What's new in IBM® watsonx Orchestrate®

New data centers available on IBM Cloud

The IBM Cloud data center is now expanded to include the following region:

Frankfurt

IBM watsonx Orchestrate data center now expands to Frankfurt. With this new data center, watsonx Orchestrate offers secure and compliant data storage solutions for user data in accordance with European data protection laws.

For more information, see Outbound IP addresses.

New data center available on AWS

The AWS data center is now expanded to include the following region:

Singapore

IBM watsonx Orchestrate data center now expands to Singapore. With this new data center, watsonx Orchestrate offers secure and compliant data storage solutions for Asia-Pacific users.

For more information, see Outbound IP addresses.

Use agents from watsonx.ai

You can now integrate agents that are built in watsonx.ai with watsonx Orchestrate by using the API! These agents can run tasks seamlessly by using the parameters and tools you specify in the agent's settings.

By integrating these agents, you can enhance automation and streamline workflows more efficiently. For detailed instructions, see Registering a watsonx.ai Agent Lab agent with watsonx Orchestrate.

Simplify app connections with preconfigured client credentials

Builders can now configure the connection details for prebuilt apps, such as Client ID and Client Secret directly when setting up the app's endpoints in a tenant.

This enhancement removes the need for Users to manually enter credentials, making connections faster and more intuitive.

With Client ID and secret preconfigured, Users can click the Connect App button to establish a connection effortlessly. When only the Client secret is preconfigured, users only need to enter their Client ID, further simplifying the setup.

This update enhances security, reduces setup errors, and improves the overall user experience. For more information, see Configuring endpoints per watsonx Orchestrate tenant.

The following GIF demonstrates how preconfiguring client credentials simplifies the app connection process. Here, the builder sets up the client credentials for the Workday HCM app, allowing users to connect without entering the Client ID and secret.

Document extractor skills are now generally available in Skill studio

Document extractor skills, which were previously in beta, are now generally available in the Skill studio. You can easily publish and use them in your workflows to extract the data you need in your business operations.

Here’s what else you can do with this update:

• Publish document extractors to the skill catalog.
• Use Document extractor skills in chat for quick access.
• Share updates with other collaborators.
• Set Document extractor skills as public or private.
• Edit the skill display name and operation ID.
• Delete Document extractor skills when you no longer need them.

To learn more, see Creating document extractors and Configuring document processors.

Enhance security with audio recording in phone integration

You can now use audio recording with the Genesys Audio Connector in Phone Integration! This feature helps you to record a caller’s verbal confirmation to verify identity, provide consent, or authorize actions.

With the new record feature, you can capture the caller’s utterance and play it back for confirmation. Set up an audio webhook to save the recording and configure a record response in your conversation flow. You can customize prompts, add a beep before recording, and let callers confirm their input by pressing a key.

This update enhances security, ensure compliance, and provides a reliable way to capture verbal communications. To learn more, see Recording a caller's utterance.

Enhance security with IP access control

The Administrators can now define which IP addresses can have access and which are restricted to IBM watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud. This gives the Administrators control over the network that can access the application. For more information, see Allowing specific IP addresses.

AI agents now support Japanese in chat

IBM watsonx Orchestrate now supports Japanese language in AI agent chat. This enables Japanese users to effectively use watsonx Orchestrate AI capabilities in their native language, making interactions smoother and more intuitive. For more information, see Supported languages.

UIAgent Integration with AI Assistant Chat

UIAgent is a no-code UI automation feature designed to enable business users to create and execute web-based user interface (UI) automations without requiring any coding expertise.

With UIAgent, you can write automations for small, specialized use cases without relying on IT support, allowing you and your team to streamline repetitive tasks and boost productivity.

Users can create automations by using either screen demonstrations or natural language in a browser extension.

The automations can either be run directly from the extension or can be published to IBM watsonx Orchestrate and executed through an AI-powered Assistant embedded on the web app, providing a more intuitive, flexible, and accessible way to run the automations through a conversational interface.

The UIAgent is now in limited availability through watsonx Orchestrate. If you are interested, enroll by using the "UIAgent integration with IBM watsonx Orchestrate" form.

IBM® watsonx Orchestrate® API updates

See the updates in the IBM watsonx Orchestrate API for this release.

Register an external agent

You can now register an agent built in watsonx.ai Agent lab with watsonx Orchestrate by specifying the property provider as wx.ai in the requestBody. For more information, see Register an external agent .

Enable Base LLM response

In IBM watsonx Orchestrate, you can enable and disable the responses from an LLM by using the API. The is_base_llm_enabled property is set to True to allow LLM responses for a specific tenant. For more information, see Update Orchestrate settings .

Updated sections

• The watsonx Orchestrate API is now updated to mention the operations that are now available for on-premises offering. The available operations display the On-premises tag at the top of the document. For more information, see watsonx Orchestrate API .

• The IBM watsonx Orchestrate API known issues and limitations topic now has the following entry:

  • IBM watsonx Orchestrate API
    • Authentication on watsonx Orchestrate API with IP address restriction

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the enhancements that are delivered in the current release corresponding to the user role:

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in the current release corresponding to the user role:

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

New sections

• Defining an audio webhook section includes the procedure to add a webhook to store an audio.
• Regional availability of IBM watsonx Orchestrate section is added to provide information about the service availability by regions for IBM watsonx Orchestrate SaaS.
• Allowing specific IP addresses section is added to provide information on how to allow specific IP addresses to access watsonx Orchestrate on IBM Cloud.
• Adding actions from web-based automation flows section is added to provide the steps on how to enroll to the UIAgent feature. The feature is in limited availability.

Updated sections

• The Configuring prebuilt apps section is now updated to add information on how the Builders can configure Client ID and Client secret of prebuilt applications.

• The Known issues and limitations topic now has the following entry:

  • Enhancing skills
    • Enhance the skill content in other languages
  • Skill-based actions
    • IBM watsonx.ai skills fail to run

Configuring webhook authentication

watsonx Assistant now supports webhook authentication to verify that the pre-message webhook and post-message webhook requests are legitimate, come from the expected source, and ensure the authenticity and integrity of the data. For more information, see Webhook authentication.

Other enhancements and changes

The following table details the fixes that are delivered in the current release corresponding to the user role:

Documentation updates

See the updates in the watsonx Orchestrate documentation and other contents for this release.

Updated sections

• The Administering section is now updated with a new structure for better organization and easier access to content.

• The Managing skills in the AI chat section is updated to improve clarity on adding skills.

• The Elasticsearch search integration set up documentation is updated to include details on advanced search capabilities for semantic text fields.

• The Known issues and limitations topic now has the following entry:

  • Building projects
    • Calling skills from interactions
  • Skill-based actions
    • Using form skills in the AI assistant builder