Author: DrVoIP

Peter S. Buswell (aka DrVoIP) is a rare blend of C-level executive leadership and deep technical expertise in telecommunications and cloud infrastructure. With a career that began at AT&T in 1970, he has founded and led multiple industry-defining companies, including Dextr.Cloud—acquired by AWS Global Partner CloudHesive. Peter has held senior roles at firms like Exxon Enterprises, Intervoice/Brite, and Franklin Telecommunications, and has consistently driven innovation from traditional PBX to Amazon Connect cloud deployments. A hands-on architect with certifications from Cisco (CCNP/CCDP, UCCX/UCCE) and AWS (Solutions Architect, Developer, SysOps), he combines strategic vision with engineering precision. Known as DrVoIP, he continues to bridge the gap between enterprise goals and technical execution in today’s evolving cloud communications landscape.

Amazon Connect Pick a Caller from Queue?

Posted on by DrVoIP

Would You Let Agents “Cherry Pick” Callers from the Queue?

Not everyone agrees with the idea—but in some situations, allowing agents to “cherry pick” callers can save time and improve the customer experience.

By default, Amazon Connect routes callers to the next available agent. It does not ring all agents simultaneously, and it certainly doesn’t allow agents to choose who they want to speak with.

But what if they could?

A Real-World Use Case

Imagine you’re a technician supporting a customer base using your company’s High-Tech Shiny Gadget. Most callers aren’t very technical. You do your best to walk them through a solution, but sometimes, they need to go back and do “homework”—check which cable is plugged in, see which light is blinking, etc.

They hang up, go do the homework, and call back. But now they’re speaking with a different technician, who has to start from scratch—even if you’re using Amazon Connect Cases or another ticket system.

This is inefficient. It frustrates the customer and wastes valuable technical support time.

Enter “Cherry Picking”

What if the original technician could see that the customer is calling back and simply pluck them from the queue? No rerouting, no retelling the story—just seamless, contextual support.

While you might have a way to route calls by extension number, most contact centers aren’t set up that way. That’s where cherry picking comes in.

Watch the Demo

In the video below (Part 9 of our Amazon Connect 2025 Refresh Series), we walk through:

  • How to configure cherry picking in Amazon Connect
  • What resources are required
  • Key recommendations and potential pitfalls
  • A full demonstration of the solution in action

If you’re curious how this could work in your call center—or you want help building it—contact us at DrVoIP.

Campaign Dialer History and the Current State of the Art in Amazon Connect

Posted on by DrVoIP

A Brief History

Amazon Connect was introduced in 2017 as a revolutionary, cloud-native contact center solution from AWS. That same year, DrVoIP installed its first Amazon Connect instance for a paying client. Having decades of experience building call center solutions with platforms like Cisco, we had developed a clear set of expectations for what a modern contact center should offer.

Initially, Amazon Connect lacked a native campaign dialer, a core requirement for outbound calling environments like telemarketing. This gap limited its early adoption in outbound-heavy verticals. While third-party integrations existed, our goal was to deliver a one-vendor solution built entirely on AWS.

Building with StartOutboundVoiceContact

In the absence of a native campaign dialer, early adopters had to get creative. The StartOutboundVoiceContact API enabled basic outbound calling, but required architects to develop extensive backend logic using Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, and Connect flows.

DrVoIP built a foundational DIY dialer framework, managing contact lists, pacing logic, retries, and reporting through custom code. It worked—but was resource intensive and fragile under scale.

Third-Party Solutions Fill the Gap

As Amazon Connect gained traction, third-party dialer providers stepped in. Platforms from VoiceFoundry, Xaqt, and others offered robust outbound functionality, but came with additional costs, integration complexity, and vendor management burdens—contrary to AWS’s promise of simplicity and scalability.

The Arrival of Campaign Dialer V1

AWS quietly released Campaign Dialer V1, leveraging Amazon Pinpoint as the backend. It introduced basic campaign capabilities, including email, SMS, and voice. However, it suffered from major limitations:

  • No agent-aware dialing logic.
  • Lack of built-in retry policies.
  • Every contact was pushed to Customer Profiles, bloating CRM databases with unqualified leads.
  • Minimal real-time reporting or call disposition visibility.

V1 was a step forward, but it wasn’t production-grade for enterprise outbound needs.

Campaign Dialer V2: A Mature Offering

Campaign Dialer V2 brought substantial improvements:

  • Integrated directly with Amazon Connect, eliminating reliance on Pinpoint.
  • Introduced progressive dialing tied to agent availability.
  • Allowed custom retry logic and contact attribute handling.
  • Accepted CSV and API-based campaign data ingestion.
  • Empowered dynamic screen pops and routing via contact flows.

Despite these advancements, challenges remain:

  • Limited out-of-the-box analytics.
  • Inflexible call recording controls.
  • No native lead scoring or prioritization tools.

The Road Ahead: Event-Driven and AI-Powered Campaigns

We anticipate a future where outbound engagement in Amazon Connect is:

  • Event-triggered using Amazon EventBridge.
  • AI-enhanced via Amazon Bedrock or SageMaker.
  • Dynamically paced based on real-time Connect Streams API data.
  • Seamlessly integrated with Lex bots and CRM systems.

Why DrVoIP?

At DrVoIP LLC, we’ve led the evolution of Amazon Connect since day one. As an AWS Partner focused exclusively on contact center innovation, we:

  • Deliver on time, on budget deployments.
  • Maintain top-tier customer satisfaction scores.
  • Specialize in outbound campaigns, AI integrations, and real-time analytics.

Let’s build your next-gen contact center together.

📞 www.drvoip.com
📧 contactcenter@drvoip.com

Would you answer a call from a toll free number?

Posted on by DrVoIP

Campaign Dialer Feature Request?

We are often asked to comment on how to increase answer rates on cold calls.   Calls either made manually by an Agent in an outbound contact center, or an auto dialer or campaign dialer.   Generally, in the era of smartphones, we generally reject calls from unknown numbers and all 800. numbers are unknown!   Some of the strategies we have developed include matching the area code of the number we are calling.  If we are calling someone with a 212 area code, we present a 212 area code in our outbound number.  Not fool proof, but it does increase the answer rate.   Historically, sip trunks were used to fake outbound caller id.  It was a simple trick to make it appear that Bill Clinton was calling you!  Now, with calling number ID restrictions, it is much more difficult to “fake” caller id and you must use a number that you actually own!

If you cant match the area code with a number you have, the second strategy is almost effective.  Do not use a toll free number!  Use a DID number and even though it may not be known by the individual being called, it peeks enough curiosity to have the call answered.   Generally, Amazon Connect will not allow you to present a caller ID that is not a phone number on your contact center.   AWS has made an accommodation, by allowing you to display a caller id  in which you have provided documentation that supports your ownership of the number.  In that case, even though the number is not directly on your contact center, they will let you display it on an outbound call.

Lambda and Dynamodb to the Rescue!

To accommodate the change of caller id on an outbound call, we need to apply some software engineering.  First, we need a database of phone numbers that we legitimately own.  Index the database by area code and it is a simple task for a python function to take the number dialed, look it up, and then return it as an attribute to an Amazon Connect contact flow.  Change the default outbound contact flow, to invoke the lambda function that looks up the dialed number, and return it to a caller id  attribute that is displayed to the called party.  This simple strategy increases answer rate measurably more than using an 800 number.

Amazon Connect Campaign Dialer?

The V2 of the Amazon Connect campaign dialer is an astonishing step forward from the previous “high density outbound calling” solution.   Though there is still a requirement that non-technical managers need to have permissions in the AWS Console to configure and load lists into Pinpoint,  the V2  configuration is almost entirely accomplished through the Amazon Connect dashboard.    Generally managers of a call center would need to contact the IT team to load lists, as security concerns abbreviated  the assignment of  IAM permissions to none technical users accessing the  AWS Console!  V2 all but eliminates this concern.

Unfortunately CID is fixed!

The Lambda strategy for area code swapping discussed above, will not work with the V2 campaign dialer as of the date of this publication.   (Things move quickly in AWS, so this is subject to change, check often).   When you create a campaign you select the number the system should use to place each phone call.  We are not currently able to change that number as we can with a manually dialed number.   From our desk, this is a serious short coming in the world of campaign dialing!  The only option currently available is to divide the “list” into smaller lists segmented by area code.   This increases the administrative burden on list creation.

We are hopeful that AWS will address this market requirement while making DNC and list scrubbing an important subset of the campaign dialer feature set!

 

DrVoIP Amazon Connect Demo Center – Try it you will like it!

Posted on by DrVoIP

Amazon Connect Demo Center

We offer a complete Amazon Connect Contact center with all the bells and whistles free for you to try with up to 5 of your own team members.  We provide a dedicated phone number, a custom greeting with your company messages.  Test drive the contact center, experience the call quality and the feature set.   In less than an hour or so, we can have you setup and operational.  Click, call or email and we will get you setup, its the only way to fully understand a cloud based contact center.

Demo Feature Set

– Dedicated phone number

– Voice Inbound

– US outbound calling

– SMS

– Email

– Video and Screen sharing

– Advanced Agent Dashboard

–  Real time metrics

– Supervisor Console

– Call Recording with Transcription

Contact grace@drvoip.com or call in and talk to her!

 

Build an ai Receptionist for your call center

Posted on by DrVoIP

An ai Receptionist?

Back when vacuum tubes were still part of the computer science curriculum in most colleges, I read a book by Norber Wiener entitled “the human use of human beings”.   As the title suggested, lets free humans to do the activities that only a human can do and automate the boring, repetitive, tasks!   The Receptionist function has all but disappeared as a career option, but it is still the front door of your company.  “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”, so the function did not go away, but it has suffered with dumb “Press 1 for this and Press 2 for that” IVR systems.

Functions of a Receptionist.

Generally speaking a receptionist provides a number of functions:  Greeting and Salutation; Screen and Routing, Message Acquisition  are the most important.   How would you automated that process?   Until now, the IVR and voice mail system were the best non-human solution.   Today, with ai, the abilities of an automated attendant can be significantly enhanced to include not only those traditional functions, but can also include the ability to answer questions about the company’s product snd services.

Bedrock ai

AWS has a number of solutions from create your own LLM’s to tapping framework models that exist by other providers.  You can link an ai framework to a datasource of your own creation. In AWS this is called a “Knowledge Base”.  You can create an S3 bucket with a library of company files that include PDF and Docx files.  Optionally , you can link your KB to the company website, or any website and Bedrock will scrape the contents, store and index it for search by your ai agent!

Amazon Connect

We created an automated attendant using Bedrock and Antropic Claude V2.  This framework then indexed our website to provide a bot that can answer questions about out company product and services.    We used Lex V2 as the bot and then created a number of “intents” to meet our goal of automating the receptionist function in our company.   The video below walks your through the high points.  Click or Call if we can help you solve your ai requirements, especially if it involves a call center!  – DrVoIP

 

Enable Callers to Dial an Agent Direct?

Posted on by DrVoIP

Direct Dial and Agent?

Not every contact center wants callers to be able to dial a specific agent directly.  In fact, more times than not, it is discourage entirely.  Certain enterprises however find it a real necessity.   Customer service operations, technical support and telemedicine are good examples of service centers that would benefit by this feature.   Often in these use cases, the agent assigns some “homework” that requires the caller to hang up and go check something and call back.   We all know how frustrating it is to call into a contact center and be treated like this is the first call!  Enabling a customer to reach the same representative that they worked with in the last call is a real time saver and improves both the efficiency of the call center and satisfaction of the client!

Not a native feature for Amazon Connect

As is the case in most features in this AWS service, you will have to configure it yourself.   The provided tutorial will walk you through how to build this out (clearly we are in the business of helping you do this)!  The key components of this solution are a number of AWS services and some contact flows that support the feature:

  • Not required by helpful for voice mail,  VoiceMail Express application
  • S3 to support static website used for userAdministration
  • Cognito to protect access to the admin website
  • API Gateway to facilitate connectivity between the website and the lambda back end
  • DynamoDB to list and maintain agent extension numbers
  • Lambda functions to update and maintain user extension list
  • Clearly and Amazon Connect Contact Center!

Configuration Overview

The front end contact flow prompts the caller to enter the extension number of the representative. This is usually just an add on to your existing greeting.  For example: ” Thanks for calling our company, if you know your representatives extension number you can enter it now, or press 1 for sales or 2 for support”.   The caller will be routed through contact flows to the representatives queue and if available, directly connected. If the representative is on the phone, the caller is offered a choice to try another team member, or continue to hold.  If the representative is logged out, the caller is offered the option to try another team member of leave a voice message.

Back End Configuration

The website enables system administrators to add extension numbers to the agents defined in the contact center.   The supporting lambda functions draw form both the user database in the Amazon Connect instance and the DynamoDB table you create to provide extension number to those agents.   Cognito is recommended as a security front end to the website enabling only credentialed administrators to log in!

You can find the sample contact flows and lambda functions and HTML/Javascript for this tutorial  in the DrVoIP store!

 

Voice Mail Express for Amazon Connect!

Posted on by DrVoIP

Voice Mail solution for Amazon Connect

for the last few years AWS has made a voice messaging solution available for Amazon Connect deployments available for download from Github.   This was a feature rich solution offering a needed feature.   The solution enabled a caller to leave a voice message for an Agent and with a bit of configuration magic, you could also leave a message for a queue.  The voice message could be delivered as an email or text message.  The message could be transcribed and encrypted.  We regularly deployed this solution and customized it to enable direct extention dialing for callers to reach specific agents and other external users.

Missing some features

In 2024 AWS dropped support for this application.  The upgrades to Node and Java were most likely the reason support was dropped.  As we enter 2025 AWS has replaced the older voice mail solution with “Voice Mail Express” version 3, also available on Github.   The solution does a better job of enabling voice messages for both agents and queues, but lacks support of SMS message delivery.   Additionally, the core voice message handler is a Module in Amazon Connect, which makes it especially challenging for use as a bail out option in a queue hold flow.  This is because, you can not invoke a module from this type of contact flow.

There is a Youtube video covering this material!

We have been implementing this solution and have begun to explore customization possibilities.   For example, being able to directly dial an agent and to offer SMS message delivery.  The configuration is not intuitive for non technical personnel, so we created configuration guide.  If we can help wiht customiztion and integration efforts, just click or call DrVoIP, we know the drill! – DrVoIP

Amazon Connect 2025 Update Tutorial

Posted on by DrVoIP

Amazon Connect 2025 Update!

During the past year and as we enter 2025, Amazon Connect has made some significant changes.  AWS has added new channels including SMS, Video and Email, many new features including AI assistance and a refreshing new look and feel to the cloud console in general and the Amazon Connect portal in particular.   We have been generating YouTube tutorials on Amazon Connect since our first deployment in 2017!    As new features were released we would update our tutorials and our blog, but the changes are so dramatic this year, that we plan to just create a new tutorial series on the DrVoIP YouTube Channel.

There is a Youtube video covering this material!

Our goal is to create and release a “soup to nuts” tutorial series that will walk you through the creation of an Amazon Connect contact center, complete with all you might need to execute your own solution.   We start with a very basic, but working Contact Center and then with each succeeding Videos, we will slowly increase the functionality and efficiency of the Call center.   We will add new channels, BOTS, Messaging and review many of the most popular CRM and Practice Management software integrations.   First using only Amazon Connect contact flow resources and then, as requirements develop, we will begin to make use of other AWS services including lambda, dynamodb and other resources.

Amazon Connect has always been a work in progress but 2025 is set to be an amazing year for Amazon Connect!  So stay tuned, as we continue to help you stay abreast of all the new capabilities of this already amazing technology! – DrVoIP

Amazon Connect “Tool Kit”

Posted on by DrVoIP

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!