Good customer service involves quick, first-time resolutions to inbound queries.
Great customer service anticipates customer needs and solves problems before the customer is even aware of the issue.
It’s more than just proactive; it’s pre-emptive.
Data centralization is crucial to lay the foundations for such a contact center.
It’s also essential for developing a 360-degree view of the customer, advancing routing and reporting strategies, and increasing personalization within service experiences.
Yet, contact centers have historically faced several challenges here.
For starters, data is typically siloed across apps, channels, and data stores.
Meanwhile, it’s often incomplete or includes conflicting information.
Then, there are the security-related risks of moving and copying data.
In short, managing contact center data has proven a minefield, stifling service innovation.
AWS confronted these challenges head-on by transforming Amazon Connect Customer Profiles into a complete data foundation.
Introducing the Next-Gen Amazon Connect Customer Profiles
AWS has built a data layer over Amazon Connect. That data layer takes information from various data sources, including Amazon Connect and 75+ systems of record through connectors.
In doing so, AWS leverages a generative AI-powered data mapping capability to create a 360-degree view of a customer. That includes what they purchased, looked at online before calling, their interaction history, and so on.
There are numerous benefits to this approach, perhaps most notably in enabling a simpler service experience for both agents and customers.
“Let’s say I call in for support about some horse-riding equipment,” said Heidi Elmore, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Amazon Connect. “I’d want the agent to know when I purchased it, when I last called, and even that I’ve been browsing bridles online and have items sitting in my cart.
Without this unified view, both customers and agents have a disjointed, frustrating experience.
Amazon Q – AWS’s virtual assistant – could also surface relevant data from the customer profile in real time and recommend next best actions, streamlining issue resolution.
Yet, the Customer Profiles don’t only support live agents in resolving queries; they also assist AI agents. After all, if all relevant customer information lives in one place, they are better equipped to deliver accurate, personalized responses.
Strong Foundations for the Contact Center of Tomorrow
AI agents will play a key role in the contact center of tomorrow.
Consider recent research from Gartner. It suggests agentic AI will solve 80 percent of customer problems by 2029.
In doing so, AI agents won’t only handle issues reactively. Instead, they will be proactive and – as teased earlier – pre-emptive.
Go back to Elmore’s bridle example. If it’s still sitting in her cart, the company could deploy an agent that leverages intelligence through the Customer Profile to offer her an appropriate discount. That’s proactive service that drives revenue!
Next, consider an AI agent that recognizes – in real time – when a customer says something like: “I start my work at midday”. It can then add this insight to the profile, ensuring they don’t receive comms after noon. That’s pre-emptive action!
Such use cases are the future of customer experience. However, they’re unreliable without a data strategy like AWS presents to Amazon Connect customers.
Amazon Connect’s Data Foundation: A Closer Look
The power of Amazon Connect’s data foundation lies in its three-pillar approach: unify, enrich, and activate.
First, unification happens automatically. Amazon Connect brings together scattered customer information from various touchpoints – whether that’s purchase history, service interactions, or digital behavior.
Through AI-powered data mapping and advanced resolution, Customer Profiles creates a single source of truth without the traditional headaches of manual configuration. Real-time updates ensure this unified view stays current, giving agents the latest information during every interaction.
The enrichment phase adds layers of intelligence. Amazon Connect continuously learns from each interaction, calculating new attributes that reveal valuable patterns and preferences.
When it comes to activation, AWS takes a dual approach. Within Amazon Connect, the unified and enriched profiles power everything from intelligent routing to real-time agent recommendations via Amazon Q, as mentioned.
However, the value extends beyond the contact center – organizations can export segments to external marketing platforms and advertising systems. This creates a truly coordinated customer experience that spans every touchpoint.
This three-pillar foundation transforms contact center data from a static resource into a dynamic engine for customer experience innovation.
Learn more about Amazon Connect Customer Profiles. Visit their website.
