Open CTI
A JavaScript API in Salesforce that lets developers build custom softphone integrations for the Service Cloud console without requiring a browser plugin, enabling click-to-dial, screen pops, and call controls in Lightning Experience.
Definition
A JavaScript API in Salesforce that lets developers build custom softphone integrations for the Service Cloud console without requiring a browser plugin, enabling click-to-dial, screen pops, and call controls in Lightning Experience.
In plain English
“Open CTI is a JavaScript API in Salesforce that lets developers build custom softphone integrations for the Service Cloud console. Unlike older CTI approaches, Open CTI doesn't need a browser plugin. It enables click-to-dial, screen pops, and call controls right in Lightning Experience.”
Worked example
A developer at Belgrade Trading integrates the company's existing Cisco PBX with Salesforce Service Cloud using the Open CTI JavaScript API. The integration is browser-side - no installer, no plugin - so agents on Macs and Chromebooks have the same softphone experience as agents on Windows. When a call comes in, the Open CTI integration calls sforce.opencti.screenPop() to surface the matching Account; click-to-dial buttons on Contact records call sforce.opencti.dial(). The integration ships as a single Visualforce page (the softphone container) plus a few hundred lines of JavaScript talking to both Cisco's and Salesforce's APIs. Open CTI is what makes that lightweight integration possible without each agent installing anything locally.
Why Open CTI matters
Open CTI is a JavaScript API in Salesforce that lets developers build custom softphone integrations for the Service Cloud console without requiring a browser plugin. It enables click-to-dial (clicking a phone number initiates a call), screen pops (showing the relevant record when an inbound call arrives), call controls (hold, transfer, hangup), and call logging. Open CTI replaced the older CTI Toolkit which required browser plugins that became increasingly hard to maintain as browsers evolved.
Open CTI is the standard approach for building telephony integrations with Salesforce Service Cloud when you're not using Service Cloud Voice (Salesforce's native telephony product). Many third-party telephony vendors provide Open CTI-based integrations for their phone systems, letting customers connect their existing telephony to Salesforce. For new contact center deployments, Service Cloud Voice with Amazon Connect is the modern recommendation, but Open CTI remains relevant for organizations with existing telephony investments they want to integrate.
How organizations use Open CTI
Uses an Open CTI integration with their existing telephony platform, getting click-to-dial and screen pops in Salesforce.
Migrated from a legacy CTI Toolkit integration to Open CTI when their browser plugins became unsupported.
Considers Service Cloud Voice for new deployments and Open CTI for integrating existing telephony investments.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Open CTI.
- Salesforce Open CTISalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is Open CTI?
Q2. What did it replace?
Q3. What's the modern alternative for new deployments?
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