On April 23, AWS acquired NLX, and for a company with a strong build DNA, any acquisition is intriguing. Over 20 years, the cloud hyperscaler has made only eight that I could identify.
So, who is NLX?
Founded by two brothers, Andrei and Vlad Papancea, in 2018, NLX was born out of Andrei’s experience building conversational applications and the recurring effort required to navigate technology cycles, iterate on experiences, and expand the use cases these applications can support.
This led to the creation of Canvas, NLX’s conversation builder, designed to be to conversational application design what Figma is to UI design. The platform was built to insulate application creators from the complexities of channels, communication infrastructures, and AI technologies.
The obvious question: don’t all conversational AI platforms, including Amazon Connect, already offer a no-code builder?
While almost all conversational AI platforms feature no-code development environments, most remain fairly low-level and require significant technical expertise. NLX created a platform for business users that minimizes dependencies on developers.
Its building blocks abstract application logic across channels, enabling teams to compose multi-modal experiences that guide users to the right modality at each stage of a workflow.
NLX Canvas enables teams to rapidly iterate and expand use cases, a critical success factor for deploying and scaling conversational experiences that today often depends on forward-deployed engineers.
NLX has remained focused on large enterprises with complex requirements, spanning customer experience and other enterprise use cases. Its customer roster includes Comcast, Red Bull, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Toyota.
NLX’s vision aligns closely with Amazon Connect’s mission to create ready-to-use solutions. It already extends AWS Lex Flow Builder and Amazon Connect Flows.
Now part of Amazon Connect Customer, NLX will focus on customer service use cases on the hyperscaler CX platform, while support for other platforms becomes customer-driven.
At this stage of conversational AI adoption, many enterprises are prioritizing customer self-service and selecting best-of-breed platforms. NLX enhances Amazon Connect’s ability to compete in these self-service modernization initiatives.