What is a CTI Server?
CTI stands for computer telephony integration. CTI is technology that integrates an organization's telephone system with their business applications, typically to give the business applications more control over calls. An IVR (interactive voice response) is an example of an application that is made possible by CTI. CTI is typically architected as a client server solution and a CTI server is the server part of the platform. A CTI server is software, although people may use the term CTI server to describe both the software and the hardware on which it's loaded.
CTI server software may be loaded on the same computer as the client. This is found in small offices with just a couple of employees, such as sales staff, that need to use the CTI capabilities. Larger operations, such as contact centers, will have physically separate server hardware. Many companies use a cloud-based solution. Having contact center and CTI server in the cloud offers benefits such as eliminating the need for internal staff to support CTI server hardware and related software as well as greater flexibility to add features or to scale up or down.
CTI plays a critical role in the modern call center because it is the engine behind so many important capabilities that improve efficiency as well as the customer experience. CTI enables identifying callers upfront so that when an agent answers a routed call they are presented with customer data from the company's CRM application. Even before that agent is assigned that call, the CTI server is powering intelligent routing to make sure the caller will be assisted by the agent that best meets the their needs. CTI enables the type of service consumers have come to expect and can turn agents into superheroes.
How NICE can help
NICE CXone is the market leading call center software in use by thousands of customers of all sizes around the world to help them consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences. Our solutions take full advantage of the powerful capabilities offered by CTI technology. CXone is a cloud native, unified suite of applications designed to help a company holistically run its call (or contact) center operations. CXone includes:
Omnichannel Routing – routing and interaction management that empowers agents to positively and productively interact with customers in digital and voice channels. These solutions include an automatic call distributor (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR), interaction channel support and proactive outbound dialer.
Workforce Optimization – unlocks the potential of your team by inspiring employees' self-improvement, amplifying quality management efforts to enhance customer experience and reducing labor waste. These solutions include workforce management (WFM), quality management (QM), recording and performance management (PM).
Open Cloud Foundation – enables rapid innovation with an extensible enterprise-grade platform that scales securely, deploys quickly and serves customers of all sizes globally. We guarantee an industry-best 99.99% availability and offer easy customization through RESTful APIs and DEVone developer program.
CXone also includes pre-defined CRM integrations and UCaaS integrations with most leading solutions on the market. These integrations provide a holistic call center software solution capable of elevating customer experiences for companies of all sizes.