For years now, Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) has been the glue between Salesforce and a long list of telephony solutions. Allowing contact centres to surface screen pops, log calls, and embed voice into customer workflows.
Whilst CTI’s retirement has long been talked about. A recent update to Salesforce’s Help portal has finally confirmed the date.
“Open CTI is in maintenance mode and is scheduled for retirement on February 28, 2028. No new features or enhancements are being added to Open CTI. Effective immediately, Open CTI is deprecated and unavailable for newly created Agentforce Service orgs.”
The announcement may come as a shock for some users, particularly those operating under an “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” philosophy.
But the reality is, CTI was designed for a different era where Voice was the key communication channel and CRMs were used as systems of record, not real-time engagement hubs. While CTI provides a basic integration it lacks the ability to capture rich enough data required to power real-time AI solutions.
Salesforce Voice
If you’re currently running a CTI-integrated telephony solution, you’ve likely heard of Service Cloud Voice (now Salesforce Voice – or just Voice). Whilst Voice is the replacement for CTI, it isn’t just a like-for-like solution. Salesforce has been building Voice in partnership with the major telephony vendors ensuring customers gain the most from their investment in both solutions.
Out of the box this includes;
· Omni-Channel routing for voice – Voice is routed using Salesforce Omni-Channel alongside digital interactions.
· Real-time call transcription – Live transcripts are captured and stored against interaction records.
· Native reporting on voice interactions – Voice data lives in Salesforce, enabling standard reports and dashboards across channels.
· Supervisor visibility & queue monitoring – Operational insight into call volumes and agent activity within Salesforce.
The Business Case for Voice
At Kytec, we’ve migrated thousands of users onto Voice, working with platforms like Genesys, Amazon Connect and Cisco Webex. Most organisations start the conversation thinking this is a technical upgrade or a CTI replacement project.
It rarely stays that way.
Once Voice is combined with tools like Agentforce for Service and Digital Engagement, the conversation quickly shifts. What starts as a telephony discussion becomes a broader transformation of how customer engagement works across the business.
We typically uncover measurable gains such as:
· A true Customer 360 view during live conversations
· Seamless cross-channel continuity
· AI-driven coaching for service and sales teams
· Automated call summaries and next-best actions
· Intelligent routing powered by Salesforce data
· Unified reporting across voice and digital
· Lower maintenance overhead and technical debt
Call handling times drop. Agent productivity increases. Customer experiences improve.
CTI’s retirement is approaching fast but this isn’t just a deadline to manage. It’s an opportunity to modernise your contact centre for an AI-driven future. If you’re assessing your roadmap to Salesforce Voice, our team at Kytec can help you build a migration strategy that delivers measurable business impact, not just a technical replacement.
Let’s start the conversation.
