Duration: 23:45
Part 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Edgar Matins, a Business Analyst from Odoo’s Berlin office, presented how Odoo 19 Live Chat evolves from a reactive chat tool into an intelligent, conversion-focused assistant. The session centered on two pillars: accelerating sales conversions through a new live chat step and integrating AI-powered agents that can answer with precision and act inside the database. The talk walked through a realistic scenario for an architecture firm and concluded with configuration tips and a short Q&A.
The headline innovation is a new chatbot step: Create lead and forward. Previously, chats were either handled by operators or turned into leads that were followed up later—creating a “lead cool down.” With Odoo 19, chats can instantly create a lead and route the conversation directly to the right salesperson, aligned with your sales team structure. In the demo, a visitor interested in a “Tech Hub Berlin” project is qualified by a bot and, based on the project category (e.g., commercial), is forwarded to the appropriate salesperson. The result is less friction, immediate engagement at the peak of interest, and higher potential conversion.
The second major upgrade is AI-powered agents. Beyond scripted bots or human operators, these agents can deliver nuanced, instant answers and even perform actions via predefined topics (e.g., “create leads,” “create calendar appointments”). They’re not just conversational; they’re operational. Admins can shape an agent’s role with a system prompt (tone, scope, do’s/don’ts) and enrich it with proprietary sources (documentation, portfolio details). In the demo, a site visitor asks for materials used in a specific project (“North Side Gallery”), and the agent pulls accurate details from uploaded sources that aren’t public on the site. Critically, admins can constrain the agent to only use those sources—so a request for a birthday cake recipe is politely declined as out of scope. When needed, there’s always human fallback; the team also showcased a hybrid flow: AI agent for answers, a short scripted bot to gather essentials, then handover to a human for high-touch support.
Edgar underscored configuration best practices that mirror real support excellence: match your brand’s tone, stay conversational (not robotic), show empathy, and keep flows simple. Break interactions into a single goal per step, use quick replies for guidance and mobile-friendliness, and design fallbacks (clear “talk to a human” options, links to FAQs/knowledge bases). The overarching message: the new Odoo Live Chat works 24/7 to qualify, inform, and route—supporting humans rather than replacing them.
💼 Impact & Takeaways
With Create lead and forward, businesses can cut response delays and reduce lead decay by routing qualified chats directly to the right salesperson. AI-powered agents bring immediate, consistent answers and perform certain in-app actions, helping teams scale without linear headcount growth. The flexibility to upload sources and restrict scope protects brand quality and reduces off-topic answers. Practically, these tools help standardize service, accelerate “speed-to-lead,” and improve customer satisfaction—while keeping a clear path to human support when complexity rises.
⚙️ Q&A highlights (from the session)
- Existing agent topics include items like “create leads” and “create calendar appointments.” Custom topics are not yet user-defined; more are planned by Odoo.
- Uploaded agent sources are, per the speaker, currently shared with the underlying LLM provider. Privacy-sensitive teams should evaluate this.
- Different AI agents (or chatbots) can be shown on different pages using live chat channel rules (regex-based).
- Sales chat forwarding respects rule-based lead assignment and capacity limits; it can combine with AI automations (e.g., tags).
- If no operators are online, you can route users to a contact form via an extra chat step.
- The live chat widget (and agents) can be embedded on non-Odoo websites.
- Direct order/quote status queries by reference were not confirmed in the session and would need validation.
🧠 Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
What excites me here is how simple we can make meaningful conversations. If a visitor shows intent, we shouldn’t ask them to wait—we should connect them to the right person instantly. “Create lead and forward” is exactly that: fewer steps, less friction, better outcomes.
The AI agents reflect our philosophy: integrated, actionable, and respectful of human workflows. They don’t replace people—they prepare, qualify, and inform so teams can focus on the moments that matter. As we add more topics, our goal is the same as always: powerful tools that feel simple and help the community do more with less.
🏢 Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Odoo’s live chat enhancements smartly close a long-standing gap between engagement and opportunity creation. The direct routing to sales teams and embedded AI are pragmatic improvements that should lift conversion rates for SMEs and mid-market firms, especially those seeking faster time-to-value and simpler UX.
Two challenges remain. First, enterprise depth: advanced compliance, auditability, and granular governance will be important for regulated industries—particularly if LLM sources are shared externally. Second, scalability at global scale: high-volume, multi-entity deployments demand strict SLAs, observability, and domain-specific topic control. If Odoo continues to harden these areas while preserving UX simplicity, the differentiation will be notable.
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.