Build custom AI agents without writing a single line of code? Yep, we did that.

Most of us aren’t developers, I certainly am not. I work in marketing and get by in WordPress sites, dabble in Squarespace, and ask ChatGPT to write some basic HTML code. But do I have great ideas for how to use AI to make our customers’ lives easier? Yes, definitely yes.

True story, we just went through a massive website re-launch to improve our digital experience and better represent our company’s direction. Our dev team is still backlogged, and that cool AI chatbot we envisioned will likely get pushed to “maybe next year.” Sound familiar? 

That’s exactly why we created AI App Studio, our new enterprise AI agent builder. I caught up with Benjamin Holland from our product team to share the latest behind our newest platform that’s putting custom AI app development in the hands of regular humans (no coding required) to improve commerce and digital experiences today.

Cutting through the AI noise: A chat with our AI App Studio product manager

What inspired the creation of AI App Studio, and what gap does it fill in the current AI development landscape?

Benjamin Holland: We kept hearing the same story from our customers, especially those on the commerce side. They’d say, “We know exactly what we need AI to do for us, but we’re stuck waiting months for developer resources that never materialize.” It’s super frustrating, right?

AI App Studio equips the people who truly understand customer problems. Our platform empowers merchandisers, digital managers, and marketers to build their own custom AI agents without asking IT for help or needing them to learn how to code. It’s painful watching your competitors launch AI features while you’re stuck in waiting mode and we’re here to help.

And it genuinely cuts development time. What used to take dev teams weeks, our customers can now prototype in a day. On average, they’re cutting development time by 25% or more and getting powerful AI experience to their users much faster.

How is AI App Studio different from other low-code or no-code AI platforms on the market?

B.H.: Three things, and I say this as someone skeptical of vendor claims my entire career.

First, everything is grounded in your actual data. Most platforms connect to a general AI model and hope for the best. Ours bakes your specific knowledge (like from a product datasheet or catalog) into every response, so you’re not getting generic answers that could apply to anyone.

Second, and I’m particularly proud of this, we’ve built this enterprise AI app builder with real domain expertise in B2B and B2C commerce. Our team has spent years in the trenches with manufacturers and retailers who have insanely complex catalogs. 

“We understand the difference between a general chatbot that helps with returns and one that can help someone find the right industrial part with specific tolerances.”

Third, you can make it look and feel like your brand. Many companies launch AI tools that feel bolted on and disconnected from their brand experience.

Unlike most vendors, we don’t force you to remove your existing tech stack. AI App Studio works with whatever you’ve already got. It’s platform-agnostic. That’s been a massive relief for customers who feared they’d need to replace everything just to add AI capabilities.

What kinds of teams or users benefit the most from using AI App Studio?

B.H.: The people who are constantly frustrated because they know exactly what their customers need, have great ideas, but can’t get the technical resources to build it.

In practice, that’s typically B2C and B2B commerce product owners, those managing search experiences, merchandisers aiming to enhance product discovery, and even marketers who own digital experiences. They’re the ones with deep customer knowledge but limited coding skills. 

We see the most significant impact in industries drowning in complex information, like manufacturing companies with massive parts catalogs, retailers with constantly changing inventory, and financial services with intricate details. 

“If you’re in a business where customers struggle to find exactly what they need or your teams waste hours searching for internal information, that’s where we’re seeing the most immediate value with AI App Studio.”

Can you walk us through how AI App Studio supports rapid prototyping – from idea to working model?

B.H.: We’ve built templates for the most common use cases, so you’re never starting from scratch. And since there’s no coding, the person who knows what customers need can build it themselves instead of trying to explain it to a developer who is juggling ten other priorities.

You’ve included pre-built agent templates. What are some of the most popular or impactful ones right now?

B.H.: We’re launching with our Interactive Q&A agent first, which generates dynamic question-and-answer pairings tailored to your products, giving customers an easy way to explore directly on your site. After that, we’ll be rolling out our Conversational Q&A Agent, built for natural, real-time customer interactions with fast and accurate responses.

But we have a comprehensive roadmap of pre-built AI agents designed to enhance every aspect of the customer journey, with new agents being added regularly. The full suite will include:

• Generative Answers for AI-powered response systems
• Product Review Summary to automatically analyze customer feedback
• Personalized Recommendations based on user behavior
• Spec Summary to transform complex technical specifications into clear, digestible information.

My favorite example is what our manufacturing customers can do with our pre-built AI agents today. Think about shopping for industrial parts. It’s a nightmare of compatibility charts and technical specs. They’re embedding AI on product pages to answer questions like “Will this fit my model XYZ?” or “Can this handle 500 PSI at 200°F?” Huge time-saver.

How customizable are the AI agents built on the platform, especially for enterprise use cases?

B.H.: Behind the simple interface in the Studio is our AI orchestration engine, making different models work together. 

Plus, our data integration platform lets us ingest structured and unstructured data – everything from product spreadsheets to technical PDFs.

What I find cool is how we’ve hidden all this complexity. This low-code AI platform juggles models and data processing, but the user just sees a simple drag-and-drop interface. It’s like having a Formula 1 car with an automatic transmission – all the power, none of the complexity.

Everyone promises ROI these days. What are customers seeing in terms of business impact?

B.H.: Our customers are 2.5x more likely to deploy AI initiatives successfully compared to the industry average. That translates to roughly 20% higher ROI. And when Forrester analyzed our platform, they found customers achieving 391% ROI with payback in months, not years.

How does the platform ensure AI agents are scalable and secure enough for enterprise deployment?

B.H.: Security is probably the biggest elephant in the room with AI, right? People worry about chatbots making stuff up or leaking sensitive information.

We’re taking a thoughtful approach to security from the ground up. As we expand our platform capabilities, security—including data protection and access controls—is built into our development process with the same rigor we apply to everything else.

The key difference is that everything in AI App Studio is grounded in your company’s data. We’re not just connecting to a generic model and hoping for the best.

Editor’s Note: AI security and guardrails are something we’ve prioritized from day one of the Gen AI hype era. Watch our quick video to see what we help companies avoid.

This is huge for our enterprise customers who have strict compliance needs. They can finally use AI without their security teams having a collective meltdown. One manufacturing client told me they’d been trying to get an AI project past their security team for months. With our platform, they got approval in a few weeks.

What are some of the most exciting use cases from the platform so far?

B.H.: It’s customizable, so every customer gets value differently, but a few examples stand out.

On the B2B side, an industrial equipment manufacturer embedded AI-powered Q&A on their product pages. Their customers could ask specific technical questions about compatibility and specs without digging through massive datasheets. 

One that’s not quite ready yet, but I think will be very exciting, is the use of our internal knowledge finder to make their compliance documentation searchable in plain English. For a financial services organization, instead of lawyers digging through policy documents, anyone can ask “What’s our policy on X?” and get a clear answer grounded in their policies.

Any advice for businesses using AI to solve real business problems today?

B.H.: Don’t start with the tech! Start with a real problem. The companies that will get the most value aren’t the ones saying, “We need AI because everyone’s talking about it.” They’re the ones who identified specific friction points where people waste time or abandon carts.

For example, notice your customer support tickets ask the same questions about product specs that are actually in your documentation (just a little buried)? Our AI agent templates can help you build a simple Q&A agent… Watch support tickets drop, and then expand them from there.

The beauty of this custom AI app development platform is that you can start small. Build one focused application that solves a genuine pain point, proves it works, and expands. Most of our successful customers began with something specific, like enhancing product pages or simplifying internal knowledge access. They got a quick win, and their colleagues asked, “Can we do that for our department too?”

What’s next for AI App Studio? Are there any upcoming features or directions you’re excited about?

B.H.: We’ve got tons of plans in the pipeline. The launch version is just the beginning. We’re already working on expanding our library of agents to address more specific industry challenges.

I’m particularly excited about some of the specialized manufacturing and healthcare solutions we’re developing. There’s so much potential to simplify complex information in those industries.

But honestly, our vision is pretty simple: we want to make AI that delivers business value without requiring a massive IT department. Too many companies struggle with AI projects that never get off the ground. We’re changing that by putting these tools in the hands of the people who understand what customers need.

Want to see our enterprise AI Agents in action?

AI App Studio is available now, and we’d love to show you how our pre-built AI agents can speed up your custom AI app development. Get in touch to see a demo using your data.