Microsoft offers the Azure Bot Service (replacing the former Microsoft Bot Framework), a managed bot building platform, which provides an integrated environment that is purpose-built for bot development, enabling you to build, connect, test, deploy, and manage intelligent bots, all from one place.
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Fin by Intercom
Score 8.7 out of 10
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Fin is Intercom’s AI Agent for customer service, designed to deliver high-quality answers, even for complex queries. It works with any helpdesk, or it can be paired with Intercom’s next-generation Helpdesk to get the full Intercom Customer Service Suite.
$0.99
one-time fee per 1 resolution
Pricing
Azure AI Bot Service
Fin by Intercom
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Fin with your current helpdesk
$0.99
one-time fee per 1 resolution
Copilot add-on
$35
per month per user
The Early Stage program
$65
per month (6 support seats)
Proactive Support Plus add-on
$99
per month
Fin with Intercom’s Helpdesk
from $39 + $0.99 per Fin resolution
per month per seat
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Azure AI Bot Service
Fin by Intercom
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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Fin comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. Here's how it works:
Use Fin in at least 250 conversations within the first 90 days after trial. If you're not satisfied, you can request a refund of up to $1M. Refund requests must be submitted within 90 days of starting the subscription.
From personal experience, I can recommend the Azure AI service to reduce the burden on your customer service team, as we did. We created a customer service bot and automated our Frequently Asked Questions section, as well as an interactive platform for registering other complaints that the bot cannot handle, which are later addressed by our customer service team.
Fin by Intercom is well-suited for handling basic questions, especially for smaller teams that don’t have the time or resources to fully train it. That said, it’s easy to see how much more powerful Fin could be with proper guidance, training, and well-developed content in place.
We have been and will be continuing our journey with Intercom and nothing too concerning has happened that I have experienced or heard of that has us on the edge yet. If it ever happens it will be something along the lines of "Outgrowing" the use of need of the platform.
Azure AI Bot Service comes with an Integrated Development Environment and Bot Framework SDK that simplifies development. Having a single codebase for multiple channels, such as MS Teams, Facebook, and Slack, makes it easier to target multiple platforms without requiring redevelopment. LUIS and OpenAI can be easily integrated with your Chatbot to provide a seammless chat bot expereince to customers.
I think Intercom and Fin by Intercom AI is pretty intuitive and user-friendly. I think, touching on already mentioned topics, that Fin by Intercom AI could be a little more intuitive in conversations especially when allowing customers to be routed to a person. Also, have to be honest, the search features (e.g. Inbox searches) and reports could be made more intuitive. Also, while I appreciate how fast Intercom changes, I have found that sometimes options or feature just move or change without warning. This can make things a little confusing if you get used to a particular way of working or using a feature.
Microsoft's customer service staff is friendly and extremely knowledgeable. They are always available to assist you with bot framework-related issues that you may be experiencing. They provide training sessions, manuals, and support personnel, among other things. Bugs were easily spotted and patched, which was one of my pet peeves about patching.
Intercom is the premier customer support/engagement model and it definitely has one of the top tier customer support teams as well. I don't think I have ever waited more than 5 minutes to get the information I need or get help with an issue. They are incredible and I aim to model our customer service department after them.
Microsoft Bot Framework is much better and well more established without a lot of proprietary software/coding language. Lex is very limited with integration with standard hardware and network configurations. Lex has performance issues and was too slow to meet near real-time collaboration requirements. Bot Framework complements many other Microsoft communication products and this was key to implementing without a lot of new training required.
We initially used Dixa Mim Bot, which is a far inferior chatbot and AI system. It felt like they were behind the curve compared to Intercom, with slow progress and little investment in the future of the Bot. It was very basic in its capabilities and needed more Dev support to manage.