Computer telephony integration products: Key features + benefits

Computer telephony integration is a technology that enables computers to work with phones. While businesses primarily use it for calling phones from desktop computers, it can also link all your business applications—for example, syncing call center software, customer service software, or workforce management software to a phone system.

Computer telephony integration (CTI) enables telephones and computers to work together seamlessly. Businesses use it to streamline customer service workflows, personalize customer interactions, improve agent performance, and increase overall productivity.

With CTI increasing in popularity, you might already be familiar with some of its applications without recognizing it. Here are some popular ways businesses incorporate CTI into contact center operations:

• Click-to-call: Agents can initiate calls from their computer through a toll-free number by simply clicking on a customer’s phone number.
• Automatic call distribution (ACD): Incoming phone calls get routed to the most appropriate agent or department based on predefined criteria such as caller ID or interactive voice response (IVR) software selections.
• Customer profiles: A customer’s record appears on an agent’s screen during a call, providing the agent with the customer’s information.
• Voicemail to tickets: Voicemail messages get converted to transcribed tickets for easier assessment.

However, as you’ll see below, some software like Zendesk can expand on these capabilities to deliver an AI-powered CTI solution.

Boost agent productivity with AI

Consolidate and personalize your conversations

Stay dialed in with your customers

Measure and improve in real time

Experience fast time to value

Businesses that rely on traditional phone systems forfeit a competitive edge to businesses that adopt modern solutions. These are the primary advantages of CTI software.

Increase customer satisfaction

While customers tend to prefer digital channels for quick resolutions, many still want to have the phone as an option for higher-stakes issues. Customers surveyed in our 2024 CX Trends Report ranked the phone as the most preferred channel for complex or nuanced problems.

While voice has been around for a long time, CTI software has helped expand its capabilities, providing agents with tools to improve the customer experience. For example, AI tools like intelligent routing and conversation summaries help support teams deliver faster support over the phone.

Help agent productivity

Call center agents have a hard (often thankless) yet important job. They frequently deal with angry customers as customers usually see agents as the primary representative of the company.

While businesses can attribute some burnout to staffing and culture issues, agents can also burn out if they lack the proper tools necessary to do the job. CTI can help prevent burnout by using AI to lend agents a helping hand and deflect tickets, especially during busy seasons—and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Reduce call center costs

CTI helps your contact center do more with less. Rather than hiring another full-time agent, CTI can increase virtual call center efficiency by reducing call handling time through automation and making more resources accessible to agents. Call reporting and customer analytics help managers better allocate resources by identifying struggling areas.

Personalize support

Personalization is at the heart of delivering a great customer experience. CTI allows your agents to access customer data quickly and easily, saving customers from repeating the same information to different agents. With access to relevant details about the customer's history with the company, your agents can provide personalized service in every interaction, enhancing the customer experience.