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The contact center software landscape has seen an interesting trend unfold over the previous few years.

Highly programmable solutions have taken the enterprise market by storm, with Twilio Flex and Amazon Connect becoming increasingly popular, especially among large organizations.

Why are these solutions becoming so popular?

There are a number of different reasons that software solutions such as Flex and Connect are growing in popularity.

1. They’re highly programmable. If you have the right expertise, you can code the solution to meet your needs.
2. They’re omnichannel-enabled. Programmed the right way, Flex and Connect can enable your agents to manage voice, email, SMS, and live chat conversations simultaneously.
3. They’re cloud-based. Unlike some legacy enterprise solutions, Flex and Connect are both born in the cloud, meaning they have been designed from the ground up to work like cloud software should.

For many businesses, especially large ones, their programmability is the key benefit of these two solutions. Being able to build your own solution, with the help of Twilio or AWS APIs, is a big bonus for the enterprise.

Limitations of programmable contact center solutions

However, products such as Twilio Flex and Amazon Connect have limitations in certain areas.

Organizations sometimes begin evaluating these solutions, and love how powerful they are. However, these teams then run into issues in their evaluation in some of the following areas:

• Outbound dialing – currently, neither Twilio Flex nor Amazon Connect include native auto dialer functionality. This can lead to productivity and compliance issues if you make a significant volume of outbound calls.
• Outbound data management – neither solution has a native outbound campaign manager, meaning you cannot manage lists, edit data or define outbound contact strategies.
• Agent interfaces – Twilio Flex has an Agent Desktop you can build out with React, while Amazon Connect has a Contact Control Panel that must be programmed to function the way you want it to. You cannot drag and drop interface elements or build messaging/call workflows without development investment.

Essentially, unless you have sufficient specialized development expertise in-house, deploying some of these critical business functions with Twilio Flex or Amazon Connect may seem like a daunting task.

Introducing: contactSPACE Red and 4connect

Here at contactSPACE, we saw the issues that some organizations were running into when evaluating Twilio Flex and Amazon Connect, and wanted to help out.

We’ve released two software plugins to help facilitate better outbound contact inside each solution:

1. contactSPACE Red – an outbound dialer, data management and agent interface solution for Twilio Flex
2. 4connect – an outbound dialer, data management and agent interface solution for Amazon Connect

Using these solutions, you can make efficient, compliant outbound in Twilio Flex or Amazon Connect, without needing to write a single line of custom code.

You can simply plug contactSPACE Red or 4connect into your deployment, and begin making outbound contact. Plus, you can choose whether to use our CallGuides UI solution, or use custom agent interfaces that you’ve already created.

We also offer development and consulting services, helping you deploy faster, with less cost, and less risk. Whether you’re looking for advice about how best to go live with Twilio Flex or Amazon Connect, or you need assistance building a bespoke agent interface, our experienced team is here to help out.

Visit contactspacered.com or 4connect.io to learn more about contactSPACE plugins for Twilio Flex and Amazon Connect.