Most teams deploy a CTI Connector from AppExchange rather than hand-building one. Here is the path from a vendor listing to agents taking calls inside the console. The exact vendor screens differ, but the Salesforce-side steps are consistent.
- Install the Connector from AppExchange
Open the vendor listing, click Get It Now, sign in, and choose production or a sandbox. Approve the install so Salesforce creates the package objects, permission sets, Call Center record, and components. Install in a sandbox first whenever the org is live.
- Confirm the Call Center record
Go to Setup, Call Centers, and confirm the Connector created its Call Center with the right adapter URL and softphone size. The Connector packaged its definition file, so you rarely import XML by hand, but verify the compatibility mode matches Lightning Experience.
- Enter vendor credentials and mappings
Open the Connector's own setup screens. Add the tenant ID, API credentials, and any queue or agent-skill mappings the phone platform needs. These live in the Connector custom objects or named credentials, not in Salesforce Setup.
- Assign users to the Call Center
Add each agent to the Call Center record and grant the Connector permission sets. A user with no Call Center assignment sees no softphone at all, so this step is what actually turns the feature on for people.
- Run a real call test
Place an inbound call, an outbound call, a transfer, and a conference. Confirm the screen pop opens the correct record and that logging a Case writes back. Fix routing in the vendor queue mapping and softphone sizing in the Call Center record.
The Salesforce object that registers the adapter; holds the adapter URL, standard keys version, and softphone dimensions.
Set in the Call Center definition file; declares whether the adapter supports Salesforce Classic, Lightning Experience, or both.
The Connector's own screens for tenant ID, API keys, queues, skills, and recording, separate from Salesforce Setup.
Packaged grants that give agents access to the softphone components without hand-building field-level security.
The Salesforce-managed layout that controls which fields and links appear in the softphone during a call.
- Users with no Call Center assignment never see a softphone, even after a perfect install. Assignment is the on switch.
- Call routing problems usually trace to the vendor queue mapping, while softphone load or sizing problems trace to the Call Center record. Check the right screen first.
- Open CTI is in maintenance mode with a February 2028 retirement date, so confirm the vendor's Service Cloud Voice migration plan before committing to a long-lived deployment.
- Always test a Connector upgrade in a sandbox; major versions can change the Call Center file or add permission sets that need re-assignment.