Why Amazon Connect should be part of every customer experience strategy

In a world where customer expectations are higher than ever, rethinking contact centers is critical.

After six years at SoftwareOne helping customers modernize in the cloud, I’ve seen firsthand how Amazon Connect is reshaping customer engagements.

Here's why I believe it's one of the most underrated tools in the CX toolkit.

When I talk to customers about modernizing their customer experience, the conversation usually starts with applications, CRMs, or service desks. But there’s one critical piece often overlooked: the contact centre itself.

Today’s customers expect fast, personalized, and seamless service. They don’t want to wait on hold. They don’t want to repeat their story to three different agents. And they don’t want an experience that feels disconnected from the brand they’re engaging with.

That’s why I believe Amazon Connect deserves a serious look by any business that’s thinking about their next phase of customer experience.

Simplicity First

One of the things I personally love about Amazon Connect is its simplicity. In a world where technology projects can take months (or even years), Amazon Connect flips that on its head. You can have a fully functional, scalable contact centre up and running in days or weeks, not months.

For customers, this agility means two things:

• Faster time to value.
• Less risk of “big bang” transformation projects failing.

And because it's cloud-native, scaling up or down is effortless. Whether you have 10 agents or 1,000, the platform flexes with your needs.

It's More Than Just Voice

Many still think of contact centers as "call centers." But Amazon Connect is built for omnichannel engagement—voice, chat, SMS, email—and can seamlessly integrate with the systems your agents already use, like Salesforce, ServiceNow, or even bespoke CRMs.

For me, this is crucial because real customer experience innovation doesn't happen in silos. It happens when conversations—regardless of channel—feel connected.

The Hidden Superpower: AI and Automation

Another reason I’m loving Amazon Connect is the built-in AI and automation capabilities.

Services like Amazon Lex (for conversational IVR) and Contact Lens (for call analytics and sentiment tracking) are not "add-ons" — they’re native.

This matters because it lowers the barrier for businesses to start small with AI, experiment, and gradually introduce intelligent automation without massive upfront investment.

In practice, this could mean:

• Intelligent call routing based on customer sentiment or account priority
• Real-time agent assist with AI-generated recommendations
• Post-call summaries that reduce agent after-call work

The potential here is huge—and we’re only scratching the surface.

My Advice for Customers Starting This Journey

If you're thinking about modernizing your contact center experience, here’s what I recommend based on what I've seen:

• Start with the customer journey, not the technology.
  Map out where customers struggle today and what “good” looks like for them.
• Keep the agent experience front of mind.
  Happy agents make happy customers. Make their job easier, not harder.
• Think modular and scalable.
  With Amazon Connect, you don't have to do it all at once. Start with voice, add chat later. Start with manual routing, add AI when you're ready.
• Data and analytics are your best friend.
  Tools like Contact Lens give you insights into customer emotion and agent performance you never had before—use it to iterate and improve.