# Communicate Over Every Channel

Talk to your AI employees wherever you already work: the web app, Slack, or email, with more channels rolling out. Every channel routes into the same conversation history, so an employee never loses context switching between them. Turn a channel on or off from Settings, and a plan-gated channel unlocks the moment you're on the right plan.

Your employee meets you where you already work. Send it a message on Slack and get a reply in your Slack workspace. Email it a request and receive a formatted response in your inbox. Message it on WhatsApp from your phone and get an answer while you are on the go. Every channel works like talking to a real colleague, not a bot.

The critical difference is persistent memory across channels. Email your employee a product update on Monday. Slack it a question about that update on Wednesday. It remembers. Ask a follow-up on WhatsApp on Friday. It still has full context. There is no "start over" because you switched apps. Every conversation, regardless of channel, feeds into the same memory and history.

External channels are especially useful for quick check-ins and status updates. Instead of logging into the workspace, just Slack your employee "what did you finish today?" and get an instant summary. The employee is always available, on whatever platform is most convenient for you at that moment.

## Your AI Employee Meets You Where You Already Work

Sistava connects your AI employee to the communication tools your team actually uses: Slack, WhatsApp, email, and more. You do not need to open a separate dashboard to get work done. You send a message in Slack, and your AI agent responds right there.

This removes the friction that kills adoption for most AI tools. When the agent lives inside your existing workflow instead of demanding a context switch, people actually use it, and use it often.

## Persistent Memory Across Every Channel

Whether you message your AI employee through Slack on Monday and follow up by email on Wednesday, it remembers the context. Persistent memory means the agent tracks ongoing work, prior decisions, and your preferences across every channel it operates in.

This is what separates a true AI employee from a stateless chatbot. Your agent knows what was discussed before, what tasks are in progress, and what you already agreed on. Switching channels does not reset its memory.

## Consistent Behavior Regardless of Where You Message

Your AI employee behaves the same way regardless of which channel you use. It has the same skills, tools, and integrations available in Slack as it does in chat or email. The channel is just the surface; the intelligence is consistent underneath.

External channel support also means your AI employee can receive inbound messages from customers, partners, or team members and route, respond, or escalate based on the rules you define. It is not just outbound automation, it is a live communication presence.

## How It Works

**Connect your AI agent to Slack, WhatsApp, email, and other channels so it works where your team already works.**

Each agent can be connected to external communication channels independently. A support agent can live in your Slack workspace and respond to questions there. A client-facing agent can handle email threads directly from a dedicated inbox. A sales agent can be reachable on WhatsApp. The agent brings its full memory, skills, and tool access to every channel it is assigned to.

Connecting a channel takes a few minutes and does not require engineering involvement. Channel-specific behavior can be tuned through duties: respond more concisely on Slack, include email signatures on outbound mail, use a different greeting in WhatsApp threads. The agent maintains a unified memory across channels, so a conversation started in email can continue in Slack without losing context.

## Use Cases

### Customer success team deploying an AI agent where customers already are

Connect the AI employee to email, Slack, WhatsApp, and more. Customers get help on their preferred channel.

### Internal ops team routing requests from multiple channels to one agent

Whether the request comes from Slack, email, or a web form, the same AI employee handles it.

### Marketing team using an AI agent to respond on social channels

The AI agent monitors and responds across channels. No message goes unanswered, regardless of volume.

### Support team covering all touchpoints with a single AI employee

One agent, every channel. Consistent responses no matter where the conversation starts.

## Comparison

| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Deploying AI to each channel requires a separate integration and separate setup. | Connect the AI employee to every channel from one place. |
| Customers on different channels get different quality or speed of response. | The same AI agent handles every channel consistently. |
| Teams manage separate inboxes and tools for each communication channel. | All channels feed into one AI employee that handles them all. |
| Adding a new channel means starting a new project. | Extend your AI agent to a new channel in minutes. |

## FAQ

### Which external channels does Sistava support?

Sistava supports Slack, WhatsApp, and email today, with additional channels being added regularly. Each channel is a first-class interface, not an afterthought integration.

### Does the AI agent remember context when I switch from Slack to email?

Yes. Memory is tied to the agent, not the channel. If you start a task in Slack and follow up by email the next day, the agent picks up exactly where it left off.

### Can the AI employee respond to messages from external people, like customers?

Yes. You can configure your AI employee to handle inbound messages from external contacts on supported channels. It can respond, triage, escalate, or take action based on the instructions and skills you have given it.

### Is there any difference in capability between in-app chat and external channels?

The agent's skills and tools are the same across all channels. Some UI-specific features like visible streaming reasoning are unique to the in-app chat experience, but all core capabilities are available everywhere.

### Can my AI agent respond to customers on Slack, WhatsApp, and email automatically?

Yes. You can connect your AI employee to Slack, WhatsApp, email, and other channels so it handles incoming messages wherever your customers or team already communicate. All channels feed into the same agent.

> Our support agent handles Slack questions from the whole company and a separate email inbox for clients. Same agent, two channels, totally consistent. The team stopped noticing it was an AI after the first week.
>
> Andrea L., Head of Support · SaaS company

## Where Communicate Over Every Channel fits

Communicate Over Every Channel is part of Ways you talk to them.

Chat in the app with live reasoning, speak to your AI voice agent over a call, message on Slack or WhatsApp, send an email, or embed a widget on your website. Every channel connects to the same AI agent with the same memory and capabilities. Switch channels mid-conversation and your employee picks up right where you left off.

- [Ways you talk to them](/en/features/channels): Every channel. One conversation.

## Read the guide

- [Guide: Communicate Over Every Channel](/en/guide/channels/web-chat)

## More in Channels

- [Web Chat](/en/features/channels/channel_web_chat): Chat with any AI employee directly in the workspace, with a streaming reply, a live execution timeline showing what it is reading, thinking, and doing, and inline approve/reject buttons when it needs a sensitive action confirmed. It is the default channel: nothing to configure, works on desktop or mobile, and every conversation persists so you can pick it back up later.
- [Voice Calls](/en/features/channels/voice_channel): Voice Calls is a planned channel for speaking to an AI employee out loud and hearing it reply in real time, instead of typing. It is not available yet: there is no voice button in the workspace today, and the feature is paused while the underlying voice flow is redesigned. When it ships, a voice call will run through the same skills, tools, and memory as a typed conversation.
- [Connect an Email Provider](/en/features/channels/channel_email): Point your own SendGrid, Mailgun, or Postmark inbound-parse webhook at a tenant-scoped endpoint and every email that lands there gets turned into work for an employee. Forward support requests, sales inquiries, or internal approval emails and the employee reads the sender, subject, and body, then acts on it in the background. You get a 202 response immediately; there's no waiting on the request.
- [Personal Mailbox](/en/features/channels/channel_mailbox): Every employee gets its own email address on the shared Sistava domain the moment you hire it, no setup. Email it directly, CC it on a thread with other people, or forward something over, and it reads and replies within seconds. Free to send from, with a monthly cap by plan. Control the shared employee signature in Company Profile, or connect your own Gmail or Outlook when you want it sending as you, with no cap.
- [Send from Gmail or Outlook](/en/features/channels/connected_mailbox): The built-in employee address is free and always on, but it sends as the employee, not as you. Connect your own Gmail or Outlook instead and an employee sends and replies from your real address, in your name, with no monthly sending cap on any plan.
- [Talk to Your Employee on Video](/en/features/channels/channel_in_app_video): In-App Video is a planned channel for live, face to face video calls with an AI employee, camera and microphone, directly inside the workspace. It has no working implementation today: it appears in Settings > Technical > Channels as a Coming soon placeholder only. Once it ships, it is meant to run on the same execution pipeline as every other channel, so the employee keeps its skills, tools, training, and conversation memory on a video call. If you need an employee in a live call today, it can already join a Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams meeting as a participant, which is a different capability and available now.
- [Chat Widget](/en/features/channels/channel_chat_widget): The Chat Widget will let you embed an AI employee directly on your public website so visitors can ask questions and get answers without leaving the page. It is on the roadmap and is not available to configure yet: today it appears in Settings > Technical > Channels as a Coming soon placeholder with no setup, embed snippet, or Manage action.
- [SMS](/en/features/channels/channel_sms): SMS is a planned channel for reaching an AI employee by ordinary text message, with no app to install. It is on the roadmap and not available today: there is no SMS number, no inbound texting, and no way to turn it on yet. Until it ships, use web chat or Telegram for mobile access from any phone.
- [WhatsApp](/en/features/channels/channel_whatsapp): WhatsApp is a planned messaging channel for talking with an AI employee from your phone. It is not connected yet: the card shows as coming soon and cannot be set up today. When it ships, it will carry the same employee memory, skills, and guardrails as web chat, Telegram, Slack, and the mailbox. Telegram and Slack are live now and give you the same access from a phone, so nothing you set up today has to be rebuilt when WhatsApp arrives.
- [Discord](/en/features/channels/channel_discord): Discord is a planned channel for bringing an AI employee into the servers and direct messages your community already uses. It will connect the same way Slack does today: authorize a bot through OAuth, then map it to one employee. It is not available to connect yet, so no Discord traffic reaches an employee until it ships. Slack, Telegram, each employee's own email address, and web chat cover the same job in the meantime.
- [Calendar Invites](/en/features/channels/channel_calendar): Add your employee's personal address as a guest on any Google, Outlook, or Apple calendar event and they show up for the meeting automatically, no RSVP or extra app on your side. Once the meeting starts, the employee joins the Meet, Zoom, or Teams call, listens, speaks when addressed, and writes a summary afterward. There is nothing to switch on for the invite itself, just turn on the Meeting Attender tool for that employee once.
- [Slack Channel](/en/features/channels/channel_slack): Bring your AI employee into Slack as a real bot user your team can mention, DM, or trigger with a slash command. Every reply lands in the same thread, and memory, tasks, skills, and tools stay shared with web chat, so a conversation started on Slack continues anywhere else. You approve or reject requests right from Slack, and the bot only speaks when mentioned, DM'd, or already in a thread.

## Explore

- [Every feature](/en/features)
- [Hire an AI employee](/en/market)
- [Pricing](/en/pricing)