How to choose the right Salesforce CTI solution for your business
2 min
When sourcing for a Salesforce CTI solution on the AppExchange you can quickly become overwhelmed by the number of vendors available. Today we’ll help you navigate the first steps of selecting the right Salesforce CTI solution for your business by segmenting vendors into three categories: Complete Phone Systems, Dialers and Connectors.
Phone Systems
CTI solutions that fall under this umbrella are the most complete on the AppExchange. They provide a communications stack that can replace your entire PBX system with a modern, cloud based phone system that deeply integrates with Salesforce. If you are looking for strong inbound and outbound capabilities, robust telephony & contact center functionality and the ability to extend to your entire user base, this should be your option of choice. Usually these systems are ideal for green field deployments where old systems are completely or partially replaced. You can also leverage the advanced SIP Trunking capabilities of these vendors to integrate legacy systems and make the transition smoother for your team.
Outbound: Power Dialing, Voicemail Drop, Local Presence, High Velocity Sales integration.
.png)
Inbound: ACD Queuing, IVR, Ring Groups, Voicemail.
PBX Features: Call Recording, Call Transferring, Hold, Extension Dialing, Desk Phone & Mobile support, Pickup groups, Live Monitoring.
Top Vendors: PhoneIQ, Natterbox.
Dialers
If you are looking for a CTI solution that will help your team be more productive during outbound dialing sessions, and you want to keep your existing phone system in place for inbound call handling, then dialers are the best fit for your business. The main benefit of using dialers is they are a lightweight solution that you can quickly deploy on your Salesforce org, without having to struggle with your IT department. Most vendors will allow you to port your existing numbers or bring your own caller ID while providing call forwarding capabilities to route inbound calls to your existing business phone system.
Outbound: Power Dialing, Voicemail Drop, Local Presence, High Velocity Sales.
Inbound: Call forwarding
PBX Features: Call Recording, Live Monitoring.
Top vendors: RingDNA, Lightning Dialer, Phoneburner
Checkout this article on comparing Preview, Power & Predictive dialing systems.
Connectors
If you currently have a legacy on premise phone system of the likes of Avaya/Cisco, or decided that running an open source phone system like Asterisk yourself was the right choice for your business, but still want to provide some level of integration to deliver business value to your users, then connectors or “adapters” are your solution of choice. Some big brands will provide their own connectors on the AppExchange, but we recommend looking into vendors like Tenfold that provide a best in class solution.
These vendors provide a softphone that will register to your existing IP PBX and provide advanced features like click to dial, screen pop, automated call logging and more.
Top vendors: Tenfold, Bria for Salesforce
