How to Choose an Amazon Connect Partner in 2026: 6 Key Criteria

Almost 10 years ago, Amazon Web Services introduced Amazon Connect as a cloud-based contact center service with the goal of making it easy to deliver better customer service at lower costs. But over the years Amazon Connect grew well beyond its early contact center foundations. What began as a way to move the contact center to the cloud evolved into a much broader customer experience platform.

In 2026, AWS took a much bigger step and expanded into a broader family of Agentic AI powered solutions. The original customer experience platform became Amazon Connect Customer, alongside Amazon Connect Decisions for supply chain planning and intelligence, Amazon Connect Health for healthcare workflows, and Amazon Connect Talent for hiring and talent acquisition.

This expansion changes the conversation around choosing an Amazon Connect Partner.

Simply asking whether a provider has “Amazon Connect experience” is no longer specific enough. A partner with deep experience designing and migrating enterprise contact centers may have very different capabilities from a provider equipped to support agentic AI in supply chain or healthcare environments.

So, what should you actually look for in an Amazon Connect partner in 2026?

In this guide, we’ll break down six key criteria to help you choose the right Amazon Connect partner based on where your organization is today and where you want to take your customer experience next.

What does “Amazon Connect Partner” mean in 2026?

Traditionally, Amazon Connect partners have been AWS certified vendors that help organizations design, deploy, integrate, operate, and scale Amazon Connect contact center environments. With the expansion of Amazon Connect, however, it's important to first establish what you need to accomplish. The Amazon Connect portfolio now spans four distinct solutions:

• Amazon Connect Customer: The evolution of the original Amazon Connect platform, bringing together omnichannel customer engagement, human and AI agents, analytics, workforce capabilities, and automation.
• Amazon Connect Decisions: Agentic AI for supply chain planning, forecasting, analysis, and operational decision-making.
• Amazon Connect Health: Purpose-built agentic AI for healthcare, spanning patient engagement and clinical workflows.
• Amazon Connect Talent: AI-powered hiring capabilities for interviewing, assessing, and evaluating candidates at scale.

While these solutions share the Amazon Connect name, they address very different business problems and require different areas of expertise. Their partner ecosystems also differ: Amazon Connect Customer has the most established AWS partner ecosystem, Amazon Connect Health has dedicated partner categories, while Decisions and Talent do not currently have equivalent Connect-specific partner designations.

Before comparing providers, define which solution and use case you need help with. From there, you can evaluate partners based on the AWS credentials, technical capabilities, industry knowledge, and real-world experience most relevant to your project.

6 Things to Look for in an Amazon Connect Partner 

1. Check their AWS partner status and specializations:

AWS uses partner tiers, competencies, and service delivery designations to recognize providers with demonstrated AWS expertise and experience. A provider's AWS Services Path tier can give you an initial indication of the strength and maturity of its overall AWS practice.

More importantly, look for AWS credentials specific to the Amazon Connect solution you're implementing, where available. For example, the Amazon Connect Customer Competency validates a partner's technical expertise and proven customer success with Amazon Connect Customer. USAN is one of the partners that holds this competency.

For newer solutions, equivalent credentials may not yet exist, so you'll need to place greater weight on relevant technical and industry experience.

2. Look for relevant, proven experience to your industry:

AWS credentials are a good starting point, but they don't replace real-world delivery experience.

Consider the size and complexity of the deployments they've completed, as well as the industry-specific use cases they've successfully implemented and managed. A partner that understands your industry's workflows, customer expectations, and regulatory requirements will be better positioned to design a solution around your actual business needs.

A good place to validate this experience is the provider's resources and customer success pages. Look for case studies, customer stories, webinars, and other examples that demonstrate what they've delivered and the results they've achieved.

For example, you can review USAN's resources for Amazon Connect implementations and customer use cases. You can also speak directly with the partner and ask for examples relevant to your industry, challenges, and desired outcomes.

Ultimately, look at how closely their experience aligns with what you're trying to achieve and whether they can demonstrate measurable results.

3. Assess their AI and automation capabilities:

With agentic AI now playing a much larger role across Amazon Connect, evaluate whether a partner can go beyond simply enabling AI features to help you deliver real business value.

Look at their experience with AI agents, self-service automation, agent assistance, conversational AI, contact analytics, and workflow automation. More importantly, ask how they've applied these capabilities in real customer environments and what outcomes they've achieved.

It's also worth looking at the AI-powered solutions, products, and accelerators the partner has developed. These can demonstrate both technical depth and practical experience applying AWS AI capabilities to real contact center challenges.

Don't evaluate AI capabilities based on demos or claims alone. Look for production use cases, purpose-built solutions, and measurable results that demonstrate the partner can turn Amazon Connect's AI capabilities into practical business outcomes.

4. Evaluate their integration and migration expertise:

Look for a partner with proven experience migrating contact centers to Amazon Connect and integrating the platform with the systems your business relies on, such as CRM, workforce management, and other enterprise applications.

Some partners also offer packaged migration programs that can provide a more defined path to deployment. For example, USAN's CX Launch + Innovate is designed to fully deploy Amazon Connect Customer and incorporate AI-powered capabilities in 12 weeks.

When comparing partners, consider whether they offer a proven migration approach that aligns with your environment and goals while minimizing disruption to your operations.

5. Evaluate security, compliance, and governance:

Contact centers process large amounts of sensitive customer data, so look for a partner that understands the security, privacy, and regulatory requirements relevant to your organization and industry.

A strong partner should be able to help you take advantage of AWS's security and compliance controls while applying practices such as encryption, access controls, secure data handling, and ongoing governance to your Amazon Connect environment.

Also consider the partner's experience with regulations and standards relevant to your business. Look for AWS-validated security and compliance expertise where applicable, as well as real-world experience helping organizations protect customer data and maintain compliance as their contact center evolves. Your partner should help you build an environment that protects customer data and reinforces trust.

6. Consider implementation, support, and long-term optimization:

A successful Amazon Connect launch is only the beginning. When evaluating a partner, consider the support they provide throughout implementation and beyond go-live.

Look for managed services or support offerings that include ongoing monitoring, optimization, troubleshooting, cost management, and guidance as Amazon Connect introduces new capabilities.

Some partners offer structured packages for this. For example, USAN's CX Evolve Managed Services provides ongoing technical support, optimization, and strategic guidance for organizations running Amazon Connect.

Also consider how proactive the partner is. The right partner should help you identify opportunities to improve performance, manage costs, strengthen governance, and adopt new AI and automation capabilities over time.

Why does the right Amazon Connect Partner matter?

The right Amazon Connect partner should bring more than technical expertise. They should understand your industry, support your migration and integrations, help you make the most of AI, and provide the security and ongoing support needed to drive long-term value.

As you compare partners, use these six criteria to look beyond credentials. Consider what each provider has delivered, how closely their experience aligns with your goals, and whether they can support your contact center as your needs evolve.

Choosing the right partner can help reduce implementation risk, accelerate time to value, and position your Amazon Connect environment for continued innovation.

How USAN can help:

As an experienced Amazon Connect partner, USAN can support you throughout your contact center journey, from migration and implementation to AI, integrations, and ongoing optimization.

Whether you're moving to Amazon Connect, looking to expand your AI capabilities, or need help optimizing your existing environment, USAN brings the expertise, solutions, and managed services to help you get more from your investment.

Have more questions? Talk to a USAN expert about your Amazon Connect goals and find the right path forward.