Amazon Connect: Agent Guide

Overview

Amazon Connect software assumes you have a call center (or need one) with staff dedicated to answering the phone during open hours. It also assumes you have an advertised main number for any call-back. 

• For example, the software is used by UO Admissions, and Advising. The software cannot be used by individuals. 
• For example, agents in Amazon Connect do not have a phone number. They can only reached by the main number and via the automated call distribution.

Table of Contents

• System Requirements
  • Changing your password
• Getting Started
  • Taking your first call
  • Transferring Calls
  • Reading Metrics (see status of the contact center and co-workers)
• Common Questions
• Troubleshooting
  • Clearing Browser Cache
  • My microphone isn t working
  • WEBRTC error
• Additional Information

System Requirements

In order to use Amazon Connect you must have an appropriate computer setup with up to date software. Real-time voice applications tend to have higher requirements than some applications. If your PC is slow for many operations, it s possible that Amazon Connect will not work, or not work well for you.

* - Satellite internet may not be good enough as the latency may be too high for real time voice communications. A good resource for checking the quality of your internet connection is Speedtest.net which will display to you your download and upload speed along with your ping time to a nearby server. Additionally, Amazon s connectivity tester is a great resource as well.

Please make sure your connection meets these requirements.

• Ping: Less than 200ms,
• Download: Greater than 1mbps
• Upload: Greater than 1mbps

If any of these attributes are near the cut off points for these values, try to avoid any additional internet usage on your network while you are on logged in to Amazon Connect.

• For example, if you share this connection with other individuals, try to have them avoid streaming video or downloading/uploading content while you are taking calls.
• It is also important to check the quality of your microphone device. A good website to use for this is Online Voice Recorder (from 123Apps)
  • With this website you can record a sample clip from your microphone and play it back for you to hear.
  • Make sure the quality and volume are good, and check that there is minimal background noise.

Emergency Calls

The Amazon Connect client allows you to make outbound calls to customers. It is very important that this feature is not used to make emergency calls to 911 or emergency services.  AWS does not support E911 location tracking and will likely route your call to emergency services in some other state or region. You must use some other cellular, wired phone or Microsoft Teams for emergency calls.

Changing your Password

• Go to the login page for your Amazon Connect contact center. The example here is for Business Affairs Payroll Office
• Find the text on the login screen that says Forgot Password? — please note, this is the best method to change a password even if you did not forget it. 
• Enter you username, i.e., cc-jsmith. (Remember the cc- before your Duck ID).
• Enter the Captcha text.
  • Amazon uses this method to ensure a human (and not a computer) is attempting to change the password.
• Click Recover Password
• Check your email for the link that permits you to enter a new password. 
• Click on the Reset Password link in the email that Amazon sends you immediately. 
• You will need to type the new password you choose twice. If the password requirements are not met, an error message will appear. 
• Once the password has been reset, you will login immediately to Amazon Connect.

Getting Started

Taking your first call

To get started, log into Amazon Connect using the URL and credentials provided to you by your supervisor. After logging in, you will be brought to your dashboard.

1. To begin taking calls, click on the phone icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
   
2. A new pop-up window will appear on your screen. This is your softphone. If no window comes up, you may need to disable any adblocking or pop-up blocking extensions you may have installed on your browser.
3. After the pop-up window opens, you will be prompted by your browser to let the site use your microphone. Select Allow on this dialog.
4. Once you have your softphone up, you will see your current status in the top-left corner. This may say Available, Offline, or something else depending on your call center. Incoming calls are only directed to you if your status is set to Available. Otherwise, they are held in the queue or sent to whoever else is available.
5. To change your status, click the small arrow highlighted in the image below.
   
6. This will bring up a selection dialog to switch out your status. Select your desired status, and you’re set.
   
7. When you have your softphone up with your status set as Available, you are all set to take calls. When a call comes in it will ring your softphone and prompt you to accept or reject the call. If you are busy and press the Reject Call, the person calling will be sent back into the queue, and the next available agent will be rung.
8. 
9. Once you accept a call you will be brought to an in-call menu. At this point, your microphone will be live and you should be able to have a conversation with the client.
10. At any point in the conversation, you can toggle your own microphone with the Mute button, or place the client on hold. Depending on the configuration of the call center, the client will be notified that they have been placed on hold, and music will start to play for them while they wait. When the call ends, either by the client hanging up or you using the End call button, you will be brought to the after call work screen.
    
11. On this screen, you will be set as Unavailable to take more calls so you have time to complete any after call work that may need to be performed.
12. When you are finished with any after call work you have have, press the Clear contact button to be available for the next call.

Transferring Calls

Transferring a call in Amazon Connect is not intuitive, but it is not difficult. Amazon essentially does all transfers as a three-way call. Read on for the details. 

• All transfers begin with you clicking the Quick Connects button while in a call. From there, you can either dial a number directly using the dial-pad, or use one of the pre-configured speed dials/quick connects if present.
  • Note that even if you are not trying to use a pre-configured quick connect, you must click the quick connects button to transfer a call. 
• To transfer a call, click the Quick Connects button from the in-call softphone menu.
  • Quick Connects are like speed-dials that are pre-configured by anyone in your call center with UO Supervisor role. 
  • There can be a Quick Connect to another phone number, a specific agent, or a queue.
  • Note that Quick Connects to a specific agent can only work if that agent is part of your contact center and logged in with status available. 
  • We cannot currently transfer callers to different contact-center save through a transfer to their phone number.
• After you select Quick Connects you should see a prompt to enter a new phone number and depending on the configuration of your call center, you may also see Quick Connects (pre configured if present). The process listed below is called an attended transfer.
  • You can either type in the phone number to which you wish to transfer the client or click one of the quick connect button from the menu
  • Then, select the Call button.
    • This will place the current call on hold while you dial.
    • If you select Leave Call  while the transfer is connecting, just after dialing, the client will continue to connect as if they had dialed the number.
    • If you don’t select Leave Call while connecting you will stay on the call and can introduce the caller. 
  • Once connected, select Leave Call to complete the transfer.  
    
• Once you have the three-way call:
  • If you select the Swap button, the transfer party will be placed on hold and the client will be taken off hold. Clicking this button again will swap it back to how it was.
  • If you select the Join button, the client will be taken off hold, and you will be placed in a three-way call with the client and the transfer party.
  • If you hang up at any point in any of these modes, the client will transfer; Leave Call, or End Call while three parties are connected completes the transfer. 
  • If you want to hang up with the transfer number, you can click on the little x beside the transfer number.

Reading Metrics

We recommend all users of the system open the Real-time metrics screen, select Queue, then Agent. It s possible to bookmark this screen for faster future access. This screen lets agents know whom is taking calls, and whom is on break. It's also the only real-time screen where one can detect anomalies like Missed Call! while the system is operating. 

The Amazon Connect system offers a variety of metric options. These functions give you important information about other agents and queues. There are two different metric options, real-time metrics and historical metrics.

Real-time metrics update every 15 seconds and allow you to see information about other agents. This function is useful when it comes to taking a breaks to make sure other agents are available to take calls if you step away.  To view real-time metrics click on the graph icon under the dashboard on the left. Select real-time metrics from the drop down menu. The screen shown has three different options; queues, agents, and routing profiles. When clicked, these tabs make a table visible with different information.

• First, there is the Queues table. This table gives real-time information about the agents who are in a given queue. This a great tool to see who is available to take calls or receive a transferred call. It also tracks how many calls are queued at a given time.
  • Note: After you open one table, to open another you must use the small drop down menu and the left bottom corner of the table you have open.
• The Agents queues table is similar, but it gives queue metrics for specific agents.
  • Note: If you mouse over a column heading in any of the table a pop up will appear that provides more information about the column.
• The next table is Routing profiles. Every agent is assigned to a routing profile and more than one agent can be assigned to the same routing profile. This table provides information about the agents in different routing profiles.
• The last table is the Agents table. This table gives specific information about each agent. The table shows you the status of other agents, the amount of time they have been logged in, what routing profile agents are in, and other agent metrics.

Common questions

How do I take a break?

Change your current status to break, lunch, or offline. The specific name will depend on the configuration of your call center.

How can I tell if my co-workers are available and taking calls?

See Reading Metrics

How do I transfer someone?

See Transferring Calls

Can I call someone else and do three-way conversation?

Yes, use the Join button when transferring a call to turn it into a three-way call.

How can I send the caller to someone’s voicemail?

There isn't a way to guarantee that transferring a call will go to voicemail.

Transfer the caller to the UO user's desk telephone extension. Depending upon their incoming call settings, the call may be transferred directly to voicemail. 

How do I indicate I’m logged out for the day?

1. Change your status to Offline
2. Close the softphone window
3. Log out of the dashboard.

What happens if I accidentally step away while my status is set as available?

If you are away while your status is set as Available, incoming calls that are routed to you will ring for about 20 seconds before being routed to another agent in the queue. If you are the sole agent in the queue, the client can potentially get stuck waiting in the queue indefinitely.

Troubleshooting

Clearing Browser Cache

Amazon Connect is a browser-based system. As such, it requires common troubleshooting steps found with all browser-based applications. If you have problems that are either unusual to you, or unheard of by us, the first step will be to clear your browser cache.  In Chrome, select the three vertical dots (top-right) >Settings... > Clear Browsing Data > Cached Images and Files (the third check-box).

After clearing the cache, it s a good idea to close the browser, then re-open and try again. This step solves many problems, and is a good first thing to try. 

My microphone isn’t working

It is possible that chrome may be set to receive the wrong microphone as input. Try clicking the small video icon on the right-hand side of the Address Bar on your browser window. On some computers this icon may appear as a microphone instead of a camera.

This button will bring up small dialog box. On this box, make sure you have the Always allow… option selected.

If that box was already selected and your microphone is still not working, click on the Manage button in the bottom-left corner. On this menu, you can select which microphone Google Chrome will take as input. Try clicking through the different options to find one that works.

WEBRTC Error

• If you have not rebooted your PC, please try this first. 
• Please verify that you are using Chrome or Firefox specifically. Edge or Safari are not supported. 
• Verify only one person is logged in per ID. Amazon Connect fails for any user logged-in twice. That condition would definitely cause problems if it occurs. 
• Clear browser cache. 
  • In some cases, it make sense to try the other supported browser, i.e., if having issue with Chrome, try Firefox or vice versa. 
• Use the Amazon connectivity tool to notice any network reachability issues. 

Additional Information

• Amazon Connect FAQ
• Amazon Connect: Turning on Notifications