Power Virtual Agents Frequenty Asked Questions (FAQs)

Got a question about Power Virtual Agents or just want to know a little more about it. Below you'll find the most common questions we get asked about Microsoft Power Virtual Agents.

What are Power Virtual Agents?

Microsoft Power Virtual Agents allows none developers to create chat bots that can answer questions or surface up information to your customers, employees or general visitors based on questions they pose. It can be used on your website or embed into other services or application such as MS Teams.

Is Power Virtual Agent free?

You get a PowerApps license as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription. However as with all things Microsoft the version you get with your 365 licenses does have certain restrictions. However, this subscription only allows you to use the virtual agent you create with MS Teams. If you need to deploy the bot to say your website or have it connected to external services then you will need a license.

What are the typical use cases for Power Virtual Agent?

There are many different use cases for using Power Virtual Agent, some people just us the bots for internal queries while others want to deploy the agent onto external website. We would say that the most common is within MS Teams. Typically, we would say the below use cases are often seen:

• Answering "How do I" questions - in this case the bot is really looking at set a Frequently Asked Questions on a certain subject. So this could be used for HR were a user asked "How do I book a holiday" or IT with "How do I logon to Dynamics" etc...

• Searching for information - for example instead of a user just trying to search for a document the bot will ask a number of guided questions that will help the user find the information that want

• Employee onboarding - the bot is used to help the new employees find information and complete the relevant forms etc... as part of the onboarding process

• Customer support on website - The chat bot can gather information from the customer such as email username etc... answer questions like opening hours, how to return a item etc...

• Sales help - the bot can get the sales teams information really quickly for example giving stock information, pricing or product information

How long does it take to build a Power Virtual Agent?

Chat bot can be built very quickly, typically we say you can get a fully functional FAQ type bot live in a couple of days. However, that agent may not be able to answer many questions or be particularly sophisticated. The more advanced bots still don't take more than 5-10 days to build.

Do I need to be a programmer to build a Power Virtual Agent?

No - Microsoft call Power Virtual Agents development "no-code / low co-code". So, while do you do need to understand to a degree the syntax the system uses it is certainly not like traditional programming.

What is the benefit of using Microsoft Power Virtual Agents?

It all about automation. The Power Virtual Agents let you answer common customer and employees’ questions, which mean that the staff who normally answer these questions are freed up to focus on more complex and high value tasks and the person asking the query get the information they need much quicker

Can I use Power Virtual Agent with MS Teams?

Yes, you get a free Power Virtual Agent license with MS Teams so you can start building chat bots that work and are accessed within MS Teams

Can Power Virtual Agent connect or integrate with systems outside of Microsoft 365?

Yes - Power Virtual Agent has the ability to connect to hundreds of none Microsoft systems

Can you help us build Power Virtual Agents?

Yes - we would love to help you build PowerApps for your business - why not contact us to discuss this further