All news with #product update tag

🔧 Microsoft is addressing a bug that prevents some users from opening Excel email attachments in the new Outlook client when filenames contain non‑ASCII characters. The company says the root cause is a missing encoding in the file‑open requests and that a fix has been developed and deployed for validation. While the rollout is still in progress, affected users are advised to use Outlook on the web or download the file to open it locally as a temporary workaround.

🔒 Kaspersky has released a major update to Kaspersky Embedded Systems Security, targeting the unique risks of legacy and resource-constrained devices. The Windows edition introduces a behavioral analysis engine plus Automatic Exploit Prevention, Anti-Cryptor, a Remediation Engine, BadUSB protection, a firewall, and a security status indicator. The Linux edition adds certificate-based allowlisting and Web Threat Protection to simplify safe updates and guard web-enabled embedded devices. Planned Q1 2026 improvements include MDR integration, BadUSB for Linux, and ARM support.

🛡️ usecure has appointed Kevin Lancaster as a Non-Executive Director to accelerate its North American channel expansion. Lancaster, founder of ID Agent and former head of Channel Program, brings deep channel experience and a proven track record of scaling channel-first security and SaaS businesses. He will work with the board and executive team to help usecure become the leading human risk management solution for MSPs, supporting growth across distribution partners and more than 1,800 MSP partners worldwide.

🧪 Amazon Connect now includes native testing and simulation capabilities that let teams validate contact center workflows, voice self-service, and business conditions with just a few clicks. You can configure caller identity, customer profile, intent (for example “I need to check my order status”), expected responses, and scenarios such as after-hours or full queues. Tests return pass/fail outcomes, execution paths, and detailed logs, and multiple tests can run concurrently to accelerate validation at scale.

🔧 Amazon Connect now enables business users to create and use custom UIs to adjust queues, routing, and customer-experience settings in real time without technical resources. Administrators can define key configurations in data tables and expose role-specific actions through persona-based workspaces to maintain governance and security. These capabilities are available in all AWS regions where Amazon Connect is offered.

🧪 Amazon Connect now provides native testing and simulation capabilities that let contact center teams validate workflows, self-service voice interactions, and outcomes in a few clicks. You can configure test parameters such as caller phone number or customer profile, call intent, expected responses, and business conditions like after-hours or full queues. Tests run concurrently at scale and return pass/fail results with the interaction path and detailed logs to accelerate diagnosis and reduce deployment risk.

🔒 Amazon Connect now intercepts chat messages before delivery to enable automatic sensitive-data redaction and custom message processing. The built-in redaction detects entities such as credit card and social security numbers across multiple language variants and can replace them with generic or entity-specific placeholders (e.g., [PII] or [NAME]). Businesses can also integrate custom processors for translation, profanity filtering, or other transformations to meet compliance and CX needs. The feature is available in multiple AWS regions.

💬 Amazon Connect now streams AI chat messages as they're generated, presenting progressive responses and status prompts such as 'One moment while I review your account.' This reduces perceived wait times and reassures customers that an AI agent is actively reasoning, invoking tools, and composing answers. The feature is available in ten AWS regions and can be integrated into existing contact flows and front-end components to improve conversational transparency and responsiveness.

🔔 Amazon Connect Chat now supports agent-initiated workflows, allowing agents to send interactive forms and present policies or disclosures directly within an active chat so customers can provide sensitive or general information without leaving the conversation. Agents can trigger workflows at any point, making interactions more dynamic and reducing resolution time. By keeping data collection inside the chat, businesses can better preserve security and compliance controls while improving customer experience. The capability is available now in multiple AWS regions.

📣 Amazon Web Services has added a visual journey builder to Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns, enabling creation of multi-step, multi-channel engagement journeys directly in the console. You can orchestrate voice, SMS, email, and WhatsApp interactions and combine time- or behavior-triggered flows. Integrations with existing Connect Flows, AI capabilities, and Customer Profiles let you personalize interactions and route customers to live agents when needed. The feature is available in all AWS Regions that support Outbound Campaigns.

🎨 Amazon Connect now enables administrators to apply custom visual themes to the agent workspace, including logos, fonts, and color palettes tailored for both light and dark modes. Organizations can replace the default interface with a branded experience that aligns the workspace with other company applications, making it more familiar and intuitive for agents. A new header bar gives agents quick access to settings and their light/dark preference, which can help improve satisfaction and efficiency during long shifts.

📘 Amazon Connect now supports connecting existing Amazon Bedrock Knowledge Bases directly to AI agents and allows multiple knowledge bases per agent. You can attach Bedrock KBs in a few clicks with no additional setup or data duplication, and leverage Bedrock connectors such as Adobe Experience Manager, Confluence, SharePoint, and OneDrive. With multiple KBs per agent, AI agents can query several sources in parallel for more comprehensive responses. This capability is available in all AWS Regions where both services are offered.

🔍 Amazon Connect now lets businesses automatically evaluate the quality of self-service interactions and surface aggregated insights to improve customer experience. Managers can define custom criteria and populate evaluations manually or automatically using conversational analytics and other Connect data to detect issues like repeated failures to understand customers, negative sentiment, or transfers to human agents. Insights are available in aggregate and at the individual contact level alongside recordings and transcripts to help identify opportunities to improve AI agent performance.

📧 Amazon Connect now supports automated email responses and routing driven by keyword and phrase conditions. Administrators can add the Get stored content block and combine it with flow constructs such as Check contact attributes and Send message to configure automated replies and routing logic. For example, common queries about product availability or shipment status can be answered without agent involvement, helping increase self‑service, reduce manual handling time, and improve routing accuracy across supported regions.

🤖 Amazon Connect now offers AI-powered case summaries that let agents generate concise, multi-interaction case overviews with a single click. Summaries capture issue background, actions taken, follow-ups, and recommended next steps to reduce manual wrap-up and speed resolutions. Administrators can configure custom prompts and guardrails to enforce organizational style and compliance.

🤖 Amazon Connect now provides AI agents that guide customer service representatives by recommending actions, retrieving information, and executing routine tasks on their behalf. These agents analyze conversation context and customer sentiment in real time to prepare documentation, calculate refunds, and initiate processes such as product returns. Organizations can choose out-of-the-box agents or customize agent behavior and actions to align with business workflows. The automation reduces agent workload, improves consistency, and lets representatives focus on complex, high-value interactions.

🔐 Amazon Connect now offers granular access controls for performance evaluation forms, enabling administrators to restrict who can view, modify, or use specific evaluation templates. Managers can be granted template-specific edit or use permissions aligned to business lines or functions, while agents and managers can be prevented from viewing particular completed evaluations. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access and simplifies form selection during evaluations.

📈 Amazon Connect now enables contact center supervisors to create custom metrics using a simple, no-code interface that applies mathematical operations (for example, addition, subtraction, sum, average) to existing Connect data. Nontechnical users can build tailored KPIs and immediately surface them in dashboards and via APIs without engineering support. Use cases include segmented average handle time, total agent outbound time by product, and queue performance filtered by contact type. The feature is available in all AWS regions offering Amazon Connect.

🎙️ Amazon Connect now supports integrating third-party speech providers for end-customer self-service. You can directly use Deepgram for speech-to-text and ElevenLabs for text-to-speech alongside Amazon Connect’s native speech capabilities, orchestration, analytics, and compliance controls. The feature is available with Amazon Connect unlimited AI in all commercial AWS regions. This gives contact center teams more flexibility to tailor voice experiences and choose models that fit accuracy, latency, customization, and cost priorities.

🔍 Amazon Connect introduces configurable criteria to automatically select relevant contacts for performance evaluations, helping managers target specific interactions for review. Managers can specify attributes such as inbound contacts with no connectivity issues and agent department to trigger a chosen evaluation form. New metric-driven criteria — including agent call avoidance, contact handling efficiency, and audibility — can also automatically populate evaluation fields. This capability is available in all regions where Amazon Connect is offered.