About Sunshine Conversations in Zendesk Suite


This article includes the following sections:


What's my plan?







All Suites

Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus









Zendesk Suite Professional, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus plans come with a low-volume,
self-service version of Sunshine Conversations , which lets you access the Sunshine
Conversations API through Admin Center, without having to purchase a separate Sunshine
Conversations license.
Note: If you are a Suite Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise
Plus user and previously purchased a Sunshine Conversations license, you can choose
to access your account via the new Admin Center UI or the Sunshine Conversations
dashboard. Your account and functionality will not be impacted.

This article includes the following sections:


Overview of Sunshine Conversations capabilities
The Sunshine Conversations workflow
Understanding channel integrations
Configuring conversational control (Sunshine Conversations custom bot users only)


For subscription and usage information, see About Sunshine Conversations platform access and
support.


Overview of Sunshine Conversations capabilities



Sunshine Conversations lets you extend your messaging options by
providing a unified API to manage and automate your conversations across
multiple channels. You can integrate your Zendesk instance with another app
or program, such as a custom bot or an external reporting tool, or an app
that triggers a desired action.
Adding an external chatbot to your
Zendesk setup is one of the more common usage scenarios. You can connect with
customers through channels that are not currently available through Zendesk’s internal messaging channel
and manage these channels through the AI agents
page in Admin Center. Then your agents can respond to customers
across all of these channels from a single interface, the Agent Workspace.




The Sunshine Conversations workflow

The basic process for setting up a Sunshine Conversations integration
between your third-party tool and Zendesk involves tasks completed in the
third-party tool’s UI and across Admin Center,
These tasks include:


Creating and configuring your third-party tool. This is
completed in the tool’s own UI. Each tool has its own unique setup flow. Part of
the process is, in most cases, sharing some details about your Zendesk account,
so have that information handy. See Managing third-party bots in Admin
Center for more information.

Creating a Conversations API key. An API key identifies and
authenticates an application or user, so you can create the integration
between the app and Sunshine Conversations. See Using the Conversations API for
more information.


Creating and managing a conversation integration. The
integration is how you link your business with Sunshine Conversations, and
the channels you want to connect to. This task includes creating a webhook
and selecting the conversation events that trigger it. See Integrating conversations in Admin
Center for more information.


Adding the channel to the Agent Workspace. Finally, if
you’re adding a chatbot or social channel, you can add it to Agent
Workspace, so your agents can respond to customer support requests across
all channels without switching platforms. See Adding Sunshine Conversations channels to
the Zendesk Agent Workspace for more information.


Configuring conversation control (Sunshine Conversations custom bot users
Switchboard users only). Decide how the switchboard determines control when
conversations are resolved. See Switchboard in our Sunshine
Conversations documentation for more information. There is no action required if
you are using the out-of-the-box messaging experience.




Understanding channel integrations

Channel integration means, simply put, that you are creating a link between your
Zendesk instance and an external system or channel.

Note: Before integrating an external tool, we recommend installing and completing
any tasks required by the third-party tool. Visit the tool’s website or help
center for information on those tasks.
The types of external
channels you can integrate include:


Over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps, such as Apple Messages for Business
or Viber


SMS, through integrations with third parties like
Twilio


The list below includes channels you can connect to with Sunshine Conversations.
Follow the links to learn more about each channel.


Sunshine Conversations Web Messenger

Apple Messages for Business
SMS (requires a MessageBird or Twilio SMS account)
Telegram
Google Business Messages
Kakao
Viber





Configuring conversational control (Sunshine Conversations custom bot users only)

If you are using Switchboard APIs to create a custom bot, you’ll need to
define how resolved conversations are handled by the switchboard.
To set conversation control

In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social >
Messaging.
On the Messaging channels page, click Manage settings.
Expand the Conversation control section and select your control option.


Release control: Clears any existing switchboard integrations
for the conversation and hands over control to its default state.
This is recommended when using proactive messaging.

Pass control: Automatically calls the next configuration and
hands over the conversation flow to the specified integration.



Click Save settings.

For more information on conversation control settings, see Switchboard in our Sunshine Conversations
documentation.


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