Yes it is very unusual in this industry. As a matter of fact, it is so unusual that it will continue to exist for the foreseeable future since most companies depend heavily on the licensing model to survive. It's the heart of their operation - changing it would most likely have an adverse impact on their business.
But, it is going away with companies like Fenero, and now Amazon Connect, leading the way.
Amazon Connect has a lot of catching up to do since it is no where near the feature set required to run a real contact center (it can't even support blended agents or call outcome dispositioning and reporting!)
I totally understand why Amazon Connect may seem like a big deal for those of you outside of the space, or that aren't real close to the various advanced technological capabilities in this industry.
The fact of the matter is there is nothing new or transformative about Amazon Connect. Anyone who knows something about how contact center technology can attest to this.