Amazon Connect “Tool Kit”

Building Tools for Amazon Connect Administration

Over the years I have come to learn that if the folks who develop products, especially technology solutions, actually installed the products they develop we would have better installation and administration tools!   For those who administer large call center solutions built on Amazon Connect you quickly learn that you wish they had though of (fill in your favorite ….).     Want to list open TASKS manipulate queues and routing profiles?   Set and Agent to Available?  The more you work with the solution from and administration perspective, your list of “must have” tools grows a list.  AWS has a SDK for Amazon Connect and you can develop these tools yourself so I determined to do so!

I created the tools as needed, one by one and then ultimately put them in a menu based access system, Using a simple S3 static website and REST API-gateway, lambda functions and the SDK the tools began to grow! I put the site behind Cognito as SSO for security.    I need a way to easily retrieve Agent ID’s, list out OPEN TASKS, manage routing profiles and easily create quick connects, delete quick connects and assign them!

Quick Connects are very useful speed dials for agents, queues and external telephone numbers but they are an actual pain in the head to administer.   You quickly learn that creating a quick connect and assigning a quick connect are entirely different tasks.  Quick connects are created in the Amazon Connect admin portal. The actual configuration is easy, but assigning the quick connects is twenty acts of vaudeville.  Quick connects are assigned by queue.  This means you have to open each queue, after you create the quick connect, and select the entry from a drop down list in the queue configuration interface.  Not a big deal in a small call center, but if you have hundreds of users and dozens of queues, it is a real pain in the head.

So the list of tools keeps growing!  Most recently I had to add the ability for Amazon Connect to originate an SMS message.  Using Pinpoint, you can route SMS messages through the chat channel, and an agent can respond to them, but there is no way for an Agent to originate an SMS message in the call center.  I then upgraded that tool to include sending an attachment, but as of this date, AWS does not have the ability to route an incoming SMS with an attachment, but it is a fast moving world at AWS, so stay tuned!

 

How can an Agent Originate an SMS message in Amazon Connect ! – Part 2 Routing the Return Message

SMS Return Message Routing

In part 1 of this blog we looked at three options that enable an Agent to make originate an SMS message:

  • Option 1 – User a TASK Template
  • Option 2 – Create an HTML Form (DrVoIP favors this approach)
  • Option 3 – Create an Email to SMS solution

The key flows in any of these solutions, is to write the Send_TO_Number, smsMessageContent, AgentID (extension number, login, username), and timeStamp to a dynamodb table when originating and outbound SMS.  This is possible with all three solutions, but we like option 2 the best.  Option 1, with all of its strangeness has the advantage of being an action taken within the contact center, making a historical record more practical.  The other two options, start outside the call center and the origination event is not noted for historical records in the out of box archive methodology of the Amazon Connect Instance.

Option 1 Task Template launches Contact Flow

The TASK solution gets the Origination SMS job done and works just fine.  The Contact Flow the TASK points to contains an invoke Lambda that sends the messageContent and phoneNumber on to Pinpoint SMS.  There is no real way however, to capture the Agent that initialized the Task.   We tried writing the phoneNumber and TaskID along with a timestamp to a dynamoDB table, then invoking another lambda to look up the phoneNumber it in an inbound contact flow, but it was just ugly and did not identify the agent that originated the outbound SMS.  You need someway to ID the Agent so you can “set working queue” by agent and get the incoming return message routed accordingly.   Given that custom fields (as of this blog) can not be passed as a contact attribute, there was not way to add the Agent ID to the Task Template.

Another major challenge is that the CHAT API used by SMS (and chat for that matter) does not, in general,  support Contact Attributes.   Let us assume you want to ask the customer to enter the order number so you can look up the status.  They might provide that number, but there is no way to extract that data and assign it to a Contact Attribute for further processing later in the contact flow.

Enter Option 2 (Static website to launch HTML form)

The benefit of popping an HTML form is that you can prompt the Agent to enter something to identify themselves.  This would enable you to invoke a lambda function to  write the phoneNumber, AgentId and timestamp and even the smsMessgeContent to a dynamoDB table for later processing.   That function would also include the SDK that enables you to find the agents unique ID and also route that to the database.  The entire DB item would include:

customerNumber – this would become the partition key in your dynamodb table;
smsMessageContent – the text of the outbound SMS message content;
agentID – obtained by using the Agent username and the SDK to get the agentId a unique value for each agent.
timeStamp – date and time of the item creation.

The inbound contact flow handler we could grab the Customer Number, invoke a lambda function to request the agentId so that the chat session (i.e. SMS) could be routed to the agent that originated the outbound message using the “Set Working Queue by Agent” step in the contact flow associated with the SMS number.  We would also invoke a lambda function to retrieve the smsMessageContent from the stored item and assign it to a contact attribute for later use.  (Developer Note: It would be possible to retrieve both the agentId and the smsMessageContent in one invocation, but parsing a JSON object in a contact flow is not worth the trouble, it is easier to make two invocations).

When the agent accepted the incoming chat, the ongoing back and forth of the chat transcript (i.e. SMS) would be captured and stored.   How would the agent know what the original outbound message contained?  We need a strategy for presenting that to the agent and adding it to the transcript for historical reporting, or additional processing by LENS etc.     Using the Agent whisper function, we would use the contact attribute created for smsMessageContent to satisfy this requirement.

This option, in our opinion, is the optimal solution for originating an outbound SMS message and routing the return message to the agent who created the message in the first instance.  It captures all the activity, makes it available to the agent and other features of the Amazon Connecct instance.

Enter option 3 Email to SMS

In this option we want to use email to launch the SMS handler using the configuration provided in Part 1.   The thinking here was to use SNS rather to trigger a Lambda rather than Invoking  Lambda from inside a contact flow triggered by the Chat API.  Do not connect the SMS phone number direct;y to the Instance.  We created two SMS handlers: one inbound Lambda to handle either an SMS that did not ordinate by an Agent.  it could also handle a return message originated by an Agent.

Email Outbound

Using the email client we were able to launch an outbound lambda that would be able to parse the message and write the From (i.e. Agent ID), Subject (i.e. target recipient phone number)and a times stamp  to a dynamoDB table.  No need to log the message content, we would pass all the variables off to the Pinpoint SMS number.

SMS Inbound

The inbound SMS triggered the lambda which would use the phone number to index the dynamoDB table and bring back the AgentId.  It might be necessary to use the AgentId to look up the Agent Name or ARN, but the result was much cleaner and seemed to work just fine!   With the AgentId we were  If there was no matching number in the database then the message was treated as a new incoming SMS and routed to the default workgroup set in the contact flow.

TTL

We needed a ‘garbage collector’ that could go into Dynamodb and clean out any entries that had a time stamp that exceeded whatever we set as the Time To Live (TTL) value.

Amazon Connect Video Update:

Transforming Customer Service with Visual Interaction

In April 2022, we introduced our first blog and demo showcasing the integration of video into call centers using Amazon Connect. Since then, the potential applications for video in customer service have continued to expand across various industry segments where “high touch” customer contact is crucial. Initially, we focused on applications that added video as a chat option, connecting website visitors to customer service representatives in contact centers. However, the practicality of video solutions has significantly increased with the advent of mobile smartphones as customer endpoints.

Enhancing Customer Service with Visual Interaction

Amazon Connect Video!Imagine an insurance adjuster dramatically increasing the number of claims they can process. Instead of visiting each claim site, a video conference enables the agent to visually inspect damages remotely, streamlining the claims process. Similarly, many technical support issues could be resolved in a single call with video support. For instance, an agent can ask, “Can you show me exactly which port you plugged that cable into?” This visual interaction can lead to quicker and more accurate resolutions.

Telemedicine: Revolutionizing Healthcare

Telemedicine is another powerful application of video integration in contact centers. Healthcare providers can offer virtual consultations, allowing patients to receive medical advice and care from the comfort of their homes. Video consultations enable doctors to visually assess patients, discuss symptoms in real-time, and even guide them through minor procedures or exercises. This not only improves patient convenience but also expands access to healthcare services, particularly for those in remote or underserved areas.

Real-Time Product Demonstrations

In retail, video can elevate the customer experience by enabling real-time product demonstrations. Customers can connect with a representative who can showcase products, answer questions, and provide personalized recommendations. This interactive approach can enhance customer satisfaction and drive sales, as customers gain a better understanding of products before making a purchase.

Virtual Property Tours

The real estate industry can also benefit from video integration. Real estate agents can conduct virtual property tours, allowing potential buyers or renters to explore homes and apartments without physically visiting the location. This not only saves time for both agents and clients but also broadens the reach of property listings to a global audience.

Personalized Financial Advice

Financial institutions can leverage video to offer personalized financial advice. Clients can have face-to-face meetings with financial advisors to discuss investments, savings plans, and other financial matters. This personal touch can build trust and strengthen client relationships, ultimately enhancing customer loyalty.

Education and Training

In the education sector, video can facilitate remote learning and training sessions. Instructors can conduct live classes, workshops, and one-on-one tutoring sessions, ensuring students receive the support they need regardless of their location. This can be particularly valuable for professional development and corporate training programs.

There is a YouTube Demo click Pic!

Conclusion

Consumers have increasingly adopted video conferencing, especially since the release of camera-embedded phones. By integrating video into your contact center, you can enhance the clarity and effectiveness of customer interactions. Whether it’s resolving technical issues, processing insurance claims, offering telemedicine services, conducting virtual tours, providing financial advice, or delivering education and training, video can transform customer service experiences.

Embrace the power of video with Amazon Connect and take your customer service to the next level.

“Do it yourself” kit for deploying an advanced Amazon Connect Instance!

Dynamic Call Centers?

We can dynamically reconfigure our contact flows, the experience a caller has when calling our contact center.   To do this, we us DNIS (i.e. dialed number information services) essentially using the number the caller dialed, to index a configuration database and return all of the options we need to route an care for the call.   Rather than “cut and paste” contact flows, modified for each queue, why not just use one contact flow that can be reconfigured on the fly?  DNIS is a system attribute in Amazon Connect, it can be passed to the contact flows as such and used to route the caller.   In this solution we provide everything you need to quickly implement a very advanced, flexible and scaleable voice only contact center.

We provide a complete “Do It Yourself” Amazon Connect Contact Center

Core features of this solution include the ability to reconfigure greetings, menus and options based on the DNIS, the number the caller dialed ot reach your call center.   Other features include the option to Directly Dial an Agent, or to have IVR option menus.   Queue hold options include “call back”, leave a voice message for follow up that is queue specific.   Contact flows check staffing, hours of operation and  include after hours call handlers.

What is in the DIY Kit?

In addition to several video tutorials to help the non-engineering professional build out the contact center, we provide all the contact flows ready for you to import!  We provide the lambda functions used to index the configuration database and the dynamodb table descriptions. Each contact flow is heavily commented to enable easy modifications of options and prompts.  Tech Tip videos for installing the voice mail system;  custom agent dashboard and  instructions on how to configure other AWS services that the contact center requires.  Finally, we throw in an hour of technical support to answer your questions!   You will find the package in the DrVoIP.com store!

 

Can you Delete an Amazon Connect Contact Flow?

Out of the Box?

AWS has configured the contact center to work out of the box.  Add a phone number, define at least one agent and using the default contact flows, you can be taking phone calls in minutes.   The contact center features will be minimal, but they work without having to have a engineer do everything.  A reasonably intelligent business process professional should be able to configure a working contact center.  The price you pay for this however, is that you are not able to delete contact flows within the Amazon Connect dashboard.

Why Default Contact Flows?

If you look at the “out of the box” contact flows you will note several contact flows that are Default configurations.   These default contact flows are used unless you specify the use of another contact flow of your own creation,  For example you will see a “Default Outbound” which is used for every outbound phone call made by the contact center.  This  contact flow announces to the called party that the call is being recorded before it transfers the call to an agent.  If you do not want that behavior you need to replace this Default Outbound contact flow with one of your own creations.

You can not delete it!  Why? Basically to keep you from doing something that would crash your call center!  The default contact flows enable rapid deployment of a minimal contact center.   Folks who do not know what they are doing could easily delete something that the system otherwise makes use of, causing a problem that is a direct result of inexperience and ignorance.

Accumulating Contact Flows

After working with the product for a bit, you realize that you can not just delete a contact flow.  You can rename it and reuse it with changes but you can not delete it from within the Amazon Connect dashboard.   At some point, these trashed contact flows accumulate and make navigating your configuration more challenging then most of us want to deal with.  So what is to be done with these unwanted contact flows?

You Can Delete them?

As you gain more experience with the Contact Center you will learn that using the command line tools, you can in fact, delete a contact flow. ( If you do not know what the Cli interface is, or how to make use of it, you most likely should not be trying to delete contact flows)!

Download and install the AWS Command Line Interface (Cli).   This advanced tools can be installed on a Windows, Mac or Linux machine and is used to provide access to advanced configuration options that require some level of software engineering experience.  You will configure your Cli with your account, secret access keys, region and optional profiles. Using this tool you can delete a contact flow, for example.

The following format is used through the Cli to delete a contact flow:

aws connect delete-contact-flow –instance-id YOUR-INSTANCE-ID –contact-flow-id YOUR-CONTACTFLOW-ID

The following video clip show you this in action!

Again, don’t fool with the Cli if you are not comfortable as this is a powerful tool and with it comes great responsibility!

(Call us if you need help! – DrVoiP@DrVoiP.com)

 

Amazon Connect adds a CRM package?

Is Amazon building a CRM Competitor?

Amazon Connect continues to innovate and is adding new features at an accelerated rate.   They do not seem to be leaving any flesh on the bones for other third party providers and seem to be taking aim at the CRM market.  There are two new features that address the most common request of call center supervisors: can we pop a screen with info about the caller on call presentation to an agent?   Historically, this was done by integrating the CRM or Practice Management system with the call center though a complex web of connectors, API’s, Internet Gateways and the other RESTFUL tools that populate the wonderful world of inter-networking.  (See the DrVoIP article: What do you mean Integrate?)

Here is a summary of these new features:

CUSTOMER PROFILES

This feature enables you to assign a profile to a caller. A profile is a form that you create that contains the usual contact data.   When that caller enters the system  again, we can greet them by name and also “pop” the profile to the agent on call presentation.  The profile is filled with data extracted  from two locations:  First, your caller history which is basically the CTR database of all the callers that have contacted you through the call center.  Secondly, it can draw data from your CRM or Practice Management database.   AWS supports a growing list of these databases which today include Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zendesk and S3.    You can also output data from a CRM or Practice management database into an S3  bucket in the call center and this can be tapped by the customer profile feature as well.

CASES

This feature enables you to open a “case ticket” during an active phone call that is associated with an above “customer profile”.   You can see existing open tickets, create new tickets and you have the ability to “assign” the ticket as a task to another team member along with due dates and follow up actions.
These features are “permission” based and assigned to your agents through their security profile.  The use case for these features should be obvious.   AWS is basically developing its own CRM and Practice Management solution and this is just the first release of what will undoubtedly become a very powerful solution in the management of you practice.  We can’t wait for the WFM option!
We are happy to set this up for you,  so please click or call! – DrVoIP

Deploy an Amazon Connect Contact Center for $195?

Pay Only for what you use

We have been working with Amazon Connect since the product was introduced back in 2017.   “Pay only for what you use” is a very attractive economic principle!  We note that a lot of folks login into AWS and spin up a contact center and then though they get it working, it is featureless and they need help.   We have built  “proof of concepts” contact centers over the years many of which have matured into full blown, fully feature contact centers complete with CRM integrations and custom agent dashboards.  Sometimes, in the sale process, it is just easier for everyone to just take a seat in the call center and learn by experience.   The technical team and the business teams all get to use the product and gain useful insight into how Amazon Connect can be a winning customer engagement platform for your business.

Historically, we had offered access to a demo system with your own incoming phone number and call routing solution.  Just give us a few basics and we setup your incoming greeting and add your agents.  Your agents log in and you are off to the races.   This helped the business folks, but not the technical folks.  We needed another solution.

The Amazon Connect Deployment kit!

Enter our complete Amazon Connect inbound voice call center!  For about the cost of an hour of technical support you can build out a fully usable call center.  We provide the contact flows to support inbound call routing direct to a target customer service queue (CSQ).  Optionally, you can route incoming calls to an Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system that provides menu options for caller selection.    The options available to callers waiting for the “next available representative” include receiving a call back when an agent becomes available, leave a voice message or continue to hold.  There is an “after hours” call handling solution along with an error handler.  All the basics.

Video Tutorial for the non-technical Business Manager

The kit includes all the contact flows ready for download and importing into your AWS account and instance.  Along with this kit, we include a video tutorial that will not only coach you along, but provide the background you need to understand the configuration options.   A non-technical business professional should be able to have this solution fully operational and working in about an hour.

 

So, invest $195 and stop wasting time.  Visit the Store!  You will learn what works and what you need to achieve your Contact Center Vision.

Email DrVoiP@DrVoIP.com

 

Adding Video to your Amazon Connect Contact Center

Why Video?

If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is an encyclopedia of information!   I remember a team building exercise in communications in which all the team mates sat with their back to the grease board at the front of the room.  Each team mate  had a blank sheet of paper and a pen on their desktop.   Another team member drew a simple share on the grease board and then described it verbally to the rest of the team.  Instructions included how to orient the paper and a verbal map of how to replicate the grease board drawing was narrated.   It was amazing how many different versions of the illustration were created by the team with verbal descriptions from the team artist!  No two alike!

So now put yourself in a technical support contact center listening to your caller describing how they have the yellow cable plugged into the thing next to the other thing?   How more effective would it be if the help desk technician could see the wifi router the caller was trying to install.    One call resolution time would be reduced,  average holding time would be reduced and SLA’s would improve as agents spend less time listening to caller descriptions and more time seeing issues enabling them to handle more calls and solve more problems more quickly.

Mobile Video Chat!

Enabling a link on the company website that opens a chat session with a customer service representative in your call center has always been possible with Amazon Connect.   Now with the aid of AWS Chime, you can escalate a keyboard chat to a video call complete with audio!  You can also push the chat link out to IOS and Android devices, making it possible for mobile video solutions.    Insurance companies could see real time accident reports.    Contractors could quote jobs more quickly, reducing time by eliminating site visits in favor of  video ‘meet ups”.   Telemedicine is also a rich vertical for video in the call center.

Video for Amazon Connect Contact Centers

Integrating video into your Amazon Connect contact center is relatively straight forward.   The solution makes use of a custom CCP, Chime SDK and a bit of serverless code on the back end.    Agents are alerted to an incoming request through the Amazon Connect chat facility using LEX to orchestrate the dialog and gather preliminary data from the caller.  Once the chat is connected between the caller and the agent, both have buttons to escalate to video.

REQUEST  A DEMO

If you would like a demo of this functionality, send us a request and we will send you a link. DrVoIP@DrVoIP.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

Building an “Appointment Reminder and Phone Tree” using Amazon Connect!

The Phone Tree Concept

Phone Tree’s are have a wide range of use cases from emergency notification alerts, to social function meeting announcements and even appointment reminders!   The generic functionality of this “Phone Tree” application, however, is similar in each use case.  Generally, we want to place an outbound phone call to numbers that are in a database, play a recorded announcement, prompt and collect digits, update the contact list and even allow the caller to be transferred to a live agent, BOT or message center.

Example Application: meeting alert and dinner reservation!

In this example we want to contact all the members of the club and inform that that a dinner meeting is planned for a specific data and time.   We want to know how many members will attend both the dinner and the meeting.   The recorded announcement might be something like ‘The White Hat Hacker club will meet this Friday evening at the clubhouse at 7PM.  Dinner will be served at 6PM and a reservation is required.  Please press 1 if you are planning to attend the meeting and the dinner, press 2 if you are attending the meeting only, or press 3 to indicate you will not be in attendance at this meeting”.     We also want to report the results of this survey to the meeting management via an email when all contacts have been notified.

This functionality could easily become an appointment reminder for a medical clinic.  The clinic wants to alert all patients that have an appointment for tomorrow to be reminded of that appointment.  This would use the same Phone Tree application and work the same, but the message might be a bit different: “This is Doctor VoIP’s office reminding you that you have an appointment tomorrow. Please press 1 to confirm the appointment or Press 2 to speak with a scheduling co-ordinator”.

Basic Configuration elements:

To get his application working we are using two major contact flows, a dynamoDB table containing the numbers to be dialed and three lambda functions.  The lambda functions include the outbound dialer API, the reset database and the update database functions.   The contact flows are used to validate the credentials of the dialer administrator, reset the database for fresh calls and to initialize the dialer function.  The second contact flow is the contact flow that plays the outbound announcement, prompts and collects digits and then updates the database.

  • DynamoDB Table – Minimally the table contains the number to be dialed and the status code.  The dialer looks through the table list for entries that have a status code of zero.   The table is updated with a new code based on the digits collected from the caller, or it marks the table with a status code of 3 to indicate the caller was contacted but did not enter any digits.
  • Lambda dialer function ( DrVoIP-InitiateOutboundCampaign)  (i.e.  – reads the database and once the caller is dialed, transfers the caller to the contact flow that plays the announcement and collects the responses.
  • Update database function – each phone call requires the database status code to be updated,
  • Reset the database to zero  function – Sometimes the list may be used more than once.  For this reason we want to clear the current status code before initializing the dialer. Clearing the database resets all entries to a status code of zero.
  • Contact flow Authorize Dialer – this is a simple contact flow that first asks the caller to input their ID number and PIN.  This is done to validate the caller is authorized to initialize the dialer.  Once validated, the application asks the caller to press 1 to initialize the database to zero or press 2 to initialize the dialer.   Pressing 1 launches the reset database function to mark all entries with a zero status code.  Press initializes the dialer and enables all entries with a status code of Zero to be contacted.
  • Contact flow Announcement – this simple contact flow plays the announcement to the called party and prompts them to enter a digits in response.   The digit is used by the update database function to set the status code equal to the digit entered by the caller.
  • SNS – Simple Notification System is used to send a summary of the dialer results to anyone subscribed to the SNS notification.  In this application we are using SNS to send an email to the meeting managers with a count of dinner reservations!

Improvements?

The application described above, works well and gets the job done!  Sweet and simple, but what can we do to improve this application?   Currently the outgoing announcement is hard coded in a ‘Play Prompt’ contact flow step.   We have the option of enabling this to be a contact attribute that reads in a new prompt each time!  Optionally, we could implement a “record to file” solution enabling someone to call in to the authorization contact flow and record a new announcement!

The dialer database is also manually maintained.  It would be useful to enable either the table to be uploaded or to have a web administration interface so that folks do not have to have access to the AWS Management console to make use of the application.   If you are using a CRM package, it might be better to have linkage to an external database.

 

Give us a call and we can implement this application or talk about building you a modified version!  – DrVoIP