It’s not every week that Zapier has a full company retreat in Denver AND launches a new product.
Welcome to 2024, where Zapier becomes a Formula One racecar.
A hip-hip-hooray for Central (in preview), Zapier’s newest AI product!
Central bots are your pit crew teammates ready to change your tires, give you stats, add your data, and do just about anything you could do with a Zap… and more.
If you ever wanted to talk with a Zap… well now you can.
Unlike Zapier Chatbots, they aren’t made to be customer-facing. You don’t put them on a website. They don’t anwer support questions from your clients. They are internal just like Zaps.
Here’s the thing: I’d rather create a Central bot than set up a Zap. It takes half the time and does more of the work.
Is this just more AI-hype? Maybe. But it honestly feels different. I think it’s because Central is taking an already existing experience (creating a Zap) and iterating on it. It’s not reinventing something. It’s making something better.
Let me show you.
If you’ve been around the Zapier block, you’ve likely set up a similar Zap: before a meeting starts, send me a Slack DM with the Zoom link.
You create the Zap, but then realize you only want calendar events with multiple attendees. So you have to figure out the logic for that. Takes a minute…
But not now. Oh, hey Central, wussup.
Type out what you want it to do, and it gets it all done for you.
Step one. Create a bot.
Step two. Click “Create behavior.”
Step three. Tell it what you want: “5 minutes before an event, send me a Slack DM with the Zoom link for each upcoming meeting that has multiple attendees.”
It knows you want the DM 5 minutes before the event. It knows the event must have multiple attendees. Don’t even worry about the complex logic required to get that set up in a regular Zap.
It does all the heavy lifting for you. Ready. Set. Let’s GOOO!
Zapier is redefining automation. Automation is no longer just about a process you set up once that happens automatically. Automation is too narrow of a term.
Zapier is in the action business.
Doesn’t matter if the action happens from a Zap you set up, a form you create, a bot you build, or a button you press.
Zapier moves. And this year, they’re moving quick.
Place your bets.
Here are some Central bot ideas you can try out right now.
That’s all for this week!
Happy Building,
Bryce
