Integrations
Cisco phone systems
How your agents take and make calls through a Cisco phone system, such as Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Webex Calling, without changing your numbers or carrier.
On this page
Many large organisations in the region run their phones on Cisco, either on their own premises with Cisco Unified Communications Manager or in the cloud with Webex Calling. Your agents connect to that system as another destination your routing can send calls to. Your numbers, your carrier, your dial plan and your extensions all stay as they are. Telonic connects over SIP (the standard protocol business phone systems use to set up and connect calls) and does not resell numbers or minutes.
What the connection lets the agent do
| Action | What it means for you | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Answer inbound calls | Calls your dial plan routes to the agent are answered on your existing numbers | A property management line after office hours |
| Place outbound calls | The agent calls customers through your Cisco system and carrier, showing your number | A reminder that a handover inspection is booked |
| Transfer to your team | A call that needs a person goes to the extension, hunt group or queue you set, with a written brief | A resident reporting a water leak passed to the facilities team |
| Take overflow | Calls route to the agent when a queue passes a threshold you set, configured during implementation | A call spike after a service charge notice |
| Show caller ID | Outbound calls show your number. Branded caller ID, where your carrier supports it, is configured during implementation | Your business name on the resident's screen |
How it connects
Your Cisco administrators add a SIP trunk (a virtual phone line between two phone systems over a network) from your Cisco environment to the Telonic SIP endpoint in your chosen region. This usually passes through the session border controller (the device or service that manages and secures SIP traffic at the edge of your network) that already sits between your Cisco system and your carrier. Your dial plan then sends chosen numbers, menu options or queues to that trunk.
With Webex Calling, the route is set up on the same principle, through the connection your Webex Calling service uses to reach external SIP destinations. Your telephony team and ours agree the exact set-up during the first technical call.
The technical detail
| Item | Telonic's approach |
|---|---|
| Signalling | SIP over TLS (Transport Layer Security, which encrypts data in transit), version 1.2 or higher |
| Audio | Encrypted with SRTP (Secure Real-time Transport Protocol) by default. Unencrypted audio only over a private network connection, at your written request |
| Authentication | IP allow-listing (accepting traffic only from known addresses) and SIP digest credentials (a username and password check on each call). Mutual TLS, where both sides present certificates, is supported |
| Codecs (audio formats) | G.711 A-law and µ-law, G.722, Opus |
| Keypad tones (DTMF, the tones a phone keypad sends) | RFC 4733 telephone events (keypad presses carried as data alongside the call) by default. SIP INFO messages are also supported. Keypad input is configured during implementation for the lines that need it |
| Transfers | SIP REFER (an instruction that hands the call back to your system to connect) by default, or a bridged transfer (the agent stays on the line while connecting your colleague) where the brief must be spoken first. A bridged transfer uses a second trunk channel for the length of the call |
| Health checks | SIP OPTIONS messages, so your Cisco system can mark the trunk unavailable and route calls to your team if the endpoint cannot be reached |
| Allow-listing | Telonic provides fixed IP addresses, port ranges and a domain name |
Permissions
For telephony, permissions are about numbers and routing rather than data.
| Permission | Needed for | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Receive calls from chosen routes | Inbound calls | Only the numbers, options and queues your dial plan sends |
| Place calls through your system | Outbound calls | Not enabled until you switch it on for a number |
| Transfer to named destinations | Handover to your team | Only the extensions, hunt groups and queues you list |
| Present your number as caller ID | Outbound calls | Your registered number only |
The agent can only take actions your team has granted. Anything not granted cannot be invoked. See Permissions.
In practice
Sahel Crest Properties runs Cisco Unified Communications Manager for its community management office.
- The telephony team adds a SIP trunk to the Telonic endpoint and points the after-hours route for the residents' line at it.
- At 11pm, Aisha calls to report water coming through her ceiling. The agent confirms her unit, logs the request and marks it urgent.
- The facilities rules say urgent leaks go to the on-call engineer, so the agent transfers the call with a brief.
- In the morning, the day team sees the full conversation in the customer record.
What your team controls
- Which routes in your dial plan send calls to the agent.
- The transfer destination for each situation.
- Whether outbound calling is enabled, and on which numbers.
Related
- Telephony and carriersIntegrations
- Voice: connecting your telephony over SIPChannels
- Voice: transfers, callbacks and overflowChannels
- What we need from your IT teamIntegrations
- PermissionsIntegrations
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