Getting started with Zendesk Contact Center (app)

This article helps admins get started with Zendesk Contact Center for accounts using the Zendesk Application Framework Contact Center app.


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Contact Center








Summary: ◀▼


Get started with Contact Center by understanding its core components like
Amazon Connect and the Contact Center app, which integrates telephony and
customer support. Review your configuration, test the setup with agent login
and call functionality, and inform agents with helpful resources. Monitor
activity using customizable dashboards to track real-time and recent performance
metrics, ensuring smooth operation and effective customer support management.





This article helps admins get started with Zendesk Contact Center for accounts using the
Zendesk Application Framework Contact Center app.
If you manage your own instance of AWS Connect, you might need to run through the
installation first, see Implementing Contact Center.
This article contains the following topics:

Understanding Contact Center components
Reviewing the Contact Center configuration
Testing your Contact Center installation
Informing your agents
Monitoring Contact Center activity
Next steps



Understanding Contact Center components

The following components are the key building blocks of Contact Center and how they
interact.


Amazon Connect

Amazon Connect (Connect) is a cloud-based contact center service provided by AWS
that helps you set up and manage customer support calls and chats. Think of it
as the telephony and contact routing engine for Contact Center. It handles phone
calls, queues, contact flows, and more. Connect is the foundation of Contact
Center. Every customer who uses Contact Center either has a Zendesk-provisioned
AWS account or manages their own instance in their AWS account. Each Contact
Center environment links one-to-one with a specific Connect instance. You can't
link multiple Connect instances to one Contact Center account or vice versa.



Contact Center app

Zendesk Contact Center is an app built by Zendesk that integrates with Connect.
It provides an intuitive agent interface and additional features, such as
omnichannel inbox, AI-powered tools, and advanced dashboards, to enhance the
Connect experience. Agents log into the Contact Center web interface to receive
calls or messages, handled through the customer’s Connect instance.
Contact Center is deployed in an AWS environment. All customer and contact center
data, including call recordings and customer info, stays in a customer specific
AWS account instead of Zendesk's servers. This helps to ensure security and
privacy.
After Contact Center and Connect are linked, these operate as a unified contact
center solution.
For more information, see Navigating the Contact Center app.



Zendesk Identity Provider

Zendesk provides single sign-on (SSO) by acting as a SAML 2.0 identity provider
(IdP) to the AWS services that power Contact Center. You keep using your
corporate IdP to sign in to Zendesk, such as Okta, Entra ID, or Google
Workspace. After you sign in to Zendesk, it acts as a SAML 2.0 IdP and signs you
in to Amazon Connect, Amazon Cognito, and the AWS Management Console with
IdP-initiated SAML SSO. You don’t need to configure separate SSO integrations
for those services, and your multi-factor authentication (MFA) and access
policies stay in your IdP. This is built for Contact Center’s AWS services, not
as a general SAML broker for arbitrary third-party service providers.




Reviewing the Contact Center configuration

After Zendesk provides your instance details and credentials, familiarize yourself
with and review your configuration settings:


Overview of Contact Center
settings


Accessing workflows in Contact
Center


Configuring number assignments and
voicemail for direct agent routing


Creating quick connects for Contact
Center


Additionally, if you need to review your instance users, see Setting up users and access.



Testing your Contact Center installation

After Zendesk completes the installation of your instance, you're ready to test
Contact Center to ensure everything is working correctly.
To test Contact Center


Navigate to the Contact Center agent login page, https://${Zendesk
Instance Host}/agent.


Sign in with SSO.


Access the Contact Center app.


Check agent status and make a call
You can verify connectivity by seeing if the Connect softphone and agent
status controls load in Contact Center.
For example, you might see your Connect agent status indicator in Contact
Center and be able to change status or make a test outbound call if you've
claimed a number. This indicates the integration is working.


If you're having problems, see Troubleshooting Contact Center.



Informing your agents

Here are some useful resources to help your agents get started using Contact
Center:


Navigating the Contact Center
desktop


Configuring Contact Center browser
notifications


Managing calls in Contact
Center


Selecting a queue for outbound
calls


Adding notes to contacts in Contact
Center


Manually associating Contact Center calls
to tickets


Understanding the end of day process in
Contact Center





Monitoring Contact Center activity

Contact Center dashboards give you insights into your call center activity:


Realtime snapshot dashboard shows metrics in nearly real-time.


Recent performance dashboard shows activity from the last 24
hours.


You can customize the dashboards to your specific monitoring needs. For more
information, see Understanding Contact Center dashboards.



Next steps



Contact Center general integration
settings


Mapping and displaying Contact
Attributes


Accessing call recording and
transcription settings in Contact Center




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