Home > Call Center Software > Amazon Connect > Amazon Connect vs Cisco Contact Center

Amazon Connect vs Cisco Contact Center

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Amazon Connect vs Cisco Contact Center based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Call Center Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Overview Pricing Benefits & Features Analyst Ratings Comparison Charts User Ratings Analyst Summary Screenshots
Amazon Connect Software Tool
SelectHub Award Winner
Cisco Contact Center Software Tool
Get Free Demo Demo    Request Pricing Pricing
Get Free Demo Demo    Request Pricing Pricing

Product Basics

Analyst Rating

83 Detailed Analysis

User Sentiment

Excellent User Sentiment (114 Reviews)

Analyst Rating

94 Detailed Analysis

User Sentiment

Great User Sentiment (261 Reviews)
Amazon Connect is a cloud contact center platform that offers customer service over voice, tasks and chat at a comparatively lower cost. The product uses the Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to record and store exported reports and conversations. From there, it creates default buckets for storage requirements. Its self-service graphical interface helps non-technical users to manage agents, design contact flows and track performance metrics easily without specialized skills. Sales representatives build natural language contact flows with the Amazon Lex with a natural language understanding (NLU) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology powering Amazon Alexa.
read more...

Cisco offers a vast portfolio of products, including calling, contact center, team collaboration, meetings and devices. It delivers call treatment, omnichannel contact management, contact routing and network-to-desktop CTI over an IP infrastructure. Its flexible cloud architecture offers integration and customization along with user experience management.

It gets praise for its varied features and intelligent analytics geared towards improving productivity and customer satisfaction. However, users report that some tools are complex to use. For information about pricing, contact the sales team.

read more...
$0.018/Minute, Usage-Based
Free Trial is available →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$100/User, Monthly
Free Trial is available →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Flexible Pricing: Save more by paying just for the used functionalities and stop/resume any services at any point in time.  
  • High-Quality Audio: Enhance customer experiences with 16kHz audio, packet-loss resistant calls made over the internet from a desktop using the product’s softphone. 
  • Automated Communications: Integrate with Amazon Pinpoint to add outbound email channels and SMS in the product and send communications automatically. Communicate programmatically with the help of outbound API without performing complex and expensive third-party integrations. 
  • Omnichannel Routing: Eliminate working across multiple tools by using a single UI across all communication channels. Increase operational efficiency and avoid rebuilding interaction flows using the same automated chatbots and interactions across voice or chat. Improve customer experience and reduce resolution time by building call flows, reports and rules once and enabling them across channels. 
  • Efficient Routing: Increase efficiency among agents through a single UI engine for chat and calls. Minimize wait times and ensure customer satisfaction by transferring calls to the most appropriate agent based on availability, customer sentiment, history and skillset. 
  • Faster Issue Resolution: Connect knowledge repositories with built-in connectors for third-party applications like ServiceNow and Salesforce, FAQ stores, internal wikis and file shares. Leverage speech analytics powered by machine learning to detect customer issues automatically during calls and then help resolve them in real-time. 
read more...
  • Boost Productivity: Automate everyday tasks to free your team to focus on your customers. Provide 24/7 support, resolve issues on the first contact, reduce wait times and personalize interactions with AI-powered tools.
  • Enhance Customer Experiences: Gain valuable customer insights through cloud data analytics and connect them with experts to improve first contact resolution. Offer proactive and personalized experiences with omnichannel support, predictive routing, CRM integration, outbound campaigns, expert collaboration and 360-degree customer journey analytics.
  • Empower Your Team: Enable your team to connect with customers anytime, anywhere. Quickly route callers to the most suitable agent or provide instant answers through virtual agents. Engage experts for complex interactions, building customer trust and providing context.
  • Optimize Workflows: Streamline team efficiency for consistent, high-quality customer service. Align your workforce management with business objectives. Ensure quality and compliance with robust quality management and call recording tools.
read more...
  • Automation, Omnichannel and Telephony:  
    • Telephony: Eliminate the need to handle multiple vendors, commit to peak call volumes and negotiate complex contracts by simply managing a network of telephony providers from around the world. Access services such as direct inward dial (DID), over 200 calling destinations and toll-free phone numbers in more than20 countries worldwide. Understand proactive monitoring, which can scale up and down within seconds from telephony experts. 
    • Omnichannel: Access contact centers embedded and intelligent high-volume outbound communications across multiple channels. Speak with millions of people daily for marketing promotions, upcoming delivery notifications and appointment reminders. Schedule communications by simply specifying the communication channel and contact list. 
    • Predictive Dialer With Answering Machine Interaction: Increase efficiency by calling customers in a list automatically. Connect only to live customers by detecting busy signals, respond to voicemail greetings through a machine learning model. 
    • Web and Mobile Chat: Offer customers the ability to text agents without being available simultaneously through asynchronous messaging. Take advantage of secure and encrypted chats that support all existing compliance certifications. Talk with Apple Business Chat or iOS messaging through the product’s routing, contact flows and configuration. 
    • Task Management: Maintain a high customer satisfaction rate through follow-up items to resolve customer requests and issues. Prioritize track and assign agent tasks to completion easily. Improve agent productivity by automating tasks that don’t require user interaction. 
    • Automation: Save time and money with intelligent automation and self-service tools such as interactive voice response, natural language chatbots and automated customer voice authentication. Provide a seamless multi-channel communication experience for chat, voice and task management. Improve efficiency and eliminate the need to repeat tasks and functions by automation capabilities. 
read more...
  • Cloud Contact Center
    • Unified Open Platform: Enhance workflow efficiency and business processes, and integrate with business tools with its open platform architecture, agent desktop, management and reporting.
    • Routing and Queue Management: Distribute calls intelligently across teams, agents and remote agents in multiple sites. Create routing strategies to leverage skill assignments at the agent or team level. Match agent skill set and availability with customer needs, priorities and values.
    • Call Distribution: Prioritize call distribution depending on agent capabilities, Designate the way calls are distributed to salespeople and reroute them to another available agent if the prior one is elusive. Put the non-responsive worker to an unavailable state to avoid sending them calls and toggle their status back to an active state once they’re back.
    • Flow Builder: Build custom contact flows over system-generated events, including transfer, hang-up and agent answer, while handling customers with precise routing and workflows. Create, edit or validate flows before publication through an automatic drag-and-drop UI interface. Configure Call Associated Data (CAD) variables, courtesy callbacks and transfer activity based on Estimated Wait Time (EWT) and Place In Queue (PIQ) while customers hear music. Enable custom flow requests, including Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF), playing prompts, touchtone menus, digit collection, screen pops, triggers for feedback and music in the queue with Webex Experience Management.
    • Wrap-Up Codes: Create deposition codes to track the reason for an agent’s inactivity and call’s end.
    • Callback Options: Offer customers the option to leave their contact numbers and receive a callback from agents rather than waiting in a long queue.
    • Disaster Recovery: Redirect traffic during unexpected emergencies such as transport facility outages, natural disasters and power disruptions. Be productive anytime and anywhere only with the availability of a computer, internet connectivity and phone.
    • Single Sign-On: With a one-time login, you can access all Webex applications. Integrate all call center solutions with your Webex Control Hub identity.
    • Webex Control Hub: Offer a blended administration experience for all collaboration services such as messaging, calling and contact center. Enable a simplified and seamless onboarding experience to users for multiple collaboration services through a unified interface along with security, control entitlements and compliance
    • Management Portal: Set up simple, flexible call flows and routing strategies, direct multi-skilled sales representatives to queues and administer a Default Outdial Automatic Number Identification (ANI). Monitor team performances in real time via call monitoring and dashboards, analyze customer trends by accessing historical reporting and analytics and log out team members who are inactive through the agent state dashboard.
    • Supervisory Features: Access calls and listen to conversations from a dial-in connection or corporate network without the agent or caller's knowledge. Barge in or coach during the call at any time and train the agent privately during a live discussion.
    • Email Channel Capabilities: Pull emails from multiple accounts, set up a template with signatures and greetings, route messages by the subject line keyword analysis and edit emails with rich-text capabilities. Access add-on capabilities such as attachment support with configurable limits, wrap-up codes, audible indicators for new emails, conversation history and grouping. Access email reporting in the analyzer and multi-session support for contacts.
    • Text/Social Media Capabilities: Access various features, including secure interactions, wrap-up code for chats, blind/consult transferring and conferencing, submission of customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys, reporting on text/social interactions in Analyzer and customer satisfaction history on social channels.
    • Virtual Agent (Chat and Voice): Offer a 24/7 intuitive, self-service experience across multiple channels with a bot for less complex and simple inquiries to customers. Reduce calls to agents, leading to better customer experiences and improved productivity. Improve call containment with fewer calls escalating to agents, automate more business transactions using self-service and relieve agents from mundane and repetitive tasks.
    • CRM Integrations: CRM Integrations: Improve workflows with pre-built connectors for integration with several leading CRM systems, including Zendsk, Salesforce and MS Dynamics.
    • Flexible Cloud Migration: Take the first steps to the cloud with the "cloud-first-not-cloud-only” approach. With advanced hybrid cloud and flexible consumption services, you can achieve cloud innovation without disturbing existing on-premise models.
  • On-Premise Contact Center
    • Finesse Desktop: Improve agent performances through customizable supervisor and agent desktop layouts, personalized heading and logo, blended agents with outbound and inbound capability, screen-pop-ups with complete information about customers, phonebook, E 164 support, multi-session web chat, live data reporting, agent state and call history and drag and drop gadgets
    • Customer Surveys: Conduct surveys to understand the client’s needs and serve them better. View self-assessments and compare with other team members and boost productivity.
    • Home Agents: Use Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) phone devices to transfer, accept, disconnect and conference calls while Cisco Unified CCX handles interactions.
    • Workflows: Allow simple and easy configuration of complex screen-up actions via REST APIs and Finesse HTTP. Set up actions and workflows for digital and voice channels using an intuitive, logic-based interface that offers better service and reduces handle times.
    • Cloud Connect: Enable customers to connect an on-premises solution to the product’s highly redundant and secure Webex Contact Center and deliver new services and consistent reporting.
    • Next-Generation Reporting: Get live and historical data and dashboards along with flexible presentation options through the Unified Intelligence Center. View historical and live or custom reports depending on the information that needs tracking via existing studies.
    • Open System: Take advantage of hardware platforms to enable various benefits at a modest hardware cost. Access features, including Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)-compliant databases and Java interfaces for CTI applications and integrate them with existing solutions while preserving investments and offering a platform with modern applications.
    • Smart Licensing: Manage licenses across the business with a more agile method and let customers pool licenses across various sites. Redeploy when required and increase usage during burst requirements.
  • Cloud Applications
    • Predictive Analysis: Make informed decisions regarding improving customer and agent experience for positive business outcomes.
    • Financial Analysis: Access a one-page, boardroom-ready financial analysis to get budget and buy-in approval for customer experience initiatives.
    • Journey Path Analysis: Solve the attributes impacting financial metrics and customer experience to get better results.
    • Theme Analysis: Get 95% accuracy while analyzing the theme and sentiment of customers’ unstructured data through AI and machine learning.
    • Dashboards: Create a personalized dashboard and access real-time performances of agents through KPIs, comparisons and analysis.
    • Actionable Insights: Track customer experience and improve performances by turning mounds of data into real-time measurable actions through customer journey maps.
    • Closing The Loop: Improve customer experiences by listening to all customer responses and handling them in real time
    • Question Builder: Add, delete and modify questions easily. Create surveys to analyze customer experience across all channels and touchpoints.
read more...

Product Ranking

#13

among all
Call Center Software

#76

among all
Call Center Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

83
94
78
93
76
98
93
94
Show More Show More
Mobile Capabilities
Platform Capabilities
Voice Intelligence and Analytics
Collaboration
Dialers
Platform Capabilities
Call Routing System
Mobile Capabilities
Collaboration
Voicemail and Messaging

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Amazon Connect
Cisco Contact Center
+ Add Product + Add Product
Calling Capabilities Call Routing System Collaboration Dialers Mobile Capabilities Phone System Voice Intelligence And Analytics Voicemail And Messaging Workforce Management 78 76 93 88 100 88 100 83 35 93 98 94 88 97 93 90 94 88 0 25 50 75 100
78%
0%
22%
87%
9%
4%
76%
0%
24%
94%
6%
0%
86%
0%
14%
86%
14%
0%
88%
0%
12%
88%
0%
12%
100%
0%
0%
100%
0%
0%
88%
0%
12%
88%
6%
6%
100%
0%
0%
88%
0%
12%
57%
43%
0%
86%
14%
0%
0%
0%
100%
83%
0%
17%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

100%
0%
0%
100%
0%
0%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 114 reviews
Great User Sentiment 261 reviews
91%
of users recommend this product

Amazon Connect has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 91% when considering 114 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

83%
of users recommend this product

Cisco Contact Center has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 261 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.3 (34)
4.1 (10)
n/a
4.5 (5)
4.7 (69)
4.4 (116)
4.4 (11)
3.9 (130)

Awards

Amazon Connect stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

we're gathering data

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Easy to Use: The interface is straightforward and intuitive, making it simple for users to learn and navigate the system. This ease of use allows managers and supervisors to independently make changes to call flows and agent groups without relying on others.
Scalability: Amazon Connect's cloud-based nature allows businesses to easily scale their contact center operations up or down as needed. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for businesses with fluctuating call volumes or seasonal demands.
Cost-Effective: The pay-as-you-go pricing model means businesses only pay for the resources they use, making it a cost-effective solution compared to traditional on-premises contact center systems.
Integrations: Amazon Connect integrates seamlessly with other AWS services and third-party applications, allowing businesses to create a unified communications ecosystem. This can include CRM systems, helpdesk platforms, and workforce management tools.
Advanced Features: The platform offers a wide range of features, including skills-based routing, call recording, real-time analytics, and chatbots, enabling businesses to deliver a personalized and efficient customer experience.
Show more
Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Give customers a smoother, more efficient experience. Send calls to the right agent, monitor events and record conversations so customers get help faster and come back for more.
Better Teamwork: Make it easier for your team to work together. Allow them to share information and talk in real time, and help each other solve customer problems.
Business Growth: Expand your teams, connect with other tools you might use and set up the software in different ways to match your growing needs.
Smart Decision-Making: Use real-time data reporting tools to track what's happening in your call center, spot trends in customer questions and improve overall performance.
Show more
Limited Customization: The user interface can be challenging to navigate and customize to specific workflows, especially for complex routing needs or integrations with other systems.
Reporting Challenges: Generating customized reports or accessing granular data for analysis can be difficult, limiting the ability to gain deep insights into call center performance and agent activity.
Learning Curve: The platform's features and functionalities can have a steep learning curve, requiring significant time and effort for users to become proficient, especially those without a technical background.
Show more
Added Initial Costs: While call center software can save you money in the long haul, it can be a bit pricey to get started, especially for smaller businesses. There are the upfront costs of buying the software and then maintenance, like paying subscription fees every month. Companies need to take a good look at their budget and make sure the benefits outweigh those costs.
Connectivity Issues: Cloud-based call center software relies on a steady internet connection for agents who work from home. If the internet goes down, so does communication with customers. Companies should have backup plans in case the internet goes out so they can keep helping customers.
Limited Adaptability: Call center software comes with many features and ways to customize it, but sometimes, it might not do exactly what a business needs. This can lead to figuring out workarounds or having to buy extra software to fill in the gaps, which can make things more complicated and expensive.
Show more

Amazon Connect, the cloud-based contact center software from Amazon Web Services (AWS), has garnered a mixed bag of user reviews over the past year. While some users rave about its user-friendly interface, scalability to accommodate growth, and cost-effectiveness compared to traditional contact center solutions, others point out its limitations in advanced features and express dissatisfaction with customer support. The software's strengths lie in its ease of use, particularly for those familiar with other AWS products, and its pay-as-you-go pricing model, which allows businesses to only pay for what they use. This makes it a great option for startups and small businesses looking for an affordable and scalable solution. However, more established businesses with complex needs may find the lack of advanced features, such as robust workforce management tools, to be a dealbreaker. One of the key differentiators of Amazon Connect is its seamless integration with other AWS services, such as Amazon Lex for chatbots and Amazon Polly for text-to-speech. This allows businesses to easily add AI-powered features to their contact center without the need for extensive coding or third-party integrations. However, this tight integration with the AWS ecosystem can also be a drawback for businesses that use other cloud platforms or have existing investments in third-party contact center solutions. Overall, Amazon Connect is a solid choice for businesses seeking a user-friendly and cost-effective cloud contact center solution, especially those already invested in the AWS ecosystem. However, businesses with complex requirements or those seeking top-tier customer support may want to explore other options.

Show more
we're gathering data
Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Call Center Software

Avaya
Bright Pattern
CallHippo
Cisco Contact Center
CXone
Dialpad Contact Center
Five9
Genesys Cloud CX
RingCentral Contact Center
Salesforce Service Cloud
TalkDesk
Vonage Contact Center
Zendesk Talk

Related Categories

Automatic Call Distribution Software
Call Center Scripting Software
Call Center Software for Small Businesses
Call Monitoring Software
Computer Telephony Integration Software
Show more
Auto Dialer Software
Automatic Call Distribution Software
Call Center Scripting Software
Call Center Software for Small Businesses
Call Monitoring Software
Call Recording Software
Computer Telephony Integration Software
IVR Systems
Predictive Dialer Software
Show more

Head-to-Head Comparison

Amazon Connect VS Avaya
Amazon Connect VS Bright Pattern
Amazon Connect VS CXone
Amazon Connect VS CallHippo
Amazon Connect VS Cisco Contact Center
Amazon Connect VS Dialpad Contact Center
Amazon Connect VS Five9
Amazon Connect VS Genesys Cloud CX
Amazon Connect VS RingCentral Contact Center
Amazon Connect VS Salesforce Service Cloud

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

SelectHub Products Reporting and Analytics
Build Your Requirements
SelectHub Products Cost and Pricing Guide
Get Your Free Comparison Report
Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
    Table settings