AWS has released a new cross-channel concurrency tool for Amazon Connect.
The tool allows contact center managers to configure each agent’s routing profile so they simultaneously receive voice and chat contacts.
As an example of how this works, consider an agent engaging in a live chat conversation. As they do so, a call enters the high-priority queue. This may pass through to the agent if no one else is available.
Once the conversation ends, the agent can continue their chat interaction.
That is only one example that managers can configure. Another is when an agent is waiting for long periods for a customer to respond to them over chat. In this scenario, the manager may send the agent a call from a specific queue to keep them engaged.
Such use cases enable contact centers to optimize each agent’s time and respond to customers quicker.
There Are Other Capabilities Too
The feature also allows managers to send agents tasks alongside additional contacts. For instance, an agent can write and send customer follow-ups, manage tickets, or even complete a backend workflow while handling inbound chats.
Moreover, a manager may set guardrails so that agents do not become overwhelmed by a flurry of sudden customer contacts.
Consider a scenario where an agent is writing chats but is suddenly interrupted by a high-priority call. The manager may configure the system so the agent receives no further chats until they complete the call.
Such tweaks come from a central application. As Kun Qian, Speciality Solutions Architect at AWS, said during a product demo:
Within Connect, there is a single application for workflows, agent management, routing, and experiences across all channels.
In addition, agents may handle these multichannel interactions from a single user interface (UI) without learning and interacting with several tools.
They can also escalate conversations between channels if an issue is better suited to one mode of communication than another.
Alongside these existing capabilities, Amazon Connect customers try out the new cross-channel concurrency feature in all AWS regions where the CCaaS platform is currently available.
There are no additional charges to customers that wish to try out the tool.
More Amazon Connect Announcements
The new tool is one of 12 new Amazon Connect features and enhancements AWS has launched since the beginning of March.
These include a watchlist ID to support the detection of fraudulent voice actors, new capabilities to search and sort agent schedules, alongside a new version of its GetMetricData API.
The updated API allows managers to programmatically access the trailing two weeks of historical agent and contact reporting data.
Yet, the most eye-catching new tool – aside from the cross-channel concurrency feature – is a step-by-step guides solution for the Amazon Connect agent workspace.
These guides hold agents’ hands through a recommended path to resolve specific customer queries.
In doing so, the solution utilizes several features of the Connect platform in a single interface to further streamline the UI.
Forrester recently lauded AWS for such agent-productivity-centric innovation. In doing so, the analyst tagged Amazon Connect as a market-leading platform in its 2023 Forester Wave for CCaaS report.
This came shortly after the platform earned leader status in the Gartner Peer Insights “Voice of the Customer” for CCaaS 2023.
