As a member of the Amazon Web Services Partner Network, Perficient combines cloud expertise with the power of AWS to enable quick access to innovative technologies. Clients can spend more time on their core business competencies and less time worrying about the technology behind it.
A product within the Amazon Web Services platform, Amazon Connect creates powerful customer service solutions, providing an easy-to-use, cloud-based customer contact center that scales to support organizations of any size. We’re experts in the implementation, migration and on-going management of Amazon Connect services. In our on-going series about our Amazon Connect team, we hear from Technical Consultant Ben Yoo.
Can you tell me a bit about your education and technology background?
I went to Wilfred Laurier University where I earned my Bachelor’s of Business Administration. After graduating, I went into sales. I started out going door-to-door, fully on commission, no salary. I became really good at it and was promoted to manager. Five years later, I was leading teams and running an office of 30 to 40 people.
At that point, I said to myself “I want to run my own company one day.” That’s where my transition to tech happened. I started learning the basics of coding online and fell in love with it – I knew I wanted to make a career change. So I went back to school, attending a full-stack web development boot camp called Lighthouse Labs. They focus on giving you not only a strong foundation, but also on teaching you how to learn. In this field, things change so fast. You have to be able to pick up new languages and technologies quickly. And having the confidence to do that is a big part of being a good programmer.
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After I graduated, I started with Perficient, where I’ve been ever since.
What’s your job title and could you describe what a typical day looks like for you?
My job title is Technical Consultant. Currently the majority of my day is focused on software development work. In tandem with that, I need to have a strong understanding of what features a business I’m working with needs. For example, a company might come to me and say ‘Hey Ben, we want to be able to collect debit or credit card numbers to process payments.’ I then have to flesh that out technically from start to finish. That involves everything from developing in node JS, to being able to handle the logic on the user-facing contact center so that customers can input their card numbers securely.
What about AWS and Amazon Connect excites you?
I’ll start with AWS – what really excites me about it is that you can truly create anything you can imagine. My problem as a developer before was ‘It’s great that I can build this app or website, but the cost of hosting it is just way too much.’ Then AWS came along. It’s pay-per-use and you don’t have to worry about hosting because of their server-less technology. That’s a game changer.
With respect to Amazon Connect, I think the coolest part for me is you can automate tasks that previously required manual involvement. You can use Lex to handle all your contact flows and customize the logic there. You don’t need to have agents handle calls anymore.
What do you like most about working with clients?
For me, it’s the unlimited opportunity not only to make an impact on their business, but for my own personal knowledge growth. It’s been amazing to be able to understand how (enterprise level companies) vet the features and the potential applications they want to develop. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is how much of a focus on user experience they have. At the end of the day, a customer doesn’t care about features or technical depth if the user experience is bad.
Do you have any advice to companies who would like to make the change to new tech, but who are overwhelmed?
You’re right, it is daunting at first. If someone told me to switch from a familiar system to a new one, I’d feel the same way. But the world of technology changes so fast. There are too many new features, too many new technologies. If you’re stuck in an old system, you will be left behind in a couple of years anyway. It’s not going to get easier if you wait longer. If anything it will be harder. Sometimes it’s best to just dive in.
For more information about how Perficient can help you get the most out of Amazon Connect, please contact us for a demo.
