What is Computer Telephony Integration (CTI)?

CTI stands for Computer Telephony Integration, or generally used for systems which allow you to control your phone with your computer. This usually works both ways, means the phone can control the computer and vice versa.

What are the advantages of CTI?

Connecting your phone with your computer creates a number of advantages. One use case is to initiate a call by mouse click directly from a CRM system (Customer Relationship Management) or from a database. On the other hand, users can see missed calls directly on their screen and can call back with just one click. Additionally, transfers and call recordings can be initiated via mouse click.

What different types of CTI are available?

There are a number of different CTI concepts out there. One concept is the so called First Party Telephony or Desktop CTI. This type of CTI can be further divided into two subcategories: it is called phone centric connections, when the phones provides the connection to the phone system. That means the computer is communicating with the phone and the phone with the phone system.

first party CTI example

The other subcategory is Third Party Telephony or System CTI. This concept uses a central CTI server, which is connected to the phone system. There is no direct connection between phone and computer. All devices are connected via the local network (LAN). This is more complex than the phone centric connection, but it is more flexible.

third party CTI example

Askozia and CTI

The Askozia CTI is different two the previous mentioned concepts, as the CTI is completely integrated into the Askozia phone system. It can be used on any platform (Windows, OSX and Linux) as it only needs a web browser and now additional software. The Askozia CTI works with all supported IP phones.

askozia CTI