| Announced on | Date of rollout |
| September 18, 2023 | September 18, 2023 |
We are excited to announce that we've added two new features to Talk Partner Edition (TPE), a Standard Call Object and a new Voice Comment.
This announcement answers the following questions:
What's changing and why?
Zendesk has a vast and robust set of public APIs that make it easy for developers to integrate tools such as CRM systems, e-commerce platforms, and automation software. To meet the specific requirements of CTI, Zendesk offers an additional tool: the Talk Partner Edition (TPE) APIs.
Hundreds of Computer Telephony Integrations (CTI) and thousands of customers rely on TPE for tasks such as popping ticket and user profile details on an agent's screen, creating voicemail tickets, and using click-to-call to open third-party call consoles when clicking a phone number in Support.
Today we are adding two new functionalities to TPE: a Standard Call Object and a new Voice Comment.
For more information, see Understanding Talk Partner Edition.
The Standard Call Object
Until now, CTI integrations had limited ways to share data from their telephony systems with Zendesk. The only options available were to either store call data in custom ticket fields or as tags, often as a workaround to make them visible in Explore, or to display it as text in the ticket using comments.
Storing call data in custom ticket fields raised some challenges. For example, if a ticket involved multiple calls and the CTI integration updated the ticket with data from the latest call, the information from the previous call was lost. Using tags for this purpose was not any better, as they are not intended for structured data. On the other hand, ticket internal comments are not suited for presenting long lists of tabular data and tend to clutter the ticket.
To address this problem we've developed the Standard Call Object, a storage mechanism for third-party, industry-standard call data in Zendesk. CTI integrations only need to save their call data in this object, and Zendesk will manage its storage and visualization (see video below). For more information, see Understanding Talk Partner Edition: Standard Call Object.
The standard call object is a foundational feature that paves the way for Zendesk to deliver important upcoming features, such as the much-awaited third-party call integration with Explore.
The new Voice Comment
A voice comment is a special type of comment currently used by both Talk Partner Edition-based apps and Zendesk Talk to display information from calls such as the end-user number, the name of the agent that answered the call, and the duration of the call, while also displaying controls to play a call recording directly in the ticket. Voice comments are perfect for voicemails since they are short and, by definition, always come with an audio recording. However, for the various needs of CTI integrations, they can be limited.
That's why we created a completely new voice comment architecture, exclusively for Talk Partner Edition.
The new TPE Voice Comment works in conjunction with the Standard Call Object. Once the data is stored in the call object, partners just need to tell Zendesk which record they want to pull data from, and which fields they want to display in the comment and we present the data neatly in the ticket.
You can see the new voice comment in action below. Note how the comment initially takes up minimal space in the ticket and can be expanded to reveal all the information about the call in a structured and easy-to-read way.
What do I need to do?
- If you are a developer, you can head straight to our developer pages to learn all about the new API capabilities. While you’re there, make sure to check out the new Guidelines for CTI Integrations with Zendesk. They contain a lot of useful advice on how to make your integration stand out and delight customers.
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If you are a Zendesk Talk customer, you don't need to do anything. You can simply install one of the following integrations to start enjoying TPE's new features:
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Aircall
Aircall has already updated its app Aircall for Support, to support TPE's new functionalities. As of September 18, 2023, all Zendesk-Aircall customers can opt-in for TPE's Standard Call Object in the integration dashboard. You can configure up to 15 fields to display in the new voice comment when the call ends. All done with Aircall's characteristic attention to the user experience. For more information about the Aircall app, see Call software integrations.
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Amazon Connect
Amazon Connect's previous release, just a few months ago, was packed with new features, such as voice authentication, multi-party calls that can accommodate up to six participants, and a dual-ringer setup. In its latest update, Amazon has fully embraced TPE's new features. Customers can now choose to view recordings and transcripts of their conversations conveniently on the new compact Voice Comment or use the old, but more comprehensive Contact Lens view. The new integration is in closed preview at the moment and will be officially released on October 4, 2023.
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Five9
One aspect where Five9's integration shines is the amount of information it can gather from calls and make available for customers in Zendesk. Thanks to TPE's new Voice Comment feature, this data will be displayed in the ticket in a more organized manner. Five9 is currently conducting a closed beta test for their new TPE integration and the official launch is expected to take place in 2024. To learn more about the Five9 beta program, you can visit their website.
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babelforce
babelforce integrates deeply with Zendesk and already supports all new TPE features. Babelforce is also one of the few telephony partners that already offer bidirectional syncing of the agent status through the Agent State Availability APIs. The app is available in the Zendesk Marketplace.
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Aircall