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Choose Your Telephony Provider for Voice-Enabled Agents
Route voice conversations to your voice-enabled Agentforce Service agents. Voice-enabled agents use Agentforce Voice features to provide the autonomous AI layer for your contact center. Agentforce Voice replaces static, hierarchical IVR logic with dynamic, intent-driven conversations.
Agentforce Voice supports two main approaches to integrate its features for your telephony implementations: Salesforce Voice (native telephony), and integration with third-party telephony providers. Agentforce voice enables you to create voice-enabled agents that can speak and understand voice conversations with customers. These agents are designed to understand customer intent from spoken input and act to resolve customer queries.
Salesforce Voice (Native Telephony)
Salesforce Voice manages every part of voice communication, from procurement to post-call analysis. It offers deep customization, tight alignment, and the ability to fully leverage Agentforce capabilities including Agentforce Voice.
Here are some key benefits and considerations for Salesforce Voice.
- Simpler setup by removing dependencies on external SIP trunking or PSTN transfer configurations.
- Better user experience with streamlined handoffs between agents and human representatives without interruptions.
- The system preserves the full call transcript and session context from the initiation of the call to the end, including transfers between virtual and human representatives.
For an overview of Salesforce Voice see Salesforce Voice
For detailed setup instruction, see Set Up Salesforce Voice.
Integration with Third-Party Telephony Providers
You can integrate Salesforce CRM and AI capabilities, and Agentforce Voice with an existing external telephony provider.
Here are some key considerations.
- Supports both PSTN (Public switched Telephone Network) or SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). See Connect Service Agent to Telephony.
- Requires cross-system coordination for PSTN or SIP configuration.
Evaluating the Telephony Options
Selecting the right solution for your contact center is critical for modern customer service. Here are some key considerations that can help you with selecting the right solution.
| Key Considerations | Salesforce Voice (Native Telephony) | Integration with a Third-Party Telephony Provider |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Fast and easy end-to-end setup with Agentforce voice-enabled agents integration built-in. | Configuration in two different platforms and typically complicated setup requirements. Requires coordination of PSTN or SIP between two different platforms. |
| Protocols supported | No protocol configuration needed. Built-in call routing to Agentforce. | Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). |
| Dataflow | A complete, single record is maintained, including the full conversation transcript from beginning to end. | Data can become fragmented, or context can be lost, when an interaction is handed off. |
| Analytics | All call-related metrics, recordings, insights, and data and metadata live in one system. | Data split between multiple systems resulting in fragments of call data making it more challenging to analyze the performance. |
| Support | Salesforce fully supports the entire solution. | Telephony support is provided by a separate vendor, while Salesforce supports Agentforce. |
| Billing | Predictable pricing model as all costs and usage is tracked in the Salesforce environment and tracked through the Digital Wallet. | Separate cost and usage tracking on different systems. |
Agent Integration
Both telephony solutions described in this topic support integration with voice-enabled agents. How you integrate agents to your solution depends on your business use case and need. Here are two examples.
- The AI-First Frontline: The voice-enabled agent acts as the primary point of contact, collecting intent and attempting self-resolution immediately upon the call's start.
- IVR Transition: Organizations maintain a standard IVR structure (for example, "Press 1 for Order Status") and introduce voice-enabled agents only at specific branches or for complex sub-menus.
