The Challenge
A small client running a call-centre needed to replace a costly legacy system that was constantly requiring updates and going down on a weekly basis. They needed a fast, scalable, reliable and cheap alternative with very little ongoing maintenance costs.
The Architecture and why we chose Amazon
We have developed an application where calls are taken and then messages automatically sent to clients. Amazon was chosen due to its highly scalable and available services and was achieved using all serverless architecture to drastically reduce costs and possible downtime.
The system takes messages, submits them to SQS for guaranteed processing and routes to either a modern cloud service for SMS and email, or a legacy PET service for messaging to pagers. Using DynamoDB. API Gateway, Lambda, SQS, SES, SNS, S3 allows us to have very low costs, high reliability and scalability. This combines to have a very low cost of ownership.
This application replaces the two older server based systems that required the developer to access to maintain and repair when things went wrong. Occasionally clients would miss messages and have no way to alert staff this was happening until complaints. To resolve this we implemented SQS dead-letter queues and CloudWatch monitoring to remain on top of any issues.
This client has moved from on premises servers, to AWS EC2 with workspaces. Using soft- phones in workspaces has allowed call-centre staff to work from anywhere. The next phase was to replace the overly complicated server software running the old paging systems.
The Benefits and the Future
The resulting system is fast, scalable, reliable and cheaper than its predecessor and can be run from anywhere there is an internet connection.
After completing the new project, and with moving phones to another platform, it’s now possible to remove workspaces and be totally browser based to run the entire call-centre.
Plans are also in motion to expand the services offered by utilising even more of Amazons services including replacing the server running the VOIP system that handles calls and routes them to physical phone extensions and migrating this to AWS connect for tighter integration.