AWS Launches New Self-Service Tool for Live Chat, Releases More Innovations for Amazon Connect

AWS has expanded its Step by Step Guides solution so contact centers can design self-service experiences for customers in live chat.

Already, Amazon Connect customers can use the tool to build visual flows for agents, taking them down the ideal path to resolve customer queries.

Now, as announced at Enterprise Connect, users can use the same drag-and-drop design to create similarly "rich" experiences for customers in live chat – taking the agent out of the loop.

Those “rich experiences” fit into a sequence of pages built into the chat window, which the customer can flick through and interact with to solve their queries.

Plug-ins – including voice ID - support those experiences alongside first- and third-party system integrations, which allow contact centers to design unique guides, funnel data into back-end systems, and automate more customer journeys.

Those journeys may include onboarding, renewal, and even commerce experiences, which could benefit from a formulaic visual guide.

Meanwhile, Connect users can also leverage the tech to teach customers new skills.

However, conversational AI – which AWS offers via embedded Amazon Lex technology within Connect – is perhaps better placed for answering customer queries.

What Else Did AWS Announce at Enterprise Connect 2024?

Elsewhere at Enterprise Connect, AWS announced the general availability of three additional innovations:

1. Third-party application support for the Amazon Connect agent workspace.
2. Generative AI-powered post-contact summaries.
3. Automated agent performance evaluations.

The first allows contact centers to consolidate agent applications into a single interface so they can more easily switch between systems and solve customer queries faster.

CX Today reported on the preview of this application in November 2023. Back then, Steve Johnson, GM of AWS Enterprise Applications at Amazon, stated:

Our customers are excited to add homegrown and vendor-built applications, giving agents everything they need at their fingertips.

The second and third innovations stem from advancements within Amazon Connect Contact Lens, AWS’s conversational intelligence solution.