Salesforce Open CTI Retirement: What the 2028 Retirement Means for Your AI Strategy

The Salesforce Open CTI Retirement is coming, but there is more to it than simply replacing an old telephony setup. With AI and Agentforce changing how service teams work, this is a good time to rethink your entire voice strategy.

If your business still relies on Open CTI, now is the time to understand what is changing, what needs to be reviewed, and how Salesforce Voice can fit into your future service environment.

In this blog, we’ll look at what the retirement means, the key changes to expect, what you should prepare, and how to approach the migration without making it a last-minute project.

Technical Shift: Why Legacy CTI Is Being Phased Out

The Salesforce Open CTI Retirement means organisations using the existing Open CTI framework need to start planning their next approach instead of waiting until the final deadline.

Open CTI is no longer receiving new features or enhancements. For businesses that depend on telephony inside Salesforce, this makes the transition more than a simple technology upgrade. It is also about making sure everyday service workflows continue working properly.

The important thing is that the retirement does not mean your customer calls or existing service processes suddenly disappear. Instead, the technology supporting those experiences needs to move toward the newer architecture.

A few areas deserve attention:

• Existing CTI integrations and customisations
• Call flows and routing
• Screen pops and rep workflows
• Reporting and call-related data
• Custom user interfaces
• Supervisor functionality
• Integration with your wider service environment

Salesforce’s migration guidance also highlights that the underlying model changes during the move, including a shift from Task records to VoiceCall records.

Why This Matters for Your AI Strategy

The Salesforce Open CTI Retirement is happening at a time when service teams are already moving toward AI-assisted workflows. So, replacing an old CTI setup without considering the bigger service strategy can leave you rebuilding the same limitations again.

Salesforce Voice provides a path toward a more modern voice experience, while Agentforce can bring AI assistance into service workflows. The bigger opportunity is therefore not simply replacing one telephony layer with another.

It is about creating a service environment where voice interactions can sit alongside customer context, cases, workflows, automation, and AI. This can make it easier for reps to work with the information they need without constantly switching between systems.

Think about the experience from a rep’s side:

• A customer calls, and the relevant context is available.
• The interaction can connect with the appropriate service process.
• Reps can work through the service console.
• AI can support certain tasks and recommendations.
• Voice information can become part of broader reporting.

That is where the retirement becomes an opportunity rather than just another Salesforce deadline.

Salesforce Voice vs. Open CTI: What Actually Changes?

One of the biggest mistakes is assuming that Salesforce Voice is simply a newer version of Open CTI. The architecture and data model are different, so migration needs to account for how your current implementation actually works.

Salesforce’s developer documentation explains that the newer approach uses Partner Telephony and introduces different methods, events, data models, and UI patterns. For example, VoiceCall becomes the primary reporting object instead of relying on the previous Task-based model.

This means teams should review more than their phone provider. Look at the complete experience around calls.

Screen pops: Existing Open CTI screen-pop patterns need to move toward Omni-Channel flow screen-pop actions.

Rep presence: Presence management moves into Omni-Channel rather than continuing with the previous Open CTI approach.

Custom UI: Existing iframe-based interfaces may need to be replaced with Voice Extensions, Voice Toolkit, and Lightning Message Service.

Reporting: VoiceCall becomes an important part of the reporting model, so existing reports may need to be reviewed and rebuilt.

Salesforce also provides specific guidance for single calls, multiparty calls, transfers, supervisor functionality, and other migration areas.

What Should You Review Before the Migration?

A successful Salesforce Open CTI Retirement plan starts with understanding what you already have. It is easy to focus on the phone integration itself and miss the smaller workflows that your service reps use every day.

Start by documenting your current CTI setup, custom components, call flows, and dependencies. Look at how calls enter Salesforce, how reps receive them, where customer information appears, and what happens after the conversation ends.

You should also review:

• Existing Open CTI adapters and custom code
• Call routing and transfer scenarios
• Screen-pop configurations
• Rep presence and Omni-Channel setup
• Task-based reporting
• Custom CTI user interfaces
• Supervisor and monitoring features
• Call records and historical reporting
• Integrations with other service systems

The Salesforce migration resources recommend planning the transition carefully and provide specific guidance for identifying migration roadblocks before implementation.

Moving From Open CTI to a More Connected Service Experience

For many businesses, the move is also a good time to review how voice fits into the wider customer service journey. Instead of treating calls as a separate channel, connect them with cases, customer information, knowledge, automation, and other service processes.

Service Cloud Voice can become part of this broader setup, helping organisations bring voice interactions into their Salesforce service environment rather than maintaining disconnected experiences.

The goal should be simple: when a customer calls, your team should have the context they need without jumping between multiple systems, screens, or tools.

This becomes even more important when your service operation includes:

• High call volumes
• Multiple support teams
• Complex routing requirements
• AI-assisted service workflows
• Custom reporting
• Multiple communication channels

A planned transition can therefore help you clean up older workflows while preparing the environment for future AI and automation initiatives.

How to Plan Your Salesforce Open CTI Migration      

A Salesforce Open CTI migration should be approached as a business and technical project together. Start by mapping your existing experience, then decide which parts should be recreated, improved, or removed completely.

1. Start With a Full Usage Audit

Review your existing telephony integrations and identify every place where Open CTI is currently deployed. Look at the systems, users, workflows, and service processes that depend on it before planning the next step.

2. Get Familiar With the Salesforce Voice Experience

Explore Salesforce Voice and understand the telephony features available. Compare them with your current Open CTI setup to see how your existing workflows can be replaced or enhanced with the newer experience.

3. Give Your Migration Enough Runway

Create a practical migration timeline that gives your teams enough time to prepare, test, and transition. Salesforce recommends completing the move well before February 28, 2028, rather than leaving everything until the final deadline.

Migrate to Service Cloud With HIC Global Solutions      

The Salesforce Open CTI Retirement is a good time to look at the complete service environment instead of migrating voice in isolation. HIC Global Solutions helps businesses plan and implement the transition around their existing Salesforce setup.  

As a Salesforce partner, HIC can work across service implementation, integrations, customisation, automation, and connected Salesforce solutions. This means the migration can be planned around your actual business workflows instead of treating telephony as a standalone project.   

The approach can include:

• Reviewing your current CTI architecture and dependencies
• Planning the move to Salesforce Voice
• Reworking screen pops and service workflows
• Connecting telephony with your existing service processes
• Preparing the environment for Agentforce and AI
• Testing and supporting the new implementation

We can also help you look beyond the immediate migration, connecting Salesforce Voice with your wider service environment, automation, data, and other Salesforce products where they make sense.

Conclusion

The Salesforce Open CTI Retirement gives businesses a clear reason to review how voice currently fits into their service operations. With Open CTI scheduled to retire in February 2028, waiting too long can make the transition harder, especially for highly customised environments.

The move is also an opportunity to modernise. Salesforce Voice, AI, Agentforce, automation, connected data, and service workflows can work together to create a more useful experience for both reps and customers.

If your organisation is preparing to migrate to Salesforce Voice, HIC Global Solutions can help you assess your existing environment, plan the right architecture, handle the technical transition, and connect the new experience with your broader Salesforce strategy.

The Salesforce Open CTI Retirement does not have to be treated as another forced technology change. With the right plan, it can be the starting point for a more connected, AI-ready service operation.