Mar 29, 2017 09:51 AM EDT By Emily Schultz, UniversityHerald Reporter

Amazon Web Service is getting another new cloud-based service. Amazon Web Services, the cloud-computing arm of the e-commerce giant Amazon, this week announced Amazon Connect, a self-service, cloud-based contact center service that makes it easy for any business to deliver better customer service at lower cost. Amazon made the big announcement this week.

AWS Enters The Call Center Space

According to TechCrunch, which got the full details of the Amazon Connect news, the Seattle-based behemoth is getting into the contact center service business with this week's big announcement that it will make its contact center technology available to companies. The move will get AWS into the highly lucrative customer service market that is dominated by the likes of Salesforce, SAP and the database giant Oracle.

As mentioned earlier on Amazon Web Services Blog, Amazon Connect is a self-service, cloud-based contact center service that is based on the contact center technology used by its e-commerce operations. The new AWS offering, which is launched via the AWS Management Console, will allow companies and organizations to set-up a cloud-based contact center and take a call in just minutes.

But unlike with other contact service systems that are more complex and expensive and take months to implement, the Amazon Connect will allow companies to set up and configure their own "Virtual Contact Center" in just minutes, with no additional infrastructure to acquire or manage. Additionally, companies can also scale their Amazon Connect Virtual Contact Center up or down, acquire up to tens of thousands of agents in response to some business cycles, and pay only for the time callers are interacting with Amazon Connect along with the associated telephony charges. The e-commerce giant has also provided customers with a self-service graphical interface that will make it easy for even non-technical users to design contact flows, manage call center agents, and even track performance metrics.

In addition, the new Amazon offering also integrates with other existing AWS services which include Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Aurora, and even third-party CRM services like Salesforce and more. Not just that, Amazon is also making the service more flexible for everyone, the per-minute charging that the internet giant is applying here is potentially useful to support specific marketing campaigns and new product launches. The goal is simple: to make Amazon Connect the top and probably the best choice for today's business world.

Looking ahead, Amazon's entrance into the contact center arena is likely to have some disruptive effect on IT vendors, contact center providers, CRM companies and other companies that compete in the highly crowded call center space.

CRM Specialist Zendesk Joins Amazon Connect

In other tech-related news, Amazon this week named CRM specialist Zendesk as the first in the AWS Partner Network (APN) to support Amazon Connect, the new cloud-based contact center service from Amazon Web Services (AWS). According to Amazon, the Zendesk and Amazon Connect integration will give Amazon Connect customers access to Zendesk's customer service software, allowing the companies to better connect with their customers and also improve their customer relationships.

The San Francisco-based Zendesk currently offers the tools and information customer service agents need to quickly and easily solve customer support inquiries, while the newly launched Amazon Connect will help companies in managing on-premise call center infrastructure and also provide reliable phone support.

The move will allow Zendesk customers to get an access to Amazon Connect's call center capabilities, while Amazon Connect customers will have the context and unique insights that the San Francisco-based company provides. Overall, both companies have made a smart move. For Amazon, it could be more, one that has a huge potential and aligned with its long-term business strategy. More importantly, Amazon has found another new fresh market for growth.

For more about Amazon Connect service, check out Amazon Connect in an AWS website. To get started with the Amazon Connect service, check out the Amazon Connect page.

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