Powerful Amazon Connect Call Back from Queue Configuration Strategies!

The Amazon Connect Call Back from Queue Dilemma!

Assume you have a call center that follows the sun from coast to coast!  You team starts in NY at 7AM EST and ends in California at 7PM PST.    You offer call back options to callers waiting to speak with an agent.   A caller enters the queue at about 6PM PST and leaves a request of a call back when an agent becomes available.   The call center closes at 7PM PST but the call was not yet handled by your contact center.  The next morning, at 7AM,  Agents start the new day and the first call presented to an Agent is from the call back queue, the call left over from last night.  The outbound call is dialed, and your Agent is now speaking to a very angry Customer in San Francisco where the time is no 4AM PST!

The Call Back Queue Problem

Once a caller is sent to the call back queue, there is nothing you can do about this!   Let’s look at some options that we might apply to better control this call back activity:

Call Back From Queue Configuration Options

First, let’s create a switch to turn off call back requests during times outside a 10AM-4PM window.    This is a simple “check hours of operation” step in your queue hold flow.  Check the current time, and if it is outside the window, your contact flow will not offer the  call back option to callers.    This will keep callers from being left in the call back queue over night at the end of the working day.

Optionally, we can still offer the call back, but use the time window to determine if we should route the caller to the call back queue.  We can still offer the call back, but if check the time and find it is outside of the window, we do NOT want to send the caller to the call back queue.  Remember once the caller is in the call back queue, we lose control of the call back!   Using Lambda and DynamoDB, we can write the callers request to a call back list for later processing,  rather than putting them in the call back queue.    We can then develop a watch dog timer, that scans the call back list and when the call back window reopens, we can stuff the caller request into the call back queue.

These options will offer a greater degree of control over the call back process, but what about that San Francisco caller?  How do we make sure we are not calling folks back in the wee hours of the morning?   We need to add additional logic to our function and additional attributes to our database items.   We can look at the area code of the caller requesting the call back, then compare the area code to a time zone map.

 

How can we improve these configuration options?

Clearly you can ask the caller what time they would like to be called back.  That would work and can be an additional attribute in your database items.  You would still use the above configuration options, but also take note of the time range the caller wants to be called back.

Check for existing call back requests!

Your call back configuration should also check to see if this caller has already made a request to be called back?  If you run a call center,  you know folks call in and request a call back, hang up, wait a few minutes and then call right back in and impatiently request another call back as if that might speed up the process.   We need to check our database of call backs and make sure this caller is not already subscribed to a call back request.

Check the caller’s phone number?

After requesting a call back, your configuration should note “I see you are calling from 1-844-4DrVoIP, is that the number you want us to call you back at”?    We can then confirm that number, or ask them to answer another number.

How to get to an Extension number?

The standard call back strategy is to dial the number and hope the target caller is reached.  Unfortunately, more times than not, a receptionist or voice mail IVR answers and wants to know how to complete your call.   Your configuration may need to not only ask for the number to call back on, but an extension number of name of an individual to ask for when the call back is dialed and answered by other than the person who requested the call back!

These are simple but powerful ways of taking the Amazon Connect call back engine and adding features and functionality to achieve a level of control over the call back function.  They distinguish a call center configured with little though to the call back strategy form a call center configured to maximize customer interaction success!

If you would like some help configuring these options, give us a call at 844-4DrVoIP or email and we would be eager to help you! – DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com

 

 

What exactly is a Contact Trace Record?

Exactly what  is a CTR?

Amazon Connect creates a “contact trace record” with a unique “contact ID” for each phone call in or out of the contact center.   Older legacy telephone folks would call this a SMDR or CDR (station message detail record or call detail record) but Amazon calls it a CTR.  The end result is the same, it is a record of the details of every call made or received into the system.    From within Amazon Connect you can search for these contact records through the dashboard in 14 day increments and review the details of each record.   Amazon keeps the CTRs for 24 months in a secret location that you can not access and for which no API currently exists!    You have two options:  First, search for them using the dashboard in 14 day increments  or setup a kinesis stream and a consumer to send CTR records to an S3 bucket or some other data lake for later review.   The basic CTR is ugly but it does have a great deal of useful data and all the more reason to make it more easily accessible!  Even if you were to save the CTR records you would then need to write a custom report generator to take this data and make it human readable to fit your reporting goals!

Dextr has an Activity screen that captures all of this information and makes it available in human readable format!

 

 

Dextr has a new Agent Performance Widget!

The Dextr agent dashboard for Amazon Connect has always had a real time metric display on its home screen.  The screen provides real time updates on queue related metrics.  An agent typically sees the performance of the team they are a member of while a supervisor can have a global view of all queue metrics.   If you are a member of multiple customer service queues, you can select which ones to display and monitor.  Dextr also provide a “live look” feature that showed calls in queue by caller ID and queue.

 

Dextr has released a new “widget” for the dashboard that now display Agent performance metrics.   This widget displays all of the metrics necessary for a supervisor to establish agent performance governance.  From individual call counts handled, through average talk times, handling times and a full range of statistics by agent.   All available on the same dashboard screen as the queue metrics providing a single pane of glass solution for even the most demanding contact center supervisor.

 

Dextr can be added to your existing Amazon Connect Contact Center instance in about 15 minutes.   If you do not have an Amazon Connect instance we can build you a state of the art inbound contact center complete with optional direct inward dialing, queue based voice mail, text messaging, email routing and chat.  We deploy globally and we deploy virtually, so do not hesitate to call us for Amazon Connect design, deployment and ongoing support.  Dextr is a subscription service with a cost of $1 a per day per agent and is available in all AWS regions that support Amazon Connect.  Dextr is setup on a “simultaneous agent” access and is not a named license!   – DrVoIP@Dextr.cloud

Amazon Connect – Can Agents log in and out of individual Queues?

Agents in Multiple Queues

One of the more requested features among call center managers is to freely move Agents in and out of customer service queues!   In Amazon Connect, routing profiles associate agents with queues.  If Agent Gandalf DeGrey is a member of the Technical Support team and also a member of the Customer Service team he would most likely belong to a call profile aptly named “TechSupport&CustomerService” (Voice and Chat).

Queue Priority

Call Profiles not only associate the agent with the queues that they engage customers through, but they also enable you to set the priority of each queue.  If Gandalf is able to server both queues and both queues have callers waiting for an Agent, which caller will Gandalf be presented with when he again becomes Available?   The answer to this is based on the priority established in the routing profile for each queue in the profile.   It may be that Gandalf is particularly skilled in the area of Technical Support and it has been determined that he should answer these call request first and only handle customer service calls when the Tech Support queue is empty.   This is handled by configure the routing profile in such a way as to favor technical support callers.

Call Profile or User settings determine Priority?

So do we set the priority based on the user or in the routing profile?   The fact is that the call routing profile determines the priority of calls processed by the users configured in that call profile.  This is a powerful tool that enables a great deal of options in the configuration of call handling goals.   Contact centers are living dynamic  entities that change the level of demand by the hour, the day of the week and external events of the day!  There is not a staff for-casting solution that can cover the impact of the days events on a call center.  For that reason, we need a way to dynamically reconfigure our work force to meet the demands of the day.

Can you move an Agent between Queues?

We created the Dextr dashboard feature set to enable options that most call center managers demand.  Being able to move an agent between queues to reconfigure the call center to meet the demands of the day is most certainly an essential management tool!   The Dextr dashboard for Amazon Connect enables you to quickly reconfigure your agent pools easily with a few key strokes by those with the required permissions.    The Dextr dashboard has a user management TAB and enables you to easily move users between queues!

Creating Matching routing profiles

In this example, Gandalf  is in the “TechSupport&CustomerService” (Voice and Chat) profile that enables him to handle calls for both Technical Support and Customer Service.  Events of the day are such that we need Gandalf to service only Technical Support callers.  To enable this, there would be a Technical Support call profile that only serves callers to that queue.  Agents that are assigned to this call profile will be fully dedicated to the Technical Support Queue.

To effect this change, click the User TAB and select the agent management wants to reconfigure.

 

 

Then select the the call profile you want to assign that agent to and save your change.

 

The DexterDashboard enables the call centers most required features available to Contact Center supervisors.   Head over to https://DexterDashboard.com and sign up for a free trial of 15000 minutes of usage.  Try before you buy and pay only for what you use1   Tell them DrVoIP sent you!

 

 

Amazon Connect & Dextr now support Chat

Dextr Website Chat Integration

The ability to integrate your Company Website with your call center is a powerful customer experience management tool.  Being able to integrate your website with a ChatBot is even more powerful, but imagine the power of being able to escalate a chat session to a voice call!  Now that is a truly powerful customer engagement strategy and now a standard Amazon Connect Call Center feature.

Features of Amazon Connect Chat

The Chat functionality enables you to reuse the very same contact flows that you established for a voice call or you can create new contact flows that are chat specific.  This significantly reduces the deployment time.  A “Play prompt” step, for example, that would normally be spoken to a caller, is now pushed out as a chat message.   Chats are persistent and given the asynchronous nature of these interactions, responses can be anytime over a 25 hour period.    Let us assume you have a chat session with a client who asks a question about your product or service and the agent asks a follow  up question to clarify the customers enquiry.  Maybe the customer has to go find the answer form another team member and does not reply for an hour.   The Agent might disconnect, but if the customer continues the chat session later, a new session will be created with the entire chat history  and transfered to a new agent.  It is possible also to send the chat back to the same agent, but assuming that agent is no longer available, the entire chat history is made available to a new agent.

 

The Dextr Dashboard implementation

Dextr now includes the Chat engagement option as part of its standard desktop agent offering and the Engage tab now shows Phone, SMS, Email and Chat!   Dextr also adds Chat to its activity screen adding a new icon and a READ button.  The Activity page now notes the chat details including the appropriate metrics.  A supervisor or agent with the proper permissions can also bring back the entire chat history, by hitting the READ button, in a manner similar to how Dextr brings back a recorded phone call!

Dextr is a subscription based portal in which, if you have an existing Amazon Connect call center, you can be driving a Dextr dashboard in less than 15 minutes!   If you don’t have a Dextr dashboard, we will be happy to create one for you!  Ask DrVoIP about our Dextr Contact Center Managed Service Solution in which we provide an  Amazon Connect Call Center for your enterprise, with no money down, no contracts and pay only for what you use!   We take care of everything from deign, through setup, training, “go live”, on going technical support and a Dextr Dashboard for every agent at a nominal per connected minute, exclusive of telephone carrier charges!   DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com

 

 

 

 

Amazon Connect – A Voice Mail Solution!

What no Voice Mail?

One of the surprises you get when working with Amazon Connect is the fact that, out of the box, there is no voice messaging capability.   However, given the rich library of services available in the AWS ecosystem, you can most certainly configure a solution that will get the job done!    Amazon Connect has built in recording capabilities and both logs and recordings are saved in an S3 bucket, so it would seem that the basic ingredients are there for configuring a voice messaging function.   Lets take a look at several different ways of implementing this functionality without breaking the bank in professional software development services!

Option 1 – High Voice Message Feature Content with Transcription, Email and SMS delivery options

This Voice Mail service is built on several AWS services but is rich in features and functionality:

  • Each Agent will have their own Extension number
    • This enables folks to leave a voice message for a particular Agent;
  • Voice Messages can be Transcribed and Encrypted;
  • Voice messages can be emailed or sent as an SMS (Text) message;
  • We create a Web Interface to administer voice mail options (i.e. set agent extension number, delivery options

There is an additional AWS cost as the solution will make use of Lambda Functions, DynamoDB, SES, SNS, Cognito and CloudFormation AWS Service options.   Amazon estimates that this will have a cost of approximately .03 cents per voice message.

We offer several configuration Options:

  1. A separate phone number that is used for this function exclusively.   Caller dials the VM number and is asked to enter the extension number of the Agent (we could also create a spell by name option).  The system will then attempt to send the call to the Agent and failing to connect with the Agent, the system will take a voice message for that agent and deliver it based on the options set by the administrator.  Delivery options are email or SMS.  The message can be sent as a WAV file or it can be transcribed to text.
  2. Continue to use your normal call flow and set one agent (or create a fake agent) to accept messages for the Queue they are a part of.  During the period in which the caller is holding in queue for the next available agent, as they might now do, they are offered the usual options, expect we replace the option to leave a voice message that you currently now transfer out of the system, to the agent nominated for queue mail.  Clearly the email address could also be an email address of a distribution group so the message goes to many others.
  3. LEX speech recognition “dial by name”.  The problem with extension numbers, is that callers will need to know them or you will  have to create a directory system.   Enabling “thanks for calling I can route your call in you speak the name of a team member or a function like sales” is way more impressive and provides a much better customer experience.

We offer a flat fee deployment option of $395  ($595 with dial by name option) to existing clients.    We will need AWS Management User Access with a User that has System Administration permissions as we have to access all of the AWS service above to configure the solution.

Option 2 Cheap and Quick: The Basic Recipe

We configure a Voice Messaging solution for call center queues very easily using the following formula:

1 – First Create a Queue with a creative name like Voice Messages!

2 – Second Create a Customer Whisper Function to act as the front end greeting for your voice mail box.

The Whisper function is going to provide your mailbox greeting and even the Beep!  This Whisper, set to play to the customer (rather than the agent) is played to the caller as they are connected to the Agent user.

3 – Third Create a User with an appropriate name like VoiceMail-Sales.

We want the user to be assigned a routing profile that contains only the VoiceMail Queue!  Also note that the User MUST be set to Auto-answer as this is the key to making this work the way we want it to work!

4 – Lastly, create a contact flow to integrate the above into a simple, but workable voice messaging system.

 

The contact flow can be very simple or you can make it a more complex by adding options like return to main menu!  The goal  however is to offer the option to leave a voice message or route a caller to voice mail if the caller arrives after hours.  Nothing to sophisticated here.   We set the Recording behavior to record both the caller and the agent.  We then set the Whisper flow, the Queue and then transfer the caller to the queue.  The queue will contain only one User in this example, but if you anticipate a lot of traffic, you could actually create multiple users with the same basic configuration essentially creating multiple voice mail boxes.   You can also create different users and voice message queues to accommodate various different queues.

The caller will be transferred to the VoiceMessage Queue which will then select the only User in that Queue, who is logged on and available.  This user was setup was setup with “auto-answer” so the behavior is to answer the call, play the Whisper to the caller as they connect to the Agent.  The Whisper contains the prompt “Sorry we are not here to answer your call but at the Beep please leave your voice message and we will follow up first thing next business day.  BEEP”.

The caller will then speak to the “agent” and the conversation will be recorded and saved to your designated S3 bucket!

Retrieving Voice Messages

The basic tools available to you  for retrieving your voice messages require a minimum permission of Call CenterQuality Analyst or Manager, as you may not want to make users Administrators!  Just log into the Amazon Connect dashboard and head over to Metrics and Quality and then select Contact Search.  Here you can set up a number of filters. For example we can search for the VoiceMail Agent configured above and also set the date range of interest, typically Yesterday!   This will bring up all the contacts handled by that agent and you can then hit the playback button under the Recording column.

Variations on a Theme

One of the user interfaces that makes this strategy a bit more useable is to use the Dextr.Cloud Dashboard.  The Dextr dashboard has an Activity screen that enables a Supervisor or Agent with the proper permission, to sort by Agent.  Then the playback button is right in the Dextr dashboard and there is no need to sign into the Amazon Connect dashboard to play back recordings.

Summary

We are struggling to find things we can’t do in an Amazon Connect contact center instance!   The rich library of AWS services makes it possible to solve any call center goal you might development you might define as a requirement. If you can imagine it you can make it happen!  Then again, you can always call on us and we can do it for you! – DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com

 

 

 

Amazon Connect – Is today a Holiday?

Is Today A Holiday?

Having deployed hundreds of CISCO UCCX and ShoreTel ECC and other Contact Centers, checking to see if today is a holiday seemed to be the “minimum daily adult requirement” for contact center management.  In fact one of the most popular scripts on the net for CISCO UCCX was named “HolidayCheck”!    In fact we used this script to provide an XML tutorial  on the DrVoIP YouTube channel.  Checking a list of holidays to deal with periodic contact center closings is usually a standard feature in most call center applications and telephone systems.

Amazon Connect, however, does not provide a “holiday check” out of the box!   If you want one, like many other features in Amazon Connect you are going to have to create it by writing your own function.  The good news is that the wealth of services in AWS makes this a very simple task using nothing more than a Lambda function!

Contact Flow – Invoke Lambda

An Amazon Connect contact flow would do the normal “check hours” to figure out if the caller was hitting the system during “on hours” or “off hours”.  If the call arrived during normal business hours, then the next step would be to check and see if today was a holiday.    The contact flow adds a simple “invokeLambda” function to make this determination. To simplify the lambda function, we include the list of holiday’s as an object array within the environmental variables.

We determined to create a simple lambda holiday check function using the fewest lines of Node.js code as possible!  In fact there is no need to invoke the function by passing in a date.  You simply invoke lambda and it uses the javascript date() function to parse through your list of holidays comparing todays date with the individual list items.   What we want returned is a simple “true” if today is in fact a “holiday”; or a “false” if today is not a holiday!  Very simple!   The branch step in your contact flow will be based on this simple boolean value returned from lambda.

Improving the function

Now that we know if “today is a holiday” we have the basics in place.   Improving the function has endless possibilities.  For example:

The basic function assumes a full day closure.  What about half days.

It would also be desirable to have an ability to play a custom audio prompt based on the specific holiday closure.

Clearly you can make the administrative interface much more acceptable to a call center supervisor while eliminating the need to let non-development professionals access the AWS Console.  In the basic function, updating the holiday schedule would require folks be able to access the lambda functions directly to update the environmental variables.    Creating an S3 bucket as a static website host, with a simple HTML interface to enable system administrators to update the holiday list from year to year would be an obvious improvement.   This option would open the door to allowing supervisors to close a queue for a team meeting.

Summary

Amazon Connect is an element of a very large ecosystem in which the available services enable you to create a contact center that can meet your wildest imagination!   If you can “see it”  you can make it happen!  Optionally, you can call on DrVoIP and we will make it happen for you!

The Lambda Function is available here.

The function is written in Node.js and is built out using the Serverless framework which you will need to make use of, to deploy the function in your own Amazon Portal:

First you have to configure an AWS CLI profile in order to deploy here is steps to configure it:
step 1: Open terminal
step 2: Execute command “aws configure –profile <profileName>” it will ask for input key id, access key, and region
Next here is steps to deploy service:
step 1: Open terminal
step 2: Get to project root directory
step 3: Execute command “serverless deploy –aws-profile <profileName>”

 

 

 

 

A Call Center for Cheap, Penny Pinching, Tightwads on a budget!

We Design, Deploy, Service and Customize Amazon Connect!

Since 2008 DrVoIP had been working  in the support of VoIP based call centers from CISCO, Avaya and Mitel/ShoreTel solutions.   Since 2017 we have focused exclusively on AWS services with a particular focus on ‘Amazon Connect” call centers.   From Recording and Voice Mail solutions, through Workforce Management and Voice analytics we have provided custom software  integrations on time, on budget and with the highest customer satisfaction scores.  Our references are public, verifiable and serve as a guide to our abilities and commitment to excellence.

We are not here to run up your professional service bill.  We are here to help you realize your call center vision an always work on a “fixed fee” basis.

We deploy “virtually” and “globally” so just click or call! – DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com

DrVoIP fixed cost deployment packages

  • Complete design, deployment and training base package includes:
    • Amazon Connect instance setup in customer AWS Account, with usage billing direct from AWS;
      •  Up to 10 inbound toll or DID numbers
        • DNIS direct to queue routing or 1 IVR DTMF Options Menu
      •  Up to  5 Customer Service Queues
      • English Language support (option for Spanish, French)
      • Unlimited Agents
        • We configure 5 Agents for your use as a template and you configure all the others you may want
      • Up to 5 Routing Profiles
        • Routing profiles bind Agents to the CSQ they are assigned to work in.
      • Voice Mail with Email and SMS delivery
      • Queue Hold  with options for “call back”, voice mail, transfer or continue to hold for Agent
      • Website Chat
        • a single queue connector that enables website visitor to “chat” with call center Agent
      • Dextr Dashboard integration
        • Dextr can provide email routing, text routing, real time and historical reporting
      • Fixed Price Deployment $2995
        • Larger call centers quickly quoted!
    • OPTION PACKAGES
      • Multiple Language support
      • DIAL by Extension
        • Each agent has faux Extension number that can be used for direct call to agent
      • Dial by Name
        • Speech Recognition enables caller to speak a name (i.e. Tom) or function (i.e. Sales)
      • CRM Integration
        • Standard Publish Connector for Salesforce, Zendesk, Freshdesk, ZoHo, ServiceNow and others
          • Functionality defined by the CRM provider and author of the connector
      • CHAT BOT
        • FAQ, or Data acquisition before escalation to a Call Center Agent.
  • Free Trial of Dextr Dashboard is included!

To order an Initial Basic Configuration package and receive a detailed planing guide click here .  Contact DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com or Better yet,  Call 800-946-6127 ask LEX for the the Doctor!

Amazon Connect Call Center build strategy

We offer qualified companies a no cost “Proof of Concept “ (POC) Amazon Call Center Instance built in our portal for your use and testing with your agents able to log in and take phone calls on a number we provide.  A POC can be set up within a few hours!  From the POC, we design and deploy a solution that meets your requirements in your Amazon Connect portal.  We make use of our discovery process and planning guides.   We also build our solutions with our own Agent dashboard, named Dextr.   Dextr  provides the core feature set  that all call center professionals expect including voice, text and email routing to the ‘next available agent’.   We can also provide outbound “auto campaign dialers” to increase agent productivity for notifications, recorded announcements and appointment reminders.

Your TCO is further reduced, when compared to the cost of the  software engineering or professional services required to obtain the same feature set as that available to Dextr subscribers.    Dextr is a UCaaS solution that front ends Amazon Connect Instances with a custom agent dashboard and supervisor display.  Any enterprise with an Amazon Connect instance can onboard themselves at https://Dextr.cloud.  We deploy “virtually” and “globally” so just click or call!

DrVoIP Amazon Connect for the Business Manager

  1. What makes up a Basic Amazon Connect Call Center?
  2. Amazon Connect Discover Questions for Call Center Planning
  3. Amazon Connect Planning Guide
  4. Amazon Connect Historical Reporting Options
  5. The ROI and TCO when using the Dextr Dashboard
  6. Amazon Connect Check List
  7. Amazon Reporting Elements
  8. Understanding Amazon Connect Billing
  9. Amazon Connect & Dextr.Cloud Agent Dashboard
  10. Three Minute Video Overview of the Dextr Dashboard for Amazon Connect 
  11. What are “soft limitations” on new accounts?
  12. Advanced Post Call Survey strategies 
  13. Speech Analytics now a standard part of Amazon Connect and Dextr!

DrVoIP Amazon Connect for the Technical Manager

  1. Amazon Connect Basic Configuration Tutorial
  2. Amazon Connect Custom integration Tools
  3. Amazon Connect Configuration “tips and tricks”
  4. Tech Tip – Understanding LEX BOT Versioning and Alias 
  5. Deep Call Back from Queue without losing your place in Queue 
  6. Simple, Cheap and useful Voice Mail Solution 
  7. Is Today a Holiday Check?
  8. Amazon Connect “Forced Release” Options 
  9. Amazon Connect building prompts with Polly
  10. Building Conversational LEX Solutions
  11. Amazon Connect Call Back from Queue Options
  12. Email Routing in Amazon Connect
  13. What are “Soft Limits”
  14. Building Custom CCP for CRM Integrations
  15. SMS Inbound request for call back 

DrVoIP YouTube Channel – Complete Amazon Connect Configuration training!

Amazon Connect Email Routing using Dextr.Cloud

The Dextr Dashboard for Amazon Connect Agents has added email routing to its existing voice and SMS/MMS channels.   Similar to a voice call, an incoming email message is routed to the next available in the queue assigned for email.   Dextr will collect emails, provide auto responders.   The email is “sticky” and the email conversation will stay with the first Agent to respond to the email until the conversation is ended.  Similar to the Dextr SMS channel, if the original agent is not available to handle the follow on conversations, the entire conversation will be forwarded to the next available agent.

Setup is easy, in the Channels tab of a Dextr user with Administrator permissions, simply enter the appropriate email user, password, imap and smtp host address!  Then configure the queue that should be the target of an inbound email along with the initial email auto responder and the end of conversation auto responder.  Multiple emails can be established and can point to different customer service queues!

Email setup and queue selection!

Agents can manage email and voice calls depending on the permissions and queue assignments.  Creating an email named CustomerCare@yourcompanyname.com can be routed to the customer service team.  Email is an asynchronous yet powerful customer tools and many folks prefer it to waiting on hold for the next available agent!  When an incoming email is routed to an available agent, they accept the mail exactly as they do a voice or sms call.   Opening the ENGAGE EMAIL tab displays the content of the incoming email.  As the email conversations ping pongs back and forth, the agent will see the entire email conversation in the ENGAGE portal.

The Agent will find the accepted email in the email client registered for that agent’s email box.   The agent will then respond to the email and Dextr will assure that the recipient of the email sees that it is from the address of the origitanl email TO: filed.   There is a button to END the conversation and when clicked, the final auto responder defined during the email channel setup, is sent to the author of the original incoming email.  (Those familiar with ShoreTel ECC routing will be very comfortable with this email implementation which has the additional benefit of being “sticky”.  If the agent who originally responded to the incoming email is unavailable, the entire email conversation is forwarded to the next available agent for follow up.

Dextr email routing is a bundled feature in your subscription and you should give it a try!  Price is what you pay, value is what you receive.   DrVoIP@DrVoiP.com

Amazon Connect Call Center Planning

Basic Amazon Connect Configuration  Overview

Creating an Amazon Connect cloud based call center is relatively easy for a non-technical business process manager to implement.  You do not have to be a software engineer to get a basic inbound call center operational in a remarkably short time, often less than an hour.   Setting up a basic inbound call center however, is generally not going to meet your over all call center functional requirements and you will need some software engineering assistance from not only experience call center professionals, but from engineers who are certified and experienced in all Amazon Web Services!  A Call Center will generally require some integration with CRM solutions, or databases that can provide custom routing based on customer historical interactions.     You may also want to replace old world phone trees or Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems with modern Chat Bot options!   Why “press 1 for this, or press 2 for that” when the natural language speech processing is available.

What Information do we need to setup our Call Center?

Generally a basic startup inbound call center deployment starts with a Call Flow Plan.   To help you better understand the concept of “Call flow”, lets walk through a basic Amazon Connect configuration:

  1. First you will need to create an Amazon Web Service Account.  This is very simple and though there is a free tier, you will need to put in a valid credit card to open the account.
  2. Once you create the account as the root owner, you will then need to go to IAM and create a user account that has permissions to create an Amazon Connect instance and also to access the various other services your call center may need.
  3. This new user should then login and find Amazon Connect and launch a new instance in the Region you want to make use of (i.e. US-East)
  4. Once the Instance is created you will do the following in this order:
  • Claim a Phone Number – You claim a number through Amazon and it can be either toll free, or a direct dial local number of your choice
  • Establish your Business Hours of Operation – When are you open and when are you closed?  Global or by Customer Service Queues
  • Create Customer Service Queues (CSQ) – Technical Support, Customer Service and Sales are typical examples
  • Create Prompts – What does a caller hear at each step through the call flow?  You can do these in TEXT format for conversion to speech and then later, when firm, record with human voice
  • Create Contact flows (Call Flows) – Answer Call, Play Prompt 1, Get caller input, route to caller choice, queue if no agent available. Here is a short video we created on the importance of good call flows.
  • Create Routing Profiles – Queues are placed in these profiles. Users are put in Queues together they determine who handles what callers
  • Create Users and assign them to Routing Profiles

This information will be the basic configuration required to build a very basic Inbound call center.  With this information complete, Agents will be able to log into the customer service queue they are assigned to handle.   You should be able to call your claimed number and be routed through your flow to an available agent.  If not agent is available, callers will queue and listen to the care prompts you have provided.   All this is captured in both real time metrics and historical reporting.

Moving from a Basic to an Intermediate Call Center

You basic call  center will have many additional requirements that will generally require a more experienced design and implementation engineer to become involved!  So lets revisit the items under step 4 above and look at the options that might exist beyond that basic configuration:

Claim a Phone number – Generally you will call forward your existing number to this new call center number.  Optionally, you can “port” or move your current number directly to Amazon.   More importantly, you will generally have more than one phone number.   Phone numbers generally terminate in either an IVR or directly into a CSQ.   Ideally if you can assign a phone number directly to a CSQ you can avoid prompting callers to select from a menu and this is always a better solution.   Why “Press 1” for Spanish, if you could publish a number that is always speaking Spanish.   If the Caller is going to be prompted by an IVR, the question is what does that menu of options include?  Someone has to write this out so that the various outputs can be mapped to required call flows.  The next question is should this be a “Press X” type of IVR or would a natural language speech interface be more appropriate?  What would you prefer to have your callers hear? “Please press 1 for sales and 2 for service” or “Thank you for calling, how can I direct your call”?   Amazon has a service named LEX (you may have heard of his sister Alexa) that can be added to replace or augment the old “Press” option menu!

Business Hours – Seems straight forward, you list out your work days and your closed days.   The real question is do all CSQ’s fall under the same time calendar? Or is Technical Support open on days and times when the Sales line might be closed?  If so you will need to create a business hours time/calendar for each CSQ in your deployment.   You might also want to create a business hours schedule for when we stop offering callers the call back option.  For example, we are open from 9-5 Monday through Friday.  However, at 4:30 we do not want customers holding for an Agent to be offered the option of a call back.  This would require a dedicated business hour schedule for that function.

Create CSQ’s – Clearly each queue has to have a unique personality, schedule and agent pool.  The call flow for each queue may be different.  Some options offered callers to Technical support may not be offered to callers to the Sales line!  Just create a list of queue names to become part of your call center call flow.

Create Prompts – Generally we encourage the creation of prompts to be among the first items on your “to do list”.  Thinking through the message your callers hear as they self navigate your call center can help you plan  your call flows more effectively.    Amazon offers a service that is build into Amazon Connect named Polly!  Polly is a “text to speech” engine and a great tool for developing prompts.  We prefer to use this solution until we debug your call center call flow and everyone agrees the prompts are exactly as required. Then, even though Polly has many excellent voices to choose from, you can then have these scripts professionally recorded.   We can help you with that as well!

Contact Flows – This is the basic blue print for how your call center works!   It is a series of building blocks that define the customer experience from the first incoming ring, until the last interaction and call termination.   Each Phone number that enters the call center needs to have a diagramed “call flow” that shows the various steps the caller is to navigate.  It might look something like:

  • Call is received after business hours and hears “You have reached us outside of our normal business hour M-F 5-9.  Please hold and we will transfer you to the message center”.
  • Caller is answered with prompt “thank you for calling, you call will be recorded for service improvement”;
  • Caller is routed to IVR Tree: “Please Press 1 for Sales and 2 for Service”
  • Caller that Presses 1:  Capture the Caller ID and use that to look up the caller in Salesforce.Com and then transfer the caller to the next Available Agent in the Sales CSQ along with the SalesForce screen pop.
  • Caller that Presses 2; Is transferred to another IVR menu: “Please Press 1 for new order, or press 2 to check the status of an existing order”.   Caller that Press 1 is sent to SalesNewOrders CSQ.  Caller who presses 2 is transferred to another IVR: Press 1 if you know your order number”

Clearly this would be better drawn as a “organizational chart” but we think you get the  basic requirements of a call flow.  When working in Amazon Connect your call flows will be graphically constructed and look something like this:

 

Create Routing  Profiles – Call profiles are used to match callers to a queue or a list of queues.   So a phone number might point to a contact flow that offers the caller a choice between Sales and Service.   Choosing Sales, for example will route the caller to a profile that contains a list of Sales Queues and priorities.  You might say route the caller to Sales and if they are not answered within 60 seconds route them to customer service priority queue for handling.  Call profiles enable the list of queues, the order of queues and the priority of queues for this reason.

Major Functional Feature Enhancements

It is rare to find a call center that does not have a requirement to integrate with a CRM package like Salesforce.com,  SugarCRM or EPIC.    Often enterprises will have a custom database on their internal network that contains customer specific information that can be used to assist in routing callers, or providing additional screen pops to agents.   Chat Bots are also becoming important in off loading typical requests to an automation process that speaks natural language!   Did you know that Amazon Web Services has a range of services that include transcription, language translation and language comprehend?  You can run your voice recordings through a transcribe utility that you can then “key word search” to help improve agent productivity.  Or run that same recording through a language translation service that can take input in one language and create out put in another language.  How about TEXT messaging and Email Options?    Not all customers want to call, some may want to send an email or text message to the next available agent.  The functionality of your call center is shaped only by your imagination!  If you can envision it, Amazon Connect can implement it!

Other Useful DrVoIP Amazon Connect Subject Matter Posts and FAQ page!

We have yet to find a Call Center requirement we could not implement with Amazon Connect and the every growing library of Amazon Web Service solutions!  If you can imagine it, we can implement it.   Let’s put our heads together and construct a call center that meets and exceeds your call center requirements!   Contact DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com, or Call 844-4-DrVoIP – and ask for the Doctor!