Building telephony integration features

Zendesk Talk Partner Edition allows Zendesk telephony partners to integrate telephony hardware and software with Zendesk Support. You don't need to install anything on an agent’s computer.

This guide shows you how to build common integration features using the Zendesk platform. The platform includes the Talk Partner Edition API to use as a CTI toolkit, and the Zendesk Apps framework to extend the agent interface in Support.

This guide outlines the following integration features:

Responsibilities

As a telephony partner, your responsibilities include:

  • Designing, implementing, and deploying telecommunication services for electronic voice transmission between a business and a customer.
  • Managing inbound/outbound call blending, call routing, agent presence, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), storage of call recordings, and offering voicemail capabilities.
  • Providing call controls via a Zendesk app or desk phone.
  • Maintaining a cloud or premise platform to support CTI connectors or components necessary for the integration.

Things to consider

Keep the following in mind when developing common integration features using the Zendesk platform:

  • Talk Partner Edition and other Zendesk APIs are compatible with all browsers and platforms.
  • Set up a Zendesk Support instance through zendesk.com or gain access to an existing Zendesk instance.
  • Ensure your integration operates over SSL when creating it.
  • Requests to the Talk Partner Edition API should be made client-side by a Zendesk app built with the Zendesk Apps framework or server-side by the telephony platform.

Documentation

For reference documentation, see:

For questions and answers, see the following community forums:

Pricing

Talk Partner Edition API is included and activated by default in all Zendesk Suite plans. If your customers are not using Suite, they must purchase a Talk Partner Edition license for each agent using the integration. For details, see the Zendesk Talk Pricing page.