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Full Automatic Number Identification (ANI) entry
How-to guide

How to use ANI in Service Cloud Voice

Putting ANI to work is mostly a coordination exercise between Salesforce phone-data hygiene and Amazon Connect Contact Flow design. Both halves must align.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 19, 2026

Putting ANI to work is mostly a coordination exercise between Salesforce phone-data hygiene and Amazon Connect Contact Flow design. Both halves must align.

  1. Standardise Salesforce phone formatting

    Convert every phone field on Contact, Lead, and Account to E.164 format. Build a validation rule that enforces the format on new records and a one-time migration for existing data.

  2. Configure the Amazon Connect Contact Flow to expose ANI

    Use the Customer Number system attribute. Pass it to a Lambda that queries Salesforce for the matching customer record.

  3. Build the screen pop logic

    Configure the CTI integration to open the matching Contact, Lead, or Account record on call connect. Handle multiple matches with a search results page; handle no match with a New Contact action.

  4. Route based on ANI-derived attributes

    Once the lookup finds the customer, use account tier, product, or region to route the call to an Agent with matching skills via Omni-Channel.

  5. Plan for missing ANI

    Some callers block ANI or call from systems that strip it. Build a fallback Contact Flow path that asks the caller for identification rather than failing the call.

Gotchas
  • Inconsistent phone formatting in Salesforce breaks ANI lookup. Some fields store E.164, others store local format; the lookup misses matches that should match.
  • ANI is weak authentication. Numbers can be spoofed; treat ANI as a starting point and layer additional verification before sensitive operations.
  • Blocked or missing ANI is common. Build an explicit fallback path or Agents end up handling unidentified callers without context.
  • Multiple matches on ANI (shared family phone, business mainline) need a disambiguation step. Show the candidates rather than auto-picking the wrong one.

See the full Automatic Number Identification (ANI) entry

Automatic Number Identification (ANI) includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.