Customers like Slack choose the Amazon Chime SDK for real-time communications

Amazon Chime is a meetings and video conferencing service. Developers can use the same communications infrastructure to add audio, video, and screen sharing capabilities directly to their applications using the Amazon Chime SDK. Since the launch of the Amazon Chime SDK at re:Invent 2019, many of our customers have been using the SDK to embed voice and video into their business processes. For example, our customers have used the SDK for use cases like online consultations, virtual doctor visits, or virtual house tours. For these customers, video was an important capability that belonged within the context of their own application, not just a destination in another video conferencing experience. Recently, Slack chose the Amazon Chime SDK to power real-time communications as part of Slack calls and began roll-out this week.

Last year at re:Invent, our colleagues at Slack asked an interesting question, “Could we use the Amazon Chime SDK to power Slack calls?” Over the past several months, teams from both Amazon Web Services and Slack worked hard to make that possible. Slack chose AWS and the Amazon Chime SDK for a number of reasons. First was the Amazon Chime focus on security. Because the audio and video experience from the SDK is embedded in Slack, Slack can control the security posture of the media session and has flexibility for a completely customized user experience. Slack is a loved and used application around the world, so it was important that Amazon Chime had global coverage to ensure media optimization regardless of user location.

Although other partners provide meetings add-ons within the Slack Directory, it was important to offer native experiences in Slack without users having to open a separate application. Slack users can initiate audio and video calls to other Slack users from a direct message, a group direct message or a channel. Slack users will not otherwise notice any immediate changes. Slack will be able to use the Amazon Chime SDK to enable and rapidly deploy future innovations as they are available.

Other customers in industries from healthcare to education to fitness have also embraced the flexibility of the Amazon Chime SDK. For example, Ease Applications sends HIPAA-compliant text updates to families from the emergency room, operating room, intensive care unit, and medical floor. During the COVID-19 crisis, the company worked with the Amazon Chime SDK to incorporate two-way video communication into its mobile apps. Families of COVID-19 patients can now have reliable remote communication with the patients and their doctors. CareMonitor, a provider of remote health monitoring, expanded its software to monitor the daily health of COVID-19 patients with low-level symptoms, so they can recover from the virus in their own homes. The company used the SDK to enable patients to use an app to send messages and connect via video to healthcare providers. Mindbody, a leading technology platform for the wellness industry, leveraged the Amazon Chime SDK to introduce a virtual wellness platform that tens of thousands of global wellness businesses used to deliver services to millions of consumers virtually. bSmart Labs is an educational service and content hub in Italy for schools, teachers, students, and their families. Developers at bSmart used the Amazon Chime SDK to add video calling capabilities to their application and created a full working prototype within 72 hours. They delivered real-time communication functionality to hundreds of thousands of bSmart classroom teachers and students and have already enabled millions of minutes of videoconferencing.

Slack and other customers chose the Amazon Chime SDK for its set of real-time communication capabilities, including audio, video, and screen sharing. Your developers can leverage the same communication infrastructure to deliver engaging experiences in your applications. Visit the Amazon Chime SDK page to learn more about the service, including features and pricing.