Get Started with Twilio Flex in Minutes

December 17, 2018
Written by
Devang Sachdev
Contributor
Opinions expressed by Twilio contributors are their own

Get Started with Twilio Flex in Minutes

Curious about Twilio Flex but not sure how to get started? Want to know what a contact center application platform is, exactly?

Here’s a quick primer on Twilio Flex and how to launch your contact center in minutes.

What is Twilio Flex?

Flex is a fully programmable contact center platform that enables you to launch a contact center in the cloud instantly. Unlike other cloud-based solutions, you can completely customize any layer of the stack using RESTful APIs and React.js UI components.

We designed Flex to run on top of Twilio's reliable and secure Super Network infrastructure, so it can scale elastically to thousands of agents in the cloud.

Flex Programmability

Want to try Flex for yourself for free?

Click here to create your free Flex account. When you sign up for Flex, you get 5,000 free active user hours that you can use to experiment or build a proof of concept. Active user hours represent the number of hours that your agents, supervisors, and administrators are actively using Flex.

After the first 5,000 free hours, you can choose to pay $1 per active user hour or $150 per named user per month. Both of these plans include workforce optimization and all of Twilio's communication channels (like SMS, Voice, Chat, and more), ready to go out of the box. And as new channels are added to the Flex Marketplace—a continually-growing application platform for pre-built integrations from expert third parties—you can add them in an instant.

Flex Pricing

Carrier connectivity, such as phone numbers, PSTN minutes, and SMS are charged at Twilio’s regular usage-based prices.

How Does Flex Look When Running?

Ready to see Flex in action? We created this video to show how you can deploy a contact center using Flex in minutes. Feel free to follow along in the Twilio console while you watch.

In this video, you'll see how to create a Flex project, name it, and invite others to participate in a few clicks. Twilio will instantly launch an instance of Flex for you that will run at flex.twilio.com. We’ll choose your template and then we'll explore the agent, admin, and supervisor desktops.

Your first task will be an onboarding task which sets up your trial account. From there, you can play around and see what it’s like to call, text, or connect to the contact center via web chat and see how those tasks show up for agents. I’ll show you the supervisor and admin dashboards so you can see how their view looks. You can also configure these templates at any time.

We’ll look at workflows and routing, which you can change through the drag-and-drop visual builder, Studio. I’ll show you how simple it is to edit a flow, such as adding an automated message for your customers.

Using the plug-in model, which makes things easy because you only have to drop in the code for what you are going to change, I’ll show you how to configure a CRM, add a message translator plug-in, and add sentiment analysis. I’ll also show you an example of complete customization of a supervisor desktop.

Lastly, we’ll take a look at Flex Workforce Optimization (WFO). (Keep in mind that your free Flex account does not include Flex WFO, but this is available once you upgrade to a paid account.) We’ll navigate through different dashboards, analyze reports, and create assessments. We’ll also look at different KPIs for different time periods.

Ready to go? Get started at twilio.com/flex.