AWS is once again adding brand-new software and services into its portfolio, to help make its approach to unified communication and collaboration more competitive. The latest and greatest announcement on the market is “Amazon Connect“, a cloud-based solution for contact centres (CCaaS) based on the same technology that Amazon has used for its in-house servers.
Connect is a simple, yet effective cloud-based contact centre which aims to offer clients access to everything they need to deliver better customer service at a reduced cost. Setting up a cloud-based centre should take nothing more than a few clicks through the AWS management console, and agents will be managing calls in minutes.
Just like with other AWS solutions, the idea is that Amazon Connect should be able to find a place within the current market with an affordable price and plenty of rich features. Alongside the benefit of no upfront costs, Amazon are also promising no long-term contracts to sign, and no annoying infrastructure.
An Evolution for Amazon
With Amazon Connect, the brand will be moving into a business area that’s already pretty saturated with companies offering a host of contact-centre based solutions. However, the crowded market isn’t slowing Amazon down. In fact, some of the most popular services, such as the ones we’ve just outlined above, are actually going to be partnering up with Amazon for the new service.
The unique and simplified self-service graphical interface for Amazon Connect makes it easier for non-technical users to manage their call-centre agents, design contact flows, and even track the most essential metrics for performance. There’s no need for any prior training, and the service also makes it possible for users to design contact flows that automatically improve the customer experience – changing based on the information received from AWS services. You can even choose to build natural language flows using the artificial intelligence Amazon Lex service, which contains the same automatic technology for speech recognition, and natural understanding of language as the Amazon Alexa product.
A Rich New Service
Amazon Connect will integrate seamlessly with a host of other AWS services to source data for clients, including Amazon Redshift, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon Aurora. It can also work alongside third-party CRM solutions, like Salesforce. Connect will also be incorporating some of the newest innovations in the Amazon portfolio, and a host of modern services designed to build automated responses that also work alongside other services like Alexa to better support users.
According to the vice president for customer service worldwide, Tom Weiland, Amazon made the decision a decade ago to start building their own customer contact centre technology from scratch. They felt that legacy solutions simply weren’t big enough for their customers, and they needed something that would deliver un-matched customer service across the globe. Today, Amazon is excited to offer its new technology to customers as part of the AWS service, with all the flexibility, simplicity, and reliability afforded by the cloud.
Some of the other services that AWS has recently launched include communications and productivity suite Chime. Amazon Connect will offer direct inward dialling tools and toll-free numbers for members across the United States, as well as eighteen countries across Europe.
Amazon Chime was announced official on the 28th March 2017.
