A beta version of the product was released in November, and thousands of developers currently use it to create AI-based conversational experiences.
Google's Dialogflow Enterprise Edition was officially released on Tuesday after months in beta, continuing the internet giant's foray into the ever-widening conversational interface field.
The move comes only a week after Google updated its Cloud Speech-to-Text technology, and introduced its Cloud Text-to-Speech software, to make it easier for businesses use.
According to a Google blog post, Dialogflow (which was named API.AI before it was bought by Google in 2016) is used by developers to "build voice- and text-based conversational experiences powered by machine learning and natural language understanding."
The tech is specifically designed for people without expertise in the field, so that companies can take advantage of it in a variety of ways. Dialogflow released a beta version of the software in November 2017, and said that companies are already using it to enhance their services.
"I remember how excited I was the first time I saw Dialogflow; my mind started racing with ideas about how Ticketmaster could benefit from a cloud-based natural language processing provider," Tariq El-Khatib, product manager at Ticketmaster, said in the post. "Now with the launch of Dialogflow Enterprise Edition, I can start turning those ideas into reality. With higher transaction quotas and support levels, we can integrate Dialogflow with our Customer Service IVR to increase our rate of caller intent recognition and improve customer experience."
Dialogflow also allows users to create services that work on a multitude of websites, apps and platforms, including Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Facebook Messenger.
According to Google, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Domino's, Ubisoft, and Best Buy are patrons of Dialogflow, and "hundreds of thousands" of developers are already using it to improve customer service and gaming experiences.
"Dialogflow made it easy to build a AI-powered conversational experience that delights consumers using the resources and skill sets we already have. We estimate that Dialogflow helped us get our conversational interface to market 12 months sooner than planned," Max Glaisher, product innovation manager at DPD, one of the UK's leading parcel delivery companies, said in the post.
Ubisoft said it was using Dialogflow in conjunction with its "Sam" personal gaming assistant program.
"The team needed tools that let them iterate quickly and make modifications immediately, and Dialogflow Enterprise Edition was the best choice for those needs," Thomas Belmont, a producer at Ubisoft, said in the post.
The enterprise edition of Dialogflow has additional features not seen in the beta version, including a total of 30 available languages and ways to integrate features of Google Assistant into your project. It also comes with support interfaces and Service Level Agreements.
Businesses are in a race to automate many of the services they offer, and Dialogflow's release will accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in customer service and many other fields.
*this article was featured on the Tech Republic website on April 17, 2018: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/google-officially-unveils-chatbot-dialogflow-enterprise/