The Amazon Chime SDK announces Alexa skill calling

The Amazon Chime SDK enables developers to add intelligent real-time audio, video, and screen share to their web and mobile applications. Today, the Amazon Chime SDK announces the launch of Alexa skill calling, a new feature that enables placing calls from custom Alexa skills to destinations including existing contact centers, CRMs, or telephone systems. Skill users place calls using simple voice commands. For example, a skill user can open a skill and use a command like “Call customer support” and be connected to an existing support process. With this new capability, Alexa devices can provide a streamlined customer engagement experience, fully integrated with existing customer engagement workflows. When skill users place calls, the call is routed to an Amazon Chime SDK SIP Media Application where it can then be routed to an existing contact center flow over SIP, a phone number, or connected to an Amazon Chime SDK meeting. Relevant data such as the username, account ID, and reason for the call is attached by skill developers to the communication session to help reduce handle times and improve customer satisfaction scores. Users calling via Alexa skills also benefit from high-quality audio with optional background noise and echo suppression powered by the Amazon Chime SDK. Skill developers can add calling by adding call intents to their skill, then configuring their skill to connect to a SIP Media Application in the Amazon Chime SDK console using the option for Alexa Calling under Alexa Skill Configuration. Developers can then route calls to the desired destination within the AWS Lambda function used for the SIP Media Application. To learn more, see the [Amazon Chime SDK Developer Guide](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/chime-sdk/latest/dg/alexa-calling.html).