Back to school with Microsoft Power Virtual Agents

Recently we’ve been doing a lot of work with Microsoft’s Power Virtual Agents (PVA) for a client who already has Office 365 and Azure. This has been a significant learning curve, not because it’s difficult to get started with PVA (it isn’t) but because it’s such a new product that there are a few shortcomings. Some things that should be easy and obvious take quite a bit of working around, and there is some effort involved in creating supporting “Actions” in the sister product, Power Automate.

Luckily, Microsoft has a full roadmap for PVA, and it looks like all the things we wish were here now, have at least been announced as coming some time down the track. Contrast this with Google’s approach to their similar product, Dialogflow, which seems to be “You’ll get what we want, when we want it”. At least now Google do have a release plan, which is not anywhere near as much of a commitment as a roadmap.

When it comes to enterprise clients, the Microsoft approach is much easier to digest - buying into a product that has a planned future, with the downside that the pricing model is very different. Dialogflow allows extensive free use, while PVA has a free 30 day trial followed by a US$1000/month price tag.

If you would like to compare Dialogflow - which we think is an industry heavyweight - with the new kid on the block, download our comparison here.