Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is an important part of many Unified Service Desk projects, one that often includes complex bespoke coding. The USD Accelerator already supports several 3^rd party add-ins, I have increased that support to includes a new CTI hosted control from QGate that will help make the inclusion of CTI simpler and definitely quicker.

USD / CTI Background

Before I discuss the QGate solution maybe I should explain the main components found in a USD CTI solution ….

Firstly we have a listener. This will “listen” for CTI events and then your USD configuration can search for potential matches and decide if a session should be started, contact loaded, phone call created etc. Microsoft do ship a generic listener which can be used in many circumstances but not all. (Most notably Microsoft’s generic listener does not support Skype.)

Next we have a hosted control that will sit in the CTI toolbar, this concept is optional but I often a key requirement. Typically the CTI toolbar can contain a hosted control that embeds call controls. Meaning the agent can pick up , disconnect and place calls on hold directly from within USD.

Note:
Some CTI solutions I’ve seen keep call controls outside of USD. In my opinion these are not making the best use of USD as the operator typically needs to navigate away from the main USD screen to interact with the phone.

QGate’s intelli-CTi Solution

This brings me to QGate’s intellli-CTi solution … you can find out all about QGate’s solution here.

Intelli-CTi is a third party add-in that enables CTI functionality in Dynamics 365 and now in USD. QGate claim it is capable of connecting seamlessly to 60+ phone systems. (Including Skype).

Intelli-CTi is not a new product! But their created extended support for Unfired Service Desk has just been made available as part of their intelli-CTi product. You can read about their new and improved support for USD here.

One key advantage of QGate’s solution is their enhanced Telephone Number Search (TNS). Consider the way your agents enter phone numbers into “CRM”. Out of the box phone number fields contain no enforced formatting, some users will enter spaces, some may add country codes, some may add extension number etc etc. This is a common problem when trying to match the incoming phone number with the multiple numbers held on your contacts, accounts and leads. QGate’s TNS search includes an enhanced search capability to help resolve this and therefore increase the accuracy of your CTI matches.

The USD Accelerator Demo

As mentioned The USD Accelerator now supports QGate’s intelli-CTi. The screen shot below shows QGate’s hosted control embedded into The USD Accelerator.

The best way to appreciate how intelli-CTI will operate within The USD Accelerator might be to see it in action;