Moni.ai Blog Getting started with Voice Channels on Moni.ai

A Voice Channel is made up of trigger patterns (phrases), which Moni recognizes to perform a set list of actions or being a two-way dialog with the end-user.Let's imagine the following usecase:Your company is selling cars, you are looking for new innovative ways to interact with your customers. How can Moni.ai help you? First things first you could create a new Voice Channel listening to the trigger pattern "I want to buy a car". Then you create a workflow on Node-RED defining what happens whenever someone on Moni.ai says the trigger pattern. E.g. you could advise Moni to ask the user "What type of car are you looking for?" and thereby the customer would continue the interaction with Moni, his virtual assistant.Node-RED thereby allows you to query your databases or apis for price information, availability and more.The whole process thereby is mapped out visually on Node-RED. The interaction takes place using the Moni.ai apps or the Moni.ai website.By owning trigger patterns, companies can create Voice Channels which will be activated every time Moni hears that phrase, or even similar phrases.Building a Voice Channel is easy for even a beginning developer. Using the Moni.ai Node-RED boilerplate, it's simple to visually wire together API's and dialogs. You as a developer don't have to worry about servers or hardware, and you can simply focus on coding and defining the user experience.Getting started First you subscribe to Moni.ai on the IBM marketplace. You can start with the free developers edition to create your Voice Channels without publishing them. Starting the subscription process you will be asked for a Moni.ai user. You can signup Moni.ai for free if you don't have a user already.After the service is connected you will need to deploy the Moni.ai Node-RED environment on IBM Bluemix that allows you to define the interaction process. Note that Moni.ai does not have access to your Node-RED environment - you don't need to share your data. Technically Moni will just "ask" your Node-RED environment for information and will only have access to the output you send Moni via the Moni.ai nodes.You can use the Deploy-To-Bluemix button to initialize your Node-RED environment on Bluemix. On your newly deployed Node-RED environment, create your Voice Channel using the Moni.ai nodes. Watch the video: Moni.ai IBM Bluemix Demo.You are now ready to test your Voice Channel!