Daniel C.
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Verified by
Inês P.
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Last updated:
September 26, 2024
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As the name implies, Twilio Flex offers one of the most flexible contact center systems on the market. You can personalize everything and – if you know how to code – you’ll be able to quickly build the contact center you always wished for. That being said, Twilio Flex is not for less tech-savvy users or contact center software beginners. While the platform makes it extremely easy for developers to deploy a contact center within a few hours, it can be quite challenging for the laymen out there. It’s not just the software that is innovative, though. Unlike most of its competitors, Twilio Flex offers the option to only charge for the time spent using it. For as low as $1 per hour per user, Twilio Flex can potentially be one of the best contact center systems out there.
In a nutshell, Twilio offers a user-friendly console to help developers establish communication systems easily. However, the company has gone one step further by designing its own contact center software that you can use as a blank canvas for your system called Twilio Flex. Instead of coding, most settings can be configured in a visual way, which helps non-developers tremendously.
As an omnichannel platform, Twilio Flex allows you to answer calls, text messages, and use WhatsApp. You can even integrate Twilio Flex into your web chat, allowing contact agents to answer any queries from people visiting your website without having to change platforms. Configuring each of these channels is also a fairly intuitive process so anyone can develop a seamless customer experience through intelligent call routing, IVR, and more. While the number of options available may scare some users away, Twilio Flex’s main objective is to offer as much flexibility as possible – a promise on which it certainly delivers.
When it comes to call handling, Twilio Flex includes all the features you need. From call whispering to warm transfer and callback queue, everything can be implemented. Obviously, this is also true for reporting. It’s common sense that analytics play a huge part in running a thriving contact center, so Twilio Flex provides the ability to check both detailed reporting and live metrics to help managers handle day-to-day tasks.
With such flexible software, it’s not surprising that there are more than 500 integrations to choose from. You can either use Twilio Flex’s API to create your own or use Zapier for a more direct approach. If you don’t know how to code and don’t want to pay for a developer to do the integrations for you, then you can read Twilio Flex’s blogs and tutorials on how to integrate the service with the most popular apps.
Unfortunately, the platform only provides two built-in integrations for CRM powerhouses Salesforce and Zendesk. Like everything with Twilio, the sky’s the limit, but it may be too challenging for less tech-savvy people.
Setting up Twilio Flex is more time-consuming than it is with fully designed platforms. Although the foundation is there, you need to create everything else. So, don’t expect to have your contact center up and running within a few minutes. However, compared to actually coding your contact center, Twilio Flex is much more straightforward, as most settings can be configured through a drag-and-drop builder. When it comes to using the contact center itself, Twilio Flex works as smoothly as you made it out to be. All the tools are there, and you can either end up with one of the best contact centers or a buggy platform that doesn’t even route calls effectively.
Unfortunately, you can only use Twilio Flex through a browser, as there’s neither a desktop nor a mobile app. The platform is fairly easy to use and navigate, though. Considering that Twilio Flex’s main selling point is how straightforward it is to create a contact center from scratch, it makes sense that special attention was given to the user interface.
By providing a drag-and-drop tool to configure almost everything instead of hard coding, setting up your customer center is straightforward as well. One good example of that is the IVR configuration, where setting up what the platform should do when receiving a call, SMS, or web chat message is child’s play.
By only charging for the hours your customer agents work on the platform ($1 per hour per user), Twilio Flex offers great flexibility when it comes to its price. However, this can be a double-edged sword, as it may end up being more expensive than its competitors. For example, the price of having one agent available 24/7 is a whopping $720 at the end of the month. Even if you only have your customer support open during business hours, five days a week, the monthly price is still quite expensive – $160. On the other hand, if you own a small business that answers customer requests sporadically, Twilio Flex can be one of the most affordable options on the market. If you don’t want to pay per hour, you can get Twilio Flex for a flat monthly rate of $150 per user.
It’s essential to consider that the time spent setting up your contact center (and solving any bugs) also counts as usage time, so make every minute count. Fortunately, the company provides a free trial that allows you to spend 5,000 hours using the platform without paying a dime. This is more than enough to build your contact center the way you want and test everything out to see if it’s working. Bear in mind that this allowance is a total and not per user, e.g. if you have five users working on your contact center, each one would have 1,000 free hours, maximum.
One of the best parts of Twilio Flex is the number of tutorials and helpful blog posts explaining how to do everything yourself. This is perfect for anyone who wants to embark on the adventure of building a contact center themselves, as there’s much to read and learn. Other than that, Twilio’s client service isn’t anything to write home about, as you’ll need to pay for it separately. There are three different tiers: production, business, and personalized, which cost either 4%, 6%, or 8% of your monthly spend. Not only that, but there’s also a minimum threshold for each customer support subscription. For example, if you go for the production plan, you’ll have to pay at least $250 per month, even if you only spend 50 hours using the platform. Since you’re paying quite a lot, you can obviously count on great customer support. Still, it’s far from ideal, as most contact center software providers offer reliable customer support without asking you to pay extra. Meanwhile, users who don’t pay for customer support can only get in touch with the company through email.
Twilio Flex is the perfect place to create a customized contact center without having to hard code it. So, if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s the ideal platform. However, if you aren’t comfortable with technology and don’t have the money to spend on a developer, we recommend using standard contact center software instead. While Twilio Flex provides all the necessary information to help you get started with your contact center, setting it up is time-consuming. Not only that, but if you aren’t entirely sure of what you’re doing, you may end up with a faulty platform that can’t even do the basics. Pricing-wise, Twilio Flex can also be quite expensive, as a full-blown contact center operating 24/7 will be far more expensive with Twilio Flex than the competition’s highest-tier plans. Fortunately, Twilio Flex offers a generous free trial with enough hours to set up and test your contact center platform.
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