Computer telephony integration (CTI)
CTI is the integration that connects a phone system to business software, so calls can be controlled on screen and customer data arrives with the call.
Computer telephony integration (CTI) ends the situation where the phone and the business applications know nothing about each other. It works in both directions: the phone system sends events to the application (a call is ringing, was answered, has ended), and the application sends commands to the phone system (dial this number, transfer this call). Click-to-call, the screen pop and calls being logged on the customer record automatically are its best-known results. In older call centers CTI was a separate middleware layer; in cloud systems it is mostly delivered through APIs and webhooks.
How it works
The phone system publishes each call event with a call ID. The CRM or help desk listens for these events and looks up the caller's number in its own records. When an agent clicks a number on screen, the application sends a dial command to the phone system. When the call ends, its duration, outcome and notes are written to the matching customer record.
Why it matters
Without CTI, agents dial by hand, search for the customer in the CRM separately and type up the call themselves, which costs time and invites mistakes. With CTI, every call is tied to the right customer, and reports show phone and CRM data side by side. For the data flow itself, see CRM integration.
In Speakline
In Speakline, agents can place calls with a click from the desk. While an incoming call is ringing, your connected CRMs are searched for the caller's number and the matching contact card appears on the agent's screen. After the call, the summary, outcome code, notes and recording link can be sent to your CRM through the API and webhooks. See Integrations for details.