DJ, turn it up: An interactive demo of Amazon Connect for AWS re:Invent
How Slalom and its emerging cloud professionals automated song requesting with AWS services
If Slalom is the DJ, then the dance floor — or one of them — has to be Las Vegas. Specifically, Vegas during AWS re:Invent, the annual, weeklong learning conference that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has hosted in the city for years (save for an all-virtual re:Invent in 2020). During a midweek celebration co-hosted with Matillion and Databricks, Slalom provided an interactive demonstration of a solution that automatically processes song requests using AWS services such as Amazon Connect and Amazon Lex.
Helming the DJ table and wearing a literal helmet while doing so was Slalom’s Dave Ducat, Midwest Solutions Director for Slalom’s global AWS team. Guests were able to submit their song requests through a chat bot widget embedded on a web page. Then DJ Dave, acting as an “agent” in this scenario, accepted the requests through a homegrown administrative dashboard. Accepted songs were then added to our event playlist. Presto! But this solution was more than a party trick; it was its own learning opportunity for the people who helped build it: the inaugural cohort of Slalom’s AWS Cloud Residency. The Cloud Residency is a 2-year immersive program aimed at helping emerging technical professionals build valuable consulting experience, primarily through focused leadership development and hands-on customer work.
Keep reading to learn more about Slalom’s AWS Cloud Residency and why today’s companies might want to use Amazon Connect.
When should companies consider Amazon Connect?
Many of our customers use Amazon Connect when they want to transform their organizations’ contact centers. Often used interchangeably with “call centers”, contact centers are the interaction arms for organizations’ sales, service, and marketing functions. In an increasingly digital world, contact centers have fast become the new front doors of business. Moving to a cloud-based contact center solution can help organizations quickly enable capabilities including:
- Skills-based contact routing
- Voice & chat recording
- Real-time and historical analytics
To further enable customer service innovation, organizations with cloud-based contact center solutions like Amazon Connect can securely integrate their CRM data with their contact center to allow for more personalized user experiences. When combined with AI-powered chatbot services that work with Amazon Connect — such as Amazon Lex — this CRM data can also significantly improve the self-service experience for customers, making it a more viable alternative to agent interactions than it’s ever been before.
In a byte (≤256 characters): Consider Amazon Connect when you need to harness comprehensive information about customers, partners, or suppliers in real/near-real time to provide better user experiences. Personalize/enhance these by incorporating AI services or your org’s CRM data.
Cloud Residents: Helping redefine what’s possible
Pictured here is an architecture diagram of what Slalom’s AWS Cloud Residents created.
A team of three Cloud Residents mentored by one Slalom Solutions Principal built this solution in less than a month. They spun up an Amazon Connect instance connected to Amazon Lex V2, collectively deciding to explore the new and less documented deep learning technologies that come with the second version of the AWS AI service, such as natural language understanding (NLU) and automatic speech recognition (ASR). Lastly, the team wrapped it all up with a front end designed for two types of users: guests and then agent monitors (in the demo, Dave Ducat).
“The speed and agility with which the Cloud Residents are able to pick up the AWS material, quickly go into the console, and spin up these capabilities is just phenomenal,” said Robert Jin, Slalom Solutions Principal and mentor for the AWS Cloud Residents. “There’s a lot of openness to learning the new technologies surrounding the AWS ecosystem.”
Slalom’s AWS Cloud Residency was developed in part to address a global shortage in cloud skills, one that AWS and forward-thinking organizations in the AWS Partner Network (APN) are trying to fill through a variety of initiatives. While Cloud Residents occasionally work on demos like the one presented during the re:Define Connections event, much of their time is spent supporting customer work that is critical to effective cloud migration and modernization. This work includes migration readiness assessments, analysis of cloud ROI and total cost of ownership (TCO), and rehosting applications on AWS.
“I knew AWS was going to be the future”
Taha Khomusi, a Cloud Resident in Chicago, says he joined Slalom’s AWS Cloud Residency because, “I knew AWS was going to be the future and I really wanted to be part of a company that did that.” Adds Shazor Shahid, a Boston-based Cloud Resident: “The cloud is not really taught as part of the main curriculum at most universities, including the one I went to, but I always wanted to explore it.”
Like Khomusi, part of Shahid’s decision to apply for the program came from a feeling that more widespread adoption of cloud computing is on the horizon — a feeling shared by many of us at Slalom. And with programs to expand our cloud talent like the AWS Cloud Residency, Slalom is readier than ever to help organizations join the movement.
Want to learn more?
Check out Slalom’s contact center solution site for case studies, articles, and more related to our work with Amazon Connect.
Still curious about Slalom’s AWS Cloud Residency? View our latest Cloud Residency job posting.
Lily Hicks is a writer on Slalom’s global AWS team. She turns bright ideas from Slalom’s great minds into stories with actionable advice for technology professionals.
Special thanks to:
Dave Ducat, Midwest Solutions Director, Global AWS Team
Sara Rogers, Senior Analyst, Global AWS Team
Robert Jin, Solutions Principal, Slalom Seattle
Taha Khomusi, Associate Consultant, Slalom Chicago
Shazor Shahid, Associate Consultant, Slalom Boston
Alex Yi, Associate Consultant, Slalom Seattle
Slalom Technology is created by IT industry leaders and practitioners from Slalom, a global consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation.
