Customer Engagement | Amazon Connect Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Customer Engagement | Amazon Connect Deck (127)
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1
Q

What is Amazon Connect?

General

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect is a self-service, cloud-based contact center service that makes it easy for any business to deliver better customer service at lower cost.

2
Q

What else should I know about Amazon Connect?

General

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect is based on the same contact center technology used by Amazon customer service associates around the world to power millions of customer conversations. Setting up a cloud-based contact center with Amazon Connect is as easy as a few clicks in the AWS Management Console, and agents can begin taking calls within minutes. There are no up-front payments or long-term commitments and no infrastructure to manage with Amazon Connect. You pay only for the time your customers are connected to the service and for the telephony used. You can get started by visiting the Amazon Connect console.

3
Q

Can I really setup Amazon Connect in minutes?

General

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. We encourage you to go to the Amazon Connect console and set up an Amazon Connect Virtual Contact Center now.

4
Q

In which countries does Amazon Connect offer phone numbers?

General

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect offers phone numbers in the US and more than 20 countries worldwide. For more details on available numbers see Amazon Connect Pricing.

5
Q

Who should use Amazon Connect?

General

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

If you’re looking to improve your contact center experience, regardless of size, you can benefit from using Amazon Connect, and the scalable, open, dynamic, and easy, self-service configuration.

6
Q

Do you have examples of how customers are already using Amazon Connect?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Please see the Amazon Connect website.

7
Q

How can I try Amazon Connect?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect is self-service so you can try before you buy, without talking to sales, completing RFPs, or hiring for consultants or professional services. Simply log in to the AWS Console using your AWS account and set up an Amazon Connect instance.

8
Q

Is there a free trial for Amazon Connect?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. You have access to the following features for free each month for the first 12 months that you use the service:

  • 90 minutes per month of Amazon Connect usage
  • A local direct inward dial (DID) number for the AWS region
  • 30 minutes per month of local (to the AWS region) inbound DID calls
  • 30 minutes per month of local (to the AWS region) outbound calls
  • For US regions, a US toll-free number for use per month and 30 minutes per month of US inbound toll-free calls

For any additional usage, you will be charged at the published Amazon Connect pricing.

To start your free trial, create an Amazon Connect instance in your AWS account and start using the service.

9
Q

How do I set up an instance of Amazon Connect?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Log in to the AWS Console, launch Amazon Connect, and complete the following steps:

  1. Select a Directory
  2. Create an Administrator
  3. Select Telephony Options
  4. Set a Storage Location
  5. Review and Confirm
  6. Claim a phone number
  7. Place a test call

When you create a user make sure it has admin privileges so you can perform additional configurations.

10
Q

What are the basics for configuring an Amazon Connect instance for my business?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Log in to your Amazon Connect instance as the user you created with admin privileges and configure the following:

  1. Claim a phone number (if you haven’t already done so)
  2. Set up hours of operations
  3. Create queues which manage how your agents handle contacts
  4. Record prompts that will be played to customers
  5. Create contact flows to define the experiences your customers will have when they contact you
  6. Create routing profiles so you can configure and prioritize the queues your agents will handle contacts from
  7. Add your users and assign them routing profiles and (optional) permissions
11
Q

What is an Amazon Connect instance?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

An Amazon Connect instance is a virtual contact center. It is 100% cloud-based and can scale to support any sized business. Note: An Amazon Connect instance is not aligned to an EC2 instance or any other hardware concept.

12
Q

What is the benefit of being 100% cloud-based?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Because Amazon Connect is 100% cloud-based:

  • Managers and agents can use it anywhere as long as they have an internet connection and a supported browser.
  • You don’t need to manage hardware, space, or telephony infrastructure.
  • You don’t need to plan for scaling up or down. The system is elastic and will grow and shrink as you need.
13
Q

How does Amazon Connect stay available?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect stays available by using multiple Availability Zones in an AWS Region to provide fault tolerance if there is a server failure or Availability Zone outage. Amazon Connect uses multiple, redundant paths to telecom carriers to ensure that calls can continue to be established if there is a failure or circuit issue. In regions where they are available, redundant carriers are used, and we continuously add carriers and paths to ensure that we deliver a high-quality experience. Software updates are performed regularly, and there are no scheduled outages.

14
Q

Is Amazon Connect scalable?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, the technology that powers Amazon Connect has been proven to scale with the needs of Amazon’s award winning customer service. It’s in use by teams ranging from ten to tens of thousands of agents.

15
Q

Which browsers are supported?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect requires WebRTC to enable communications. The following browsers are supported:

Browser Version Check Your Version

Google Chrome Last three versions

Open Chrome and type chrome://version in your address bar. The version is in the Google Chrome field at the top of the results.

Mozilla Firefox ESR Last version Open Firefox. On the menu, choose the Help icon and then choose About Firefox. The version number is listed underneath the Firefox name.

Mozilla Firefox Last three versions Open Firefox. On the menu, choose the Help icon and then choose About Firefox. The version number is listed underneath the Firefox name.

The version number is listed underneath the Firefox name.

16
Q

Where is Amazon Connect hosted?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can see where Amazon Cconnect is hosted by visiting AWS Region Table.

17
Q

Which languages does Amazon Connect support?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect supports the following eight languages: English, Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. You are provided a localized view when accessing the Amazon Connect management console, as well as your Amazon Connect contact center instances.

18
Q

Is Amazon Connect PCI DSS compliant?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes Amazon Connect is certified as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliant as of June 30th, 2017. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has successfully completed the 2017-2018 PCI DSS v3.2 assessment. The covered AWS services that are already PCI DSS compliant can be found within AWS Services in Scope by Compliance Program.

AWS being a PCI DSS Compliant Service Provider means that customers who use AWS products and services to store, process or transmit cardholder data can rely on our technology infrastructure as they manage their own PCI DSS compliance certification.

19
Q

How do I access the PCI DSS Compliance Package?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

The PCI DSS 3.2 Compliance Package can be downloaded now through AWS Artifact in the AWS Management Console. To download the package:

  1. Sign in to your AWS account.
  2. In the list of services under Security, Identity & Compliance, choose Artifact. On the next page, choose PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance (AOC) and Responsibility Summary – Current.
20
Q

Is Amazon Connect HIPAA eligible?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes Amazon Connect is HIPAA eligible. If you have an executed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS), you can now use Amazon Connect to handle contacts containing protected health information (PHI). HIPAA eligibility applies to all AWS Regions where Amazon Connect is available. For more information about HIPAA-eligible services on AWS, see our HIPAA Compliance page.

21
Q

Is Amazon Connect ISO compliant?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, Amazon Connect is now one of the AWS services under ISO Compliance for the ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 standards. AWS maintains certifications through extensive audits of its controls to ensure that information security risks that affect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of company and customer information are appropriately managed. You can download copies of the AWS ISO certificates and use them to jump-start your certification efforts: AWS ISO 9001 certificate, AWS ISO 27001 certificate, AWS ISO 27017 certificate, and AWS ISO 27018 certificate.

22
Q

Is Amazon Connect SOC compliant?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, Amazon Connect is compliant with SOC (System & Organization Control) measures. The results of these third-party audits are made available on the AWS SOC Compliance site, where auditors can view the published reports to get more information about the controls established to support AWS operations and compliance.

23
Q

How do I execute a Business Associate Agreement with Amazon Web Services?

Getting Started

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

If you don’t have an executed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS), please contact us and we will put you in touch with an AWS Business Representative.

24
Q

Are there limits to how large Amazon Connect can scale?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

With Amazon Connect, there is no infrastructure to deploy or manage allowing you to scale your contact center up or down as needed. You can quickly onboard tens of thousands of agents in response to business cycles and scale down without having to worry about seat licensing or minimum commitments. We do have default soft limits for new customers, however these limits are easily raised using the Amazon Connect service limits increase form.

25
Q

How do I add Amazon Connect users such as agents, managers, and operators?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can add users from Amazon Connect’s user management page and configure them with appropriate permissions for their role.

26
Q

Can I use an external directory like a Microsoft Active Directory to authenticate users when accessing Amazon Connect?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can configure Amazon Connect to authenticate users against your Microsoft Active Directory. The users you add in Amazon Connect must already exist in the directory.

27
Q

Do I have to use an external directory?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No. Amazon Connect can manage users, but note that they won’t be accessible or manageable outside of Amazon Connect’s user experience.

28
Q

Can I use my existing Amazon.com account with Amazon Connect?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No. You must have an Amazon Connect user account or AWS IAM account.

29
Q

Can I access Amazon Connect with an AWS IAM account?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Start by logging into the AWS Management Console and then choose Amazon Connect from the Services list. Choose the instance you want to launch. You’ll be federated in as a Amazon Connect user and will have all security privileges within your instance. The intent of federated users is to perform tasks such as initial setup or troubleshooting of configuration, not general use.

30
Q

What are the limitations of AWS IAM federated users in Amazon Connect?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You cannot apply permissions to federated IAM users. Federation is not recommended for typical Amazon Connect use cases. It’s recommended that nearly all users, including system operators, administrators, contact center managers, and agents, use an Amazon Connect account.

31
Q

I’m an end user. Where can I learn more about using Amazon Connect?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To learn more about Amazon Connect please see the User Guide.

32
Q

Does Amazon Connect support federated single sign-on (SSO) using SAML 2.0?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can use federated SSO using SAML2.0 with Amazon Connect. The feature is currently in preview, and you can request participation by applying here.

33
Q

How do I configure Amazon Connect to use federated SSO using SAML 2.0?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To start, you need to create a new Amazon Connect instance that uses SAML 2.0 as its directory type. Once this is done, grant permissions for your identity provider to access Amazon Connect using the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) console. Finally, configure your identity provider to allow Amazon Connect agents and managers to log into the SSO portal, and then click through to Amazon Connect.

34
Q

Which identity providers will work with Amazon Connect?

User Administration

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can enable federated access and controls via any SAML 2.0 compliant identity provider such as Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services, Okta, Ping Identity, and Shibboleth.

35
Q

How do I sign up for the Amazon Connect SAML 2.0 preview?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To request participation in the Amazon Connect SAML 2.0 preview, please apply here.

36
Q

How do end-customers interact with Amazon Connect?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect supports voice interactions for incoming and outgoing PSTN telephony (provided by AMCS LLC). It supports DTMF input, text-to-speech output using Amazon Polly, which can optionally be combined with Amazon Lex for natural language interactions.

37
Q

How do agents interact with Amazon Connect?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Agents use the Contact Control Panel (CCP) to control their interactions, such as answering calls, dialing out, or setting their status. For agent voice communications, Amazon Connect includes a web-based softphone for incoming and outgoing telephony, or agents can use a traditional telephone service using the PSTN.

38
Q

Does the softphone offer reliable, high quality voice communications?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, the Amazon Connect softphone leverages WebRTC and the Opus audio codec to enable high quality audio which is highly resilient to packet loss and jitter.

39
Q

Do I need to bring my own telephony provider to use Amazon Connect?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, Amazon Connect includes all the telecommunication infrastructure you need (provided by AMCS LLC). Just create an Amazon Connect instance and you can start taking and making calls. External telephony providers are not supported.

40
Q

Do I need to reserve or purchase telephony capacity with Amazon Connect?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, Amazon Connect is designed to scale to your telephony needs.

41
Q

Does Amazon Connect support porting for US phone numbers?

Communications and Telephony

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, we support porting for US telephone numbers. Please open an AWS support ticket to request number porting. For more information on our porting process, please see Porting a phone number.

42
Q

Can I request a number with a specific area code or prefix?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, please open an AWS support ticket to request a number with the area code or prefix you want. We will try to accommodate your request.

43
Q

What is a Contact flow?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect end-customer interactions are enabled via Contact flows. These are similar in concept to Interactive Voice Responder (IVR). Contact flows comprise blocks of functionality such as Play prompt, Branch on customer input, Invoke external functionality, Transfer to queue, Securely take customer sensitive information, or Terminate call. Contact flows determine the automated end-customer experience, and every contact that Amazon Connect handles is processed by at least one Contact flow.

44
Q

What can I do with a Contact flow?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect Contact flows are flexible and extensible. You can use them to play a prompt to a customer, ask a customer a question, make a call to an external data source (a “data dip”), branch to different paths within the Contact flow, and transfer an agent or another Contact flow.

45
Q

Are Contact flows complex?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Most Contact flows are short and straightforward to create or examine. However, you can also construct complex Contact flows to offer many branches and dynamically adapt the customer experience.

46
Q

Can I link Contact flows?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. By doing so you can create smaller, more manageable contacts flows and reuse the same Contact flow functions in multiple end-customer experiences. This provides consistency and allows easy updating from a single point.

47
Q

How do I edit Amazon Connect Contact flows?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Contact flows are based on a simple drag and drop graphical user interface (GUI) in the Amazon Connect console.

48
Q

Is there version control?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. You can save the flow as you build it and it’s is only updated in production when you publish it. You can revert to the most recent published version and also Save as to create a new flow built on a published Contact flow while maintaining the published one.

49
Q

Can Contact flows be imported or exported?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes contact flows can’t be imported or exported.

50
Q

Does Amazon Connect offer text-to-speech in Contact flows?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, Amazon Connect has built in text-to-speech leveraging Amazon Polly. You can access all the languages and voices offered by Amazon Polly.

51
Q

Can I customize the pronunciation of text-to-speech in Contact flows?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Simple Speech Markup Language (SSML) can be used within a Contact flow to allow customizability in what is said, and how it is pronounced.

52
Q

How does Amazon Connect work in regions where Amazon Polly is not available?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

In regions where Amazon Polly is not available, your text will be sent to Amazon Polly in a different region and returned as speech. This data is encrypted in transit. Note, this may also introduce some delay. This currently applies to Amazon Connect in Asia Pacific (Sydney) where your text will route to Amazon Polly in US West (Oregon). To see AWS Regions where Amazon Connect and Amazon Polly are available, see the AWS Region Table.

53
Q

Can I disable Amazon Connect from sending text requests to Amazon Polly in a different region?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can. To do this, you will need to record and upload your prompts instead of using text-to-speech.

54
Q

Does Amazon Connect support SSML for Amazon Lex chatbots?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, Amazon Connect supports using Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) when using an Amazon Lex chatbot in your contact center.

55
Q

How does Amazon Connect support for SSML work with Amazon Lex chatbots?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can modify the Amazon Lex chatbot voice by using SSML tags to customize and control aspects of speech, such as pronunciation, volume, and speech rate. To learn more about Amazon Connect support for SSML, please see Using Text-to-Speech with Amazon Connect.

56
Q

How do I use Amazon Lex chatbots with Amazon Connect?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Customer input received through Amazon Lex is enabled in the same Contact flow block (Get Customer Input), that is used to interact with customers using DTMF. Instead of expressing intent via a button press, customers use natural language, and Amazon Lex returns intents and slots to enable a natural interaction that can be personalized on a per-customer basis.

57
Q

How do I incorporate an Amazon Lex chatbot in my contact flows?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Open Amazon Connect management console and select the instance you want to edit from the Instance Alias list. Choose Contact flows in the left of your screen. To integrate Amazon Lex bots in your contact flows, click on the “+Add bot” link.

58
Q

Is Amazon Lex available in all AWS Regions where I can buy Amazon Connect?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No Amazon Lex is not available in all AWS Regions where I can buy Amazon Connect. In those regions where Amazon Lex is not available, you won’t be able to use Amazon Lex chatbots in your contact flows. For a list of the supported Amazon Lex AWS regions, please visit the AWS Region Table.

59
Q

How does contact flow logs work?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect now provides you with contact flow logs for real-time details about events in your contact flows. Contact flows are used to define the path a customer takes to resolve their issue. You can view the contact flow logs to understand what is happening during the interaction, and quickly identify areas for improvement in your contact center. To learn more please see Contact Flow Logs.

60
Q

How do I use contact flow logs?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To use contact flow logs, you need to enable them for your Amazon Connect instance. Once enabled, you can add a Set logging behavior block to your contact flow to enable or disable logging within a flow. You can enable contact flow logs when you create a new Amazon Connect instance when you configure Data storage settings. If you already have an Amazon Connect instance, you can enable them in your AWS console under Contact flows settings for your Amazon Connect instance. Once they are enabled, contact flow logs are created and stored on Amazon CloudWatch, a cloud monitoring service, in the same region as your Amazon Connect instance.

A log entry is added as each block or process in your contact flow is executed. You can configure Amazon CloudWatch to send alerts in real-time based on your custom criteria. Contact center managers can aggregate data from the contact flow logs to analyze the performance of contact flows to optimize the experience you provide for your customers. To learn more please see Contact Flow Import/Export.

61
Q

How much does it cost to use contact flow logs?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Contact flow logs do not incur additional Amazon Connect charges, and standard rates for Amazon CloudWatch service usage apply for ingestion and storage of the logs. Please see Amazon CloudWatch Pricing for more information.

62
Q

How does contact flow import/export (beta) work?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

When you export a contact flow, the most recently saved version of the flow you currently have open in the contact flow editor is exported as a UTF-8 encoded JSON document. Each block of your contact flow is included in the JSON document as a separate section. To import a contact flow, you just select the file and import it into the contact flow you have open in the contact flow editor. You can import a contact flow that you previously exported or one that was exported from a different Amazon Connect instance. When you import a contact flow, it must be of the same type as the contact flow you have open in the editor. To learn more please see Contact Flow Import/Export.

63
Q

How do I use contact flow import/export (beta)?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can export a contact flow by selecting Export flow from the contact flow editor drop-down in Amazon Connect. The most recent saved contact flow will download as a text file. You can then import a contact flow by selecting Import flow from the same contact flow editor drop-down and then selecting the contact flow export file you want to import. The contact flow will load the contact flow into the editor for review. To learn more please see Contact Flow Import/Export.

64
Q

How does outbound contact API work?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect allows you to automatically make calls to customers, using the outbound contact API. You can schedule automated calls for appointment reminders or notification calls in response to business events, such as credit card fraud.

65
Q

How do I use outbound contact API?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Enterprise applications like CRM systems can use the outbound contact API when triggered by an event, such as a service outage, to initiate an outbound call using a predetermined contact flow. The contact flow will determine if an agent interaction is required, or if the call is routed to an Amazon Lex chatbot.

66
Q

How do I sign up for the outbound contact API in the limited preview?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To request participation in the outbound contact limited preview, please apply here.

67
Q

How much does it cost to use outbound contact API?

Contact Flows

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Standard pricing for service usage and associated telephony rates apply for outbound contact API. Please see Amazon Connect Pricing for more information.

68
Q

Can Amazon Connect Contact flows dynamically adapt based on user input, end-customer history or other data or business intelligence?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Using AWS Lambda you have the flexibility to run code for virtually any type of application or backend service to make “data dips” into your existing systems and adjust the customer experience in real time.

69
Q

Does Amazon Connect support skills-based routing?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Contacts can be routed based on agent skills, availability, and the priority of the contact.

70
Q

How are required skills associated with a contact in Amazon Connect?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

A contact is put into a queue which represents which skills are required to service it.

71
Q

How does Amazon Connect determine which agents can handle a specific contact?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Agents are assigned to a Routing profile which includes the queues they have the skills to service.

72
Q

Can a Routing profile contain multiple queues?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. You can assign multiple queues to a Routing profile, so agents with multiple skills can service contacts with different requirements.

73
Q

Can a single queue be assigned to multiple Routing profiles?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Queues can be assigned to multiple Routing profiles when there are agents with multiple overlapping skill sets.

74
Q

Can some queues in a Routing profile be prioritized over other queues?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. You can configure a Routing profile so certain agents prioritize handling contacts from a specific queue, but can also handle contacts from queues if they don’t have any high priority queues to service. This enlarges the pool of agents, and also ensures that the higher priority queues are serviced.

75
Q

If two agents are available and have the same skill set, how does Amazon Connect determine which agent to send a contact to?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

The agent who has been available the longest receives the contact.

76
Q

Can I adjust the priority of contacts in queue?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. You can adjust priority of contacts in the queue using the Set routing priority block in an Amazon Connect Contact flow.

77
Q

Can an agent be assigned multiple Routing profiles?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, agents can only be assigned to a single Routing profile.

78
Q

Can I control which contact an agent gets when a queue is assigned to multiple routing profiles?

Skills-based Routing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

There are multiple options within routing profiles (e.g., Priority, Delay) to fine-tune the logic that determines which contact an agent will get.

79
Q

What are the benefits of Routing profiles?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Routing profiles streamline operations and ensure that agents are treated equally. By assigning the same Routing profile to a group of agents, you can ensure they are all configured in the same way. Changes to a Routing profile affects all agents assigned to that Routing profile. This supports scalability and quick adaptation to real-world situations.

80
Q

What type of metrics reporting does Amazon Connect support?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect offers three metrics experiences:

  1. Historical metrics reports: Generate reports to analyze how your contact center has performed over a specified period of time. You can generate granular or aggregated reports pivoted on queues, individual agents, and phone numbers.
  2. Real-time metrics reports: Gain insight into how your contact center is performing in real time. You can see reports pivoted on queues, agents, and routing profiles
  3. Contact search: View highly detailed individual contact reports with the option to find and play back call recordings.
81
Q

Does Amazon Connect support a wide variety metrics?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, Amazon Connect supports nearly 100 individual metrics across the different report types. You can find a detailed list in the Amazon Connect documentation.

82
Q

Can I save reports in Amazon Connect to be accessed later?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, Historical and Real-time metrics reports can be saved so you can load them later.

83
Q

Can I share reports within my organization?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, reports can be published for all metrics users to access.

84
Q

Can I export my metrics?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can export reports to the S3 bucket of your choice in comma separated value (CSV) format. This enables broad compatibility across other analytics and WFM tools.

85
Q

Are my exported metrics encrypted?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Encryption is enabled by default for all saved reports using Amazon S3 server-side encryption with KMS. Disabling encryption is not recommended.

86
Q

Can I schedule reports to run and be exported at specific times?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can schedule reports run hourly, daily, and monthly. The output will be stored in S3.

87
Q

Can I stream my contact metrics in real-time so I can store and analyze them in a data warehouse I choose?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can stream Amazon Connect metrics using Amazon Kinesis Streams or Amazon Kinesis Firehose to any supported data repository. You can learn more about Amazon Kinesis here.

88
Q

Can I create a dashboard to view the metrics I’ve defined?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can use the comprehensive dashboard to define and monitor the service levels and agent occupancy performance indicators that are most important to you. You can configure the dashboard so that the metrics you care about are always visible. You can configure your dashboard from the home page of your Amazon Connect contact center instance.

89
Q

What is an Amazon Connect dashboard?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

The Amazon Connect dashboard tracks real-time performance so that you can quickly monitor the overall health of your contact center. The dashboard provides visibility into important information, which helps you deliver a better customer support experience, and improve the utilization of your agents.

90
Q

How do I configure my Amazon Connect dashboard?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Click the Configure dashboard button to see options for configuring your dashboard. You can change the time range of the dashboard, filter the list of queues, and select the Service Level (SL) metric you want to monitor. You can also fine-tune the performance indicator colors for service level and occupancy metrics.

91
Q

Can I save my Amazon Connect dashboard?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can. Configure the dashboard to fit your needs, and click on the down arrow next to the Configure button. From the menu, select Save and name your dashboard. You can access saved dashboards from the Saved Reports page.

92
Q

How do I hide the configuration guide so that I only see the dashboard?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To hide the configuration guide, click the Hide the guide link above the Configuration guide.

93
Q

Is there a report to view when agents log in and log out of Amazon Connect?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, you can now easily view the time stamps and duration for when agents log in and log out of Amazon Connect with the new Login/Logout report. To learn more about the Amazon Connect Login/Logout report, please see the User Guide.

94
Q

How do I generate the Login/Logout report in Amazon Connect?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

To generate a Login/Logout report, open the Amazon Connect dashboard, select Metrics and Quality, and then choose Login/Logout report.

95
Q

How does agent event stream work?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can enable agent event stream to work in Amazon Connect under the Data streaming settings. After you configure your Amazon Kinesis stream, activities will publish every time an agent logs in, logs out, answers a call, or changes their status. To learn more please see Agent Event Streams.

96
Q

What does an agent event stream look like?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Each defined agent event is sent to the Amazon Connect agent event stream as a section in a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format document. The section for each event includes various fields about an agent and the event. To learn more please see Agent Event Streams.

97
Q

Is agent event stream different from my existing Amazon Kinesis stream for contact trace records?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, the Amazon Connect agent event stream is a new, separate Kinesis stream.

98
Q

How much does it cost to use agent event streams?

Metrics and Reporting

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Agent event streams do not incur additional Amazon Connect charges. You may incur charges for Amazon Kinesis usage. Please see Amazon Kinesis Pricing for more information.

99
Q

How long is my historical data accessible within the Amazon Connect application?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect retains contact trace records (CTR), historical metrics data, and agent performance data within the application for 2 years. You can retain this data for longer than 2 years by leveraging a Kinesis Stream to stream your contact trace records to a data warehouse of your choice, such as Amazon Redshift. You can also schedule reports to run regularly and save them to an S3 bucket. Call recordings are stored in your Amazon S3 bucket, and you maintain full control over their retention.

100
Q

Does Amazon Connect support call recordings?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Amazon Connect enables you to store call recordings of customer interactions in Amazon S3. Interactions are not recorded unless an agent is connected. If multiple agents are connected, each will have an associated call recording.

101
Q

What options for call recording does Amazon Connect support?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Call recording is disabled by default, you can enable call recordings of agent / customer interactions, capturing the agent only, customer only, or both the agent and customer. Contact flow interactions are only recorded if an agent is listening to the call as well.

102
Q

Are agents and customers stored on separate, stereo audio channels?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes, the agent audio is stored in the right channel. All incoming audio, including the end-customer and any one conferenced in are stored in the left channel.

103
Q

How do I configure call recording settings in Amazon Connect?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can configure call recording settings in the Set call recording behavior Contact flow block.

104
Q

How do I find and play back call recordings?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

You can find individual contacts using the Contact search experience in Amazon Connect metrics. If a call recording is available, and you have the required permissions, you can play it back.

105
Q

Do I have open access to my call recordings outside of Amazon Connect?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Call recordings are stored in the S3 bucket of your choice enabling access by any user or application with the appropriate permissions.

106
Q

Are call recordings encrypted?

Call Recording and Manager Listen In

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Encryption is enabled by default for all call recordings using Amazon S3 server-side encryption with KMS. Disabling encryption is not recommended.

107
Q

How do I manage my call recordings lifecycle?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Lifecycle management of call recordings should be done using Amazon S3’s lifecycle management tools.

108
Q

Does Amazon Connect work with other AWS services?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Amazon Connect integrates with several AWS services to provide a richer depth of capabilities and customization, including:

  • Amazon Connect can leverage AWS Directory Services for identity and access management.
  • Amazon Connect stores any call recordings and exported metrics reports in Amazon S3 buckets you own and control the lifecycle management of.
  • Amazon Connect can use AWS Lambda to enable data dips, send encrypted customer input and other external integration in Contact flows.
  • Amazon Connect can stream metrics data to Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, or external data warehouse solutions with Amazon Kinesis.
  • Amazon Connect can encrypt contact center related data, such as call recordings and reports, with encryption keys stored with Amazon Key Management Service.
  • Amazon Connect leverages Amazon Lex for Natural Language Understanding in Contact flows.
  • Amazon Connect uses Amazon CloudWatch for operational metrics and alarms
109
Q

Does Amazon Connect integrate with my existing or other third party systems?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes Amazon Connect is an open platform so it is easy to integrate with existing or other third party systems. Amazon Connect provides out-of-the-box integrations with many popular tools such as customer relationship management (CRM), Workforce Management (WFM), and Analytics tools.

You can also use Amazon Connect with other AWS services like Amazon S3 and AWS Lambda for storing recorded calls or streaming detailed contact records in real-time to a data warehouse to merge with business intelligence systems for further analysis. Amazon Connect provides an API so you can customize the solution to your needs.

110
Q

Does the Amazon Connect contact control panel (CCP) support the ability to open a specific customer page based on the incoming call data with a CRM?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. The CCP supports an integration library to enable this with leading CRM tools or your own application.

111
Q

Does the Amazon Connect contact control panel (CCP) support click-to-call, the ability to click on a phone number to dial it with a CRM?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. The CCP supports an integration library to enable this with leading CRM tools or your own application.

112
Q

Can I export data from Amazon Connect to third party analytics/reporting packages?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

With Amazon Connect you own your data so you can leverage it in the ways that best suit your business, including exporting it to third-party applications and services. Detailed contact data can be exported to data warehouses and Amazon S3 in real time, via Amazon Kinesis Streams or Amazon Kinesis Firehose, and agent and contact data can be exported via automatically at regular intervals.

113
Q

Is there an advantage to leveraging additional AWS Services as opposed to proprietary solutions that are built specifically for a call center?

Ecosystem and Integrations

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. AWS has a history of rapid innovation and improving services. For example, using services like Amazon S3 directly for call recordings means that the service is well-documented, has the support of the AWS ecosystem of ISV and consulting partners making it easy to find experts to help if you need it, and you get access to new features (for example lifecycle management tools), as soon as they are released.

114
Q

Is there a network of consulting partners should I need their help?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. A set of APN Consulting Partners with knowledge in both AWS and Contact Center Services have been validated by the AWS team to help you with the configuration and implementation of Amazon Connect. The APN Consulting Partners include Accenture, Aria Solutions, Cognizant, Coolharbour, Perficient, Presidio, Tata Consultancy Services, USAN, and Voicefoundry. Please check back for updates as additional partners are validated.

115
Q

How much does it cost to use Amazon Connect?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

With Amazon Connect, you only pay for what you use. There is a per minute charge for the Amazon Connect service. In addition to the charge for the service, there are also associated telecom charges for public switched telephone network (PSTN) usage. These charges are referred to as “Contact Center Telecommunications” charges on your AWS invoice.

Contact Center Telecommunications usage is charged by AMCS LLC and includes the following:

• Telephone numbers that are billed by day, per country, including:

o Direct Inward Dial (DID), also known as local or toll numbers

o Toll free numbers

• Telephony usage that is billed per minute, rates vary per country:

o Inbound to DID number

o Inbound to toll free

o Outbound calling (to either a customer or agent)

Please consult the Amazon Connect pricing page for the latest prices.

116
Q

How are usage charges calculated?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

The Amazon Connect application charge is calculated based on customer contact duration, with a 10-second minimum and per second granularity.

For example, if there is an inbound call to your Amazon Connect phone number and the caller is on the line between 18:00:03 and 18:01:09 whether or not connected to your contact center agent, the application charge will be 1.1 minutes multiplied by the published per minute rate.

The Contact Center Telecommunications charge is calculated based on the aggregate telecom minutes, rounded up to the nearest minute. For example, if a customer calls your Amazon Connect phone number and is on the line for 10 seconds before hanging up, you will be charged for 1 minute of Contact Center Telecommunications. If your agent is configured to receive their calls through PSTN, and your Amazon Connect instance receives an inbound call from a customer with a duration of 2 minutes and 50 seconds, of which 1 minute and 5 seconds were spent with the agent connected, you will be billed for 3 minutes of inbound usage and 2 minutes of outbound telecom usage, as the Amazon Connect instance placed an outbound PSTN call to your agent (rates vary based on the origination/destination of the calls). You are also charged for Contact Center Telecommunications when your agents place outbound calls to customers.

117
Q

Is there a minimum usage amount per month?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

There is no minimum usage amount per month, you only pay for what you use for that month.

118
Q

Are there any charges for agents or managers or other users of the Amazon Connect service?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Amazon Connect charges are based on your end-customer’s use of the system, and when agents place outbound calls.

119
Q

Are there any charges for API access to the system?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, there are no charges for API access.

120
Q

Are there any charges for Contact flow or IVR usage?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, there are no charges for Contact flow or IVR usage. You are, however, charged at the normal rate for any other AWS services which you might use in the IVR, including AWS Lambda and Amazon Lex.

121
Q

Are there any charges for text to speech with Contact flow or IVR usage?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, there are no other charges for text to speech with Contact flow or IVR usage.

122
Q

Are there any charges for call recordings usage?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, there are no charges for call regardings. However, you are be charged for the storage capacity you use, whether it is Amazon S3 or any other AWS storage service, to store your call recordings.

123
Q

Are there any charges for telecom trunk provisioning or capacity?

Billing

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

No, you pay only for what you use as you use it.

124
Q

Do your prices include taxes?

Support

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Unless noted, Amazon Connect prices do not include applicable taxes and duties. For more information, please visit AWS Tax Help.

125
Q

Does Amazon Connect support auditing of configuration changes?

Support

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. You can see your configuration change history by choosing View historical changes from the bottom of most routing and user configuration pages.

126
Q

What tools can I use to monitor and set alarms for Amazon Connect operational metrics?

Support

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Key operational metrics, queue utilization and concurrent calls, are written to Amazon CloudWatch to enable monitoring and alarms. See the Amazon Connect documentation for details about which metrics are available in CloudWatch. For more information about Amazon CloudWatch, see the Amazon CloudWatch.

127
Q

Does Amazon Connect’s default configuration have service limits?

Support

Amazon Connect | Customer Engagement

A

Yes. Amazon Connect uses service limits in order to ensure the stability of the overall platform and prevent customers from incurring unexpected costs. The default service limits are set to allow customers to run a medium sized contact center. The limits can be raised upon request to accommodate any sized contact center. The technology that powers Amazon Connect has been proven to scale with the needs of Amazon’s award winning customer service, with tens of thousands of agents using it at peak times of the year.

You can learn more at AWS Service Limits.

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