Amazon Connect Now Supports Additional Options When Transferring to External Phone Numbers
Amazon Connect offers three new options when transferring a call to a 3rd party phone number from a contact flow. First, you can now send DTMF touchtones to the recipient of the transferred call. Second, you can now programmatically select which caller ID to display. Third, you can continue to engage with the customer when the transfer to the 3rd party ends, by returning the customer to Amazon Connect and resuming the contact flow from which the call was transferred, instead of hanging up the call.
With these new transfer capabilities, you can better integrate with legacy IVR or voice systems outside of Amazon Connect. For example, when transferring to a local banking center, you could dynamically select a local phone number to display as caller ID, and send DTMF touchtone digits to select the extension of a specific employee. When the customer is finished, you can resume after transfer so the customer can resume interacting with the contact flow or be routed to one of your agents. Enterprises have accelerated their migrations to Amazon Connect by using this feature to temporarily transfer to their legacy IVR systems, until they complete their migration.
To learn more, see the AWS Contact Center blog, and review the documentation at Using Contact Flow Resume After Transfer in the Amazon Connect User Guide. The updated Transfer to phone number block is available in all AWS regions where Amazon Connect is offered. There is no additional charge, beyond standard pricing for service usage, and associated telephony rates. To learn more about Amazon Connect, please visit the Amazon Connect website.