Zendesk

Integrate Zendesk with your PolyAI agents.

The Zendesk integration allows PolyAI voice agents to interact with Zendesk Talk. This guide outlines the setup process and key components.

Call flow

1. A caller dials a number linked to a Zendesk account.
2. Zendesk uses the Overflow feature to redirect the call to PolyAI. This requires a phone number from a SIP provider such as Twilio or Gamma.
3. Twilio converts the PSTN call to SIP and sends it to PolyAI.
4. PolyAI initiates a SIP INVITE to an outbound integration, routing the call to a SIP URI provided by Zendesk.
5. Zendesk agents receive the call. If a ticket exists, they see its ID via the X-Zendesk-Ticket-Id SIP header.

Test environment

PolyAI has a test setup for Zendesk integrations:

• Zendesk dev account: PolyAI Zendesk
• Test bot: UK-1 Staging
• Test number: 01727 326086

Setup

Configure PSTN forwarding

Zendesk numbers route calls internally by default. To send calls to PolyAI, enable Overflow.

1. Create an empty agent group in Zendesk Talk.
2. Set the inbound number to route only to this group.
3. Configure Overflow to forward calls:
   • If no agents are available (the group is empty, so this is always the case).
   • Outside business hours.
4. Disable voicemail for this number.

Enable SIP in Zendesk

Zendesk requires SIP to send calls to external systems.

1. In Zendesk, go to Admin Center.
2. Select Channels → Talk → Lines.
3. Click Add Line → Add SIP Line.
4. Register a SIP address. Name it to match the client or project.
5. Add Kamailio’s IP address range to allow traffic from PolyAI.

Create the outbound integration

1. Create a telephony.<environment>.yaml file in the project’s domain folder.

outbound_integrations:
  - name: CLIENT_OR_PROJECT_NAME
    encryption: UDP/RTP
    addresses:
      - "sip:YOUR_SIP_ADDRESS"

2. Deploy it:

infra telephony manage --cluster CLUSTER_NAME --path telephony.<environment>.yaml

A telephony engineer may need to run this command.

Handoff using the outbound integration

Once the SIP address is set up and verified, PolyAI can hand off calls to Zendesk agents.

For additional support, contact PolyAI Support.