Build or Buy an AI Onboarding Agent? What Obi Does vs What You Would Build
Quick answer: Cor builds Obi, an AI onboarding agent. If your support bot already answers help-article questions well, keep it. Onboarding is a different job: someone has to reach out to each new customer, learn what they need, build a plan, work through setup with them, follow up and hand over to your team. Obi works directly with every new customer on that job, and it runs alongside your existing bot. Building it yourself means building each of those parts, not adding one more prompt to your bot. For narrow help, building can be the right call. This page shows where the line sits.
What your support bot already does well
Most support bots wait for a customer to ask, then answer from your help docs. That is useful, and for many questions it is enough. Keep it.
Obi does not replace it. Obi runs alongside your bot and uses the same help docs as its knowledge (with direct integrations for Intercom and Zendesk). The difference is who moves first. A support bot waits for a question. In most Cor deployments, Obi reaches out to customers first, usually by email, so nobody has to know what to ask.
What onboarding needs on top
Obi works directly with every new customer. Here is what that covers:
- First contact. A new customer is added to Cor, directly or through an integration. Obi contacts them by email as standard. You can also start Obi from inside your product.
- A plan for each customer. Obi asks about their goals and setup, then builds a plan in their preferred language. An admin on your team confirms the plan before anything runs.
- Live sessions. The customer shares their screen. Obi sees their real account and guides them step by step, by voice and chat, across tabs and windows.
- Setup where permitted. Where you allow it, Obi completes steps for the customer, within their own permissions, and asks before major actions.
- Follow-ups. When a customer goes quiet between sessions, Obi follows up by itself.
- Handovers. When something needs a person, Obi hands over to your team by email, Slack or the Cor admin, with what the customer was trying to do.
- Reports. Every session ends with a report on what got done and where the customer got stuck. Session data syncs to your CRM on every plan.
What building it yourself takes
If you extend your bot or build your own agent, you take on each of these parts. In plain words:
- Reaching out first. Deciding who to contact, when, and what to say, then sending it and tracking replies.
- Seeing the screen safely. A way for customers to share their screen, with encryption and a clear rule that the customer starts it.
- Voice. Talking a customer through setup, not only typing back.
- Plans per customer. Turning a customer's goals into steps, and a way for your team to check the plan first.
- Permissions and approvals. Rules for what the agent may do in a customer's account, and when it must ask.
- Follow-ups and handovers. Noticing when a customer stalls, chasing them, and passing the hard cases to a person with context.
- Reports. Telling your team what happened in each session and where customers got stuck.
- A security review. Your customers' security teams will ask how screen data is handled.
- Upkeep. Someone who keeps all of it working as your product changes.
None of these is impossible. Together they are a product, with a team behind it.
Side by side
| Extend your support bot | Build your own agent | Add Obi | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers help-doc questions | Yes, this is its job | Yes, if you build it | Yes, from your help docs |
| Reaches out first to each new customer | Usually not; it waits to be asked | If you build it | Yes, by email as standard |
| Plan per customer, confirmed by your team | Not usually | If you build it | Yes, an admin confirms each plan |
| Sees the customer's screen | No | If you build screen share | Yes, in live sessions the customer starts |
| Works through setup with the customer | Answers questions about it | If you build it | Guides by voice and chat; sets things up where permitted |
| Follows up between sessions | No | If you build it | Yes, by itself |
| Hands over to your team | Often to a ticket or live chat | If you build it | By email, Slack or the Cor admin |
| Reports where customers got stuck | Chat logs | If you build it | A report after every session; CRM sync on every plan |
| Who keeps it current | Your team | Your engineers | Cor runs the product; your CS team updates guides, no engineers |
| Time to first customer | Fast for answers | Depends on your team | Set up in a day |
When building makes sense
Building, or extending your bot, is a fair choice when:
- Your customers mostly need answers. If setup is one or two clicks and the questions are short, a bot that answers from your help docs may be all you need.
- You have an AI team with time to own it. Not only to build it, but to run it, review it for security and keep it current for years.
- Onboarding is your product. If guiding users is the thing you sell, you may want to own every part of it.
- You need something no vendor offers. A very unusual setup flow can be easier to build than to fit into someone else's product.
When to add Obi
- Setup has many steps. Integrations, data imports and settings across several apps.
- Many new customers arrive each month. More than your team can call one by one.
- Customers do not know what to ask. They sign up, then stall, and your bot never hears from them.
- New users keep arriving in existing accounts. Every new user needs the same help as the first admin.
- You want it running soon. Obi is set up in a day, from the help docs and recordings you already have, with no engineering.
Many teams do both: keep the bot for questions, and add Obi to reach out and run onboarding. For how the two differ, see AI onboarding agent vs chatbot. If the real choice is between Obi and your next hire, see hire an onboarding specialist or add an AI agent.
Running Obi from Claude
If your team already works in Claude, you do not need another tool. Cor is in Claude's connector directory, so your team can check who got stuck, fix the knowledge behind it and review changes from Claude. See which AI onboarding agent works with Claude.
Read more: how Obi runs a session and pricing.
FAQ
Should we build our own AI onboarding agent or buy one?
Build if your customers mostly need quick answers, or if you have an AI team with time to run and maintain it for years. Add Obi if setup has many steps, many customers arrive each month, and you need someone to reach out first, build a plan per customer and work through setup with them.
Can Obi work next to our existing support bot?
Yes. Obi runs alongside your bot. Your bot keeps answering questions. Obi reaches out to new customers first, usually by email, and runs the onboarding with them.
Can we just extend our support bot to do onboarding?
You can, and for short, single-step help it may be enough. Full onboarding also needs first contact, a plan per customer, screen sharing, voice, follow-ups, handovers and reports. Extending a bot means building each of those.
Does Obi use our help docs?
Yes. Give Cor the link to your help docs and Obi uses them in every session. There are direct integrations for Intercom and Zendesk. You can also upload screen recordings or walk through your key workflows once.
Do we need engineers?
No. Obi is set up in a day by your customer success or product team. Customers are added directly or through an integration.
What stays with our team?
Your team confirms each customer's plan, decides what Obi may do and takes the handovers. Obi hands over by email, Slack or the Cor admin, with what the customer was trying to do and where they got stuck.
How is Cor priced?
You pay by session volume, never per seat. Plans start at $750/month and scale with your session volume. See pricing.