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About Standby

What is Standby?

On-call for Amazon Connect contact centers. Rules watch your queues day and night; when one is crossed, Standby reaches whoever is on call, by notification and then a phone call, and they can cap or close the queue from their phone. How it works

Which Amazon Connect do I need?

Amazon Connect Customer, the contact center part of Amazon Connect, with an instance in US East (N. Virginia) or US West (Oregon). Before you install

Can I try it first?

Yes. The live demo is the real console on a made-up contact center, with nothing to install. Free trials open soon: 30 days of the Business plan, with no card, starting when your stack first sends queue figures. Try the live demo

Pricing and billing

How much does it cost?

Per person: Team is $29 and Business $49 per seat per month, from 5 seats. Paying yearly costs ten months' price. Pricing

Are phone calls extra?

Not from us: paging is never metered. Calls are placed through your own Connect instance, so they appear on your AWS bill at Connect's usual per-minute rate. Billing and refunds

Who counts as a seat?

Anyone in your workspace who isn't disabled, member or admin, including people invited who haven't signed in yet. Billing in the console

How do I cancel?

An admin cancels in the console under Settings → Billing → Manage billing. It stops at the end of the period you've paid for. Billing, cancellation and refunds

Installing

How long does installing take?

About ten minutes. You open a link in your AWS console, fill in your instance ID and a few details, and CloudFormation creates everything. Install the stack, with screenshots

What can Standby do in my AWS account?

Only what the stack's role allows, and only on the one Connect instance you name: read its configuration and queue figures, change two queue settings that undo themselves, and place paging calls. It can't read recordings or transcripts. What Standby can and can't do

Will it change my contact flows?

No. Standby never edits your flows. You check two branches in them once, so a capped or closed queue sends callers where you want. Check your contact flows

Somebody here already uses Standby. Can I install it too?

Not on the same Connect instance: each instance belongs to one workspace, and the install says which. Ask that workspace's admin to invite you. Install the stack

How do I remove Standby?

Delete the standby stack in CloudFormation. Any queue change still in force is put back first. Removing Standby

Being paged

How does Standby reach the person on call?

A notification first, another a few minutes later, then a phone call. If nobody answers, the next person on the rotation, and so on. Rotations and paging

Is there a limit on how often it calls?

No, unless a rotation sets one. The same alarm firing again within 20 minutes updates the open incident instead of calling again. How many calls

My phone is on Do Not Disturb. Will I miss calls?

Possibly. Let Standby's calls through Do Not Disturb; the app shows how when you add your phone. Set up your phone

How do I know it will work at 2am?

Send yourself a test notification, then run a practice drill: it pages exactly who a real incident would. Prove the whole chain works

How do I set up an on-call line, so callers can reach whoever is on call?

Callers ring one number and wait in a queue; Standby wakes whoever is on call and they take the call in Amazon Connect. The caller never learns anyone's personal number. In short:

1. Create the queue, its flows and a phone number. In the Standby console, On-call → After-hours calls opens a template that does all three in your AWS account. Or point your main number's out-of-hours branch at the queue.
2. Add the queue to the routing profile of everyone on the rotation, at priority 1, so Connect offers them the call.
3. Have a rotation for the people who take these calls.
4. Write the rule: contacts waiting in that queue, above 0 (thresholds mean "more than", so 0 fires on the first caller), push then call even in quiet hours, paging the rotation.
5. Make it live and test it: promote the rule early, then call the number.

Your own on-call line, step by step

The app

Which phones does it work on?

iPhone and Android. Get started with the app

Why does adding a phone need a code or an approval?

So a stolen password alone can't add a phone that approves queue changes. Your first phone is confirmed with a code emailed to you; later ones are approved on a phone you already have. Set up your phone

How are queue changes approved?

With Face ID or a fingerprint on your enrolled phone. Every change has an end time and undoes itself. Fixing a queue from your phone

I lost my phone. What now?

On any other enrolled phone, open Settings → Devices and tap Revoke next to it. If you get a "phone added" email you didn't expect, its Not me link removes that phone and signs you out everywhere. Set up your phone

Security and your data

Does Standby listen to calls or see my customers?

No. It works from queue figures, such as how many are waiting and for how long. It never receives recordings, transcripts or caller details. Security

Where is my data kept?

In Amazon Web Services in the United States. Privacy policy

Can we sign in with our company account?

Yes, on Business: single sign-on with SAML or OpenID Connect. Single sign-on

How do I delete my account?

Ask your workspace admin, or email usprivacy@contact-iq.com. Delete your account