivery to the first bot;

providing a bot configuration data set, the bot configuration data set comprising data values related to a usage case pairing the first tenant with the first bot, wherein the step of providing the bot configuration data set comprises:

selecting at least a portion of the bot configuration data set from the bot configuration library based on a pertinence of the bot configuration data set to the usage case that pairs the first tenant with the first bot; and

receiving at least a portion the bot configuration data set as part of the first message;

selecting from the bot schema library a first one of the plurality of bot schemas (hereinafter “first bot schema”) that pertains to the first bot;

creating a formatted request via mapping the text message and the data values defined in the bot configuration data set to corresponding data fields defined within the data field arrangement of the first bot schema; and

sending the formatted request to the first bot.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the software program is provided to the tenants according to a multitenancy arrangement, and wherein the software program relates to customer relation management via managing an operational aspect of a contact center;

wherein the software program comprises a feature that includes a user interface that facilitates the first customer inputting the text message of the first message;

wherein the first bot comprises a chat bot.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bot gateway comprises a serverless architecture in which one or more cloud components are maintained and executed within a cloud platform.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more cloud components include a first cloud component, the first cloud component comprising one or more cloud computing functions for stateless execution of logic associated with the process.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the bot gateway includes a second cloud component that comprises one or more cloud databases;

wherein the one or more cloud databases are configured to persistently store the bot schema library; and

wherein the first bot comprises a chatbot.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the bot gateway includes a bot configuration library, the bot configuration library storing bot configuration data sets, each of which comprises data values related to respective usage cases pairing a particular one of the bots with a particular one of the tenants;

wherein the step of providing the bot configuration data set comprises selecting the bot configuration data set from the bot configuration library based on a pertinence of the bot configuration data set to the usage case that pairs the first tenant with the first bot; and

wherein the one or more cloud databases are configured to persistently store the bot configuration library.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the bot gateway includes a third cloud component that comprises one or more cloud caches;

wherein the one or more cloud caches are configured to temporarily store session state data for use when performing the steps of the process; and

wherein the software program is provided to the tenants according to a multitenancy arrangement, and wherein the software program is configured to manage an operational aspect of a contact center.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of receiving the first message includes monitoring an event bus data stream for detecting the first message therein.

9. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the data values stored within the bot configuration data set comprise data values for authenticating the first customer's use of the first bot based on a relationship between the first customer and the first tenant.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the formatted request comprises two sections: an endpoint section; and a body section;

wherein the first bot schema includes a template for formatting an endpoint statement for use within the endpoint section of the first message, the endpoint statement providing a destination for directing the formatted request to the first bot; and

wherein the data values stored within the bot configuration data set comprises data values for completing the endpoint statement.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the text message is mapped to a corresponding data field defined within the body section.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein, when received by the bot gateway, the first message comprises an unknown endpoint section and an unknown body section.

13. A system that facilitates delivery of messages from customers to bots, wherein tenants use a software program over a network to manage interactions with respective ones of the customers, and wherein the bots are created by respective bot providers, the system comprising:

a hardware processor; and

a bot gateway, wherein:

the bot gateway comprises a bot configuration library, the bot configuration library storing bot configuration data sets, each of which comprises data values related to respective usage cases pairing a particular one of the bots with a particular one of the tenants;

the bot gateway includes a bot schema library in which is stored a plurality of bot schemas; and

each of the plurality of bot schemas defines a data field arrangement in accordance with a unique template for sending requests to a particular one of the bots;

a machine-readable storage medium on which is stored instructions that cause the hardware processor to execute a process for using the bot gateway to format the messages for delivering to the bots, wherein the process comprises the steps of:

receiving the plurality of bot schemas from respective ones of the bot providers, each of the plurality of bot schemas comprising a bot schema corresponding to a particular one of the bots;

receiving a first one of the messages (hereinafter “first message”)

analyzing the first message to determine therefrom:

a pertinent one of the customers (hereinafter designated as a “first customer”);

a pertinent one of the tenants (hereinafter designated as a “first tenant”);

a pertinent one of the bots (hereinafter designated as a “first bot”); and

a text message from the first customer that is intended for delivery to the first bot;

providing a bot configuration data set, the bot configuration data set comprising data values related to a usage case pairing the first tenant with the first bot, wherein the step of providing the bot configuration data set comprises:

selecting at least a portion of the bot configuration data set from the bot configuration library based on a pertinence of the bot configuration data set to the usage case that pairs the first tenant with the first bot; and

receiving at least a portion the bot configuration data set as part of the first message;

selecting from the bot schema library a first one of the plurality of bot schemas (hereinafter “first bot schema”) that pertains to the first bot;

creating a formatted request via mapping the text message and the data values defined in the bot configuration data set to corresponding data fields defined within the data field arrangement of the first bot schema; and

sending the formatted request to the first bot.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the first bot comprises a chat bot; and

wherein the software program is provided to the tenants according to a multitenancy arrangement, and wherein the software program is configured to manage an operational aspect of a contact center.

15. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the bot gateway comprises a serverless architecture in which one or more cloud components are maintained and executed within a cloud platform; and

wherein the one or more cloud components include:

one or more cloud computing functions for stateless execution of logic associated with the process; and

one or more cloud databases, the one or more cloud databases being configured to persistently store the hot schema library and the hot configuration library.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the one or more cloud components comprise one or more cloud caches, the one or more cloud caches being configured to temporarily store session state data for use when performing the steps of the process.

17. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the step of receiving the first message includes monitoring an event bus data stream for detecting the first message therein; and

wherein the data values stored within the bot configuration data set comprise data values for authenticating the first customer's use of the first bot based on a relationship between the first customer and the first tenant.