Voice AI Integrations: Cisco, Mitel, Avaya, Genesys, Five9 & Amazon Connect

Introducing voice AI into an enterprise contact center does not necessarily mean replacing the systems already running it.

Many organizations already have years of investment in platforms such as Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), Mitel, Avaya, Genesys, Five9 or Amazon Connect.

Those systems may already manage:

• Phone numbers

• Call routing

• Agent queues

• IVR flows

• Session Border Controllers

• SIP trunks

• Recording

• Reporting

• Regional carriers

• Contact-center operations

The challenge is therefore rarely:

“How do we replace our contact center with AI?”

A more useful question is:

“How do we add voice AI to the contact center we already have?”

For many enterprise environments, the answer is integration.

Voice AI can be introduced as another layer within the existing call architecture, handling selected conversations while the underlying telephony, queues and human-agent infrastructure remain in place.

How does voice AI integrate with an existing contact center?

The exact architecture depends on the contact-center platform.

In traditional enterprise telephony environments, SIP is often the connection point.

A simplified call flow might look like:

Caller → Existing contact center or PBX → AI voice agent

If the AI resolves the request, the call ends.

If human assistance is needed:

Caller → AI voice agent → Existing human-agent queue

Callab AI is designed around this approach.

The platform connects to existing PBX, SBC and contact-center infrastructure through SIP and operates as another endpoint within the call environment. Callab states that if the environment speaks SIP, its AI layer can connect without requiring the organization to migrate its core telephony stack.

That makes it possible to introduce AI incrementally rather than redesigning the entire contact center before testing a single use case.

Why does the integration architecture matter?

A voice AI demo can make deployment look simple.

Connect a phone number.

Configure an agent.

Start talking.

Enterprise environments tend to be more complicated.

A large organization may already have multiple PBXs, SBCs, contact-center platforms, carriers and regional call-routing configurations.

Calls may move through several systems before they reach an agent.

The architecture might look more like:

Carrier → SBC → PBX → IVR → contact-center queue → human agent

Voice AI needs to fit somewhere inside that path.

That means evaluating:

• SIP compatibility

• Call routing

• Media handling

• Codecs

• Latency

• Security

• Human transfers

• Existing queues

• Failover

• Call recording

• CRM integrations

• Data flows

These components can influence the quality of the AI conversation as much as the AI model itself. Callab has previously described telephony infrastructure as the hidden layer behind production Voice AI because SIP routing, media paths, codecs, jitter and packet loss all affect the final caller experience.

Does voice AI require replacing your existing contact-center platform?

Not necessarily.

There are broadly two approaches to deploying voice AI.

Replace the telephony layer

Some Voice AI platforms provide their own phone infrastructure.

Calls are moved into that environment and the AI runs there.

This can be appropriate for organizations starting from scratch or businesses with relatively simple telephony requirements.

Integrate the AI into the existing environment

The alternative is leaving the contact-center infrastructure where it is and connecting the AI into the existing call flow.

This tends to be more attractive to enterprises that already operate established telephony environments.

Callab uses this second approach.

Its deployment process begins by mapping the existing telephony architecture and call flows before connecting an initial AI agent through SIP and routing a controlled portion of call traffic to it.

Cisco CUCM and Voice AI

Cisco Unified Communications Manager is widely used as an enterprise call-control platform.

Organizations running CUCM may already use it to manage:

• Extensions

• Phone numbers

• Call routing

• SIP trunks

• Gateways

• Contact-center infrastructure

• Internal calling

Cisco CUCM supports SIP trunk interfaces, which provide a potential connection point between the existing Cisco environment and an external Voice AI platform. Cisco maintains specific documentation around CUCM SIP trunk messaging and interoperability.

How can Voice AI integrate with Cisco CUCM?

Rather than replacing CUCM, an AI voice agent can be introduced as another destination in the call architecture.

For example:

PSTN → Cisco infrastructure → CUCM → Callab AI

A specific number, call type or IVR branch could be routed to the AI.

If the conversation requires a person:

Callab AI → CUCM → Existing agent or queue

This allows the organization to preserve its existing Cisco routing architecture while gradually introducing AI automation.

What can Cisco Voice AI be used for?

Potential use cases include:

• First-line customer support

• Appointment scheduling

• AI receptionist workflows

• Call qualification

• Order enquiries

• IVR replacement

• After-hours support

• Outbound customer calls

• Intelligent call routing

The appropriate starting point is usually one clearly defined call flow rather than redirecting every Cisco call to AI.

Mitel and Voice AI

Mitel environments are another common example of established enterprise telephony where organizations may want to introduce AI without replacing the PBX.

Mitel's own documentation supports SIP trunking across systems including MiVoice Business and other Mitel PBX products, typically using Mitel Border Gateway as part of the architecture.

That SIP layer can provide a path for integrating an external Voice AI endpoint.

How can Mitel AI integration work?

A simplified architecture could look like:

Caller → Mitel PBX / Border Gateway → AI voice agent

Existing routing determines which calls reach the AI.

Calls requiring human assistance can then return to existing Mitel destinations.

For example:

AI voice agent → Mitel → Customer service queue

The organization therefore does not need to abandon its Mitel environment simply to introduce conversational AI.

What could Voice AI automate in a Mitel environment?

Common starting points could include:

• High-volume repetitive enquiries

• Internal call routing

• Appointment requests

• Customer-service triage

• Out-of-hours calls

• Lead qualification

• Routine outbound campaigns

The Mitel infrastructure continues to handle telephony while the AI handles selected conversations.

Avaya and Voice AI

Avaya remains common across large enterprise and contact-center environments.

Depending on the organization, that may include Avaya Aura, Avaya IP Office, Avaya SBC infrastructure or combinations of Avaya products.

Avaya supports SIP trunks and provides detailed configuration guidance for both IP Office and Avaya Session Border Controller environments.

How can Avaya Voice AI integrate?

An AI agent can be introduced through the SIP infrastructure rather than replacing the Avaya environment.

For example:

Carrier → Avaya SBC → Avaya call environment → AI voice agent

or, depending on the architecture:

Avaya environment → AI agent → Avaya human-agent queue

This can allow selected call types to move through AI while existing routing, human agents and other Avaya functionality remain available.

Can AI work alongside an existing Avaya IVR?

Yes.

An organization does not necessarily need to remove the entire IVR immediately.

One branch could initially route callers to an AI agent:

Press 1 for sales → Existing queue

Press 2 for appointments → AI voice agent

After validating the AI workflow, the organization could progressively move toward a more conversational front door where callers simply explain what they need.

This incremental approach reduces the risk of attempting a complete IVR replacement at once.

Genesys and Voice AI

Cloud contact-center platforms can also work with external telephony and AI architectures.

Genesys Cloud provides Bring Your Own Carrier and BYOC options, including external SIP trunk configurations. Genesys documentation describes external SIP trunks as part of both cloud and premises-oriented telephony architectures.

This creates potential integration patterns for introducing external Voice AI while continuing to use Genesys for existing contact-center operations.

How could Genesys Voice AI integration work?

One approach is to route selected conversations from the Genesys environment toward the AI.

The AI handles the supported interaction.

If human involvement is required, the call can return to a human-agent workflow.

Conceptually:

Customer → Genesys → AI voice agent

then, when necessary:

AI voice agent → Genesys queue → Human agent

The exact implementation depends on the organization's Genesys telephony architecture and should be validated as part of deployment.

Why integrate instead of replacing Genesys?

The organization may already use Genesys for:

• Workforce operations

• Agent routing

• Reporting

• Queues

• Contact flows

• CRM integrations

• Omnichannel interactions

Replacing all of those capabilities simply to introduce a new AI agent would create a much larger transformation project.

Integrating Voice AI allows the organization to target specific interactions first.

Five9 and Voice AI

Five9 is another cloud contact-center platform where enterprises may already have significant workflows and agent operations configured.

Five9 supports Bring Your Own SIP Trunk configurations.

Its documentation describes SIP trunk connectivity between Five9 infrastructure and customer gateways such as PBXs or SBCs, and Five9 also provides APIs and SDKs for broader application integration.

How can Five9 Voice AI fit into the architecture?

Depending on the organization's configuration, AI can be incorporated through the existing voice-routing architecture rather than requiring the Five9 environment itself to be removed.

A business might direct specific calls toward an AI agent and route conversations requiring people back into the appropriate Five9 workflow.

For example:

Customer → Five9 environment → AI agent

and:

AI agent → Five9 human-agent queue

This allows the existing Five9 operation to remain the contact-center environment while AI takes responsibility for specific conversations.

What could AI automate alongside Five9?

Potential workflows include:

• Customer-service triage

• Routine inbound questions

• Appointment workflows

• Lead qualification

• After-hours interactions

• Outbound follow-up

• Payment reminders

• Call routing

As with other platforms, the objective does not have to be replacing the contact center.

AI can take responsibility for defined workflows within it.

Amazon Connect and Voice AI

Amazon Connect has a different architecture from traditional on-premise PBX platforms, but external Voice AI can still be incorporated into contact workflows.

AWS currently supports several external voice and AI patterns.

Amazon Connect can transfer calls to external phone numbers, and AWS also documents external AI-agent collaboration patterns that can allow an external agent to participate in a Connect voice interaction, including bidirectional audio configurations.

How can Amazon Connect Voice AI work?

The appropriate architecture depends on what the organization wants the AI to do.

For some workflows, the AI may act as an external voice destination.

For others, Amazon Connect can remain responsible for the contact flow while an external AI agent handles part of the interaction.

Human transfers can then move the customer back into an Amazon Connect queue or agent workflow.

The key principle remains the same:

Voice AI does not necessarily need to replace the contact-center platform.

It can become one component of the customer interaction.

Is there one integration method for every platform?

No.

This is an important point.

“Integrates with Cisco” and “integrates with Amazon Connect” do not necessarily mean the same technical architecture.

Cisco CUCM, Mitel and Avaya commonly expose traditional enterprise SIP environments.

Genesys and Five9 provide cloud contact-center environments with their own carrier, BYOC and SIP options.

Amazon Connect provides its own cloud-native contact flows, external transfers and external-agent integration patterns.

The implementation therefore needs to start with the customer's architecture rather than the vendor logo.

This is why Callab begins deployments with a discovery process that maps the telephony architecture, call flows and requirements before connecting the AI agent.

What if a company uses more than one contact-center platform?

This is common.

An enterprise might use:

• Cisco in corporate offices

• Avaya in an older contact center

• Genesys Cloud in another business unit

• Different carriers by country

• Regional SBCs

• A separate platform following an acquisition

Voice AI therefore cannot always assume there is one clean contact-center stack.

A SIP-based integration layer can make it possible to introduce a consistent AI capability across heterogeneous telephony environments without first requiring the organization to standardize every underlying platform.

Callab describes its architecture as supporting on-premise, hybrid and cloud telephony environments while the existing infrastructure stays in place.

Can Voice AI transfer calls back to existing agents?

Yes.

Human handoff should be part of the integration design from the beginning.

If a customer reaches AI through an existing contact-center platform and the conversation becomes too complex, the AI needs a path back to the human operation.

That could mean transferring to:

• A customer-service queue

• A specific department

• A specialist

• A sales representative

• An escalation queue

Callab supports context-aware transfers between AI agents, departments and human agents. The conversation history is carried through the handoff so the receiving employee has context rather than forcing the caller to start again.

Can human teams monitor calls handled by the AI integration?

Yes.

This is another area where the integration should extend beyond basic call routing.

Routing a call to an AI endpoint answers:

Where does the call go?

It does not answer:

What happens while AI is handling it?

Callab provides real-time human supervision across AI calls.

Supervisors can see live transcripts, sentiment and AI-confidence information and can intervene when necessary.

This means an organization can retain its existing contact-center infrastructure while adding another layer of control over the AI conversations themselves.

What happens to call data after the conversation?

Integration should also consider data flows outside the telephony platform.

A call can generate information such as:

• Customer name

• Call intent

• Qualification data

• Appointment details

• Budget

• Next action

• Customer sentiment

• Escalation reason

Callab automatically records, transcribes and sentiment-tags calls and provides post-call analysis through its dashboard.

Its Data Extraction engine can also convert information from conversations into structured fields and sync those fields into CRM or backend systems.

That means the voice integration does not have to end when the telephone connection ends.

Conversation data can continue into the rest of the business workflow.

Can Voice AI be added without changing every call flow?

Yes.

A controlled pilot is usually the more practical approach.

Suppose an enterprise has 50 different contact-center workflows.

It does not need to redesign all 50 before testing AI.

Instead, it could select one:

Appointment scheduling

for example.

Only those calls are routed toward the AI agent.

The rest of the environment continues working normally.

Teams can then evaluate:

• Conversation quality

• Resolution rate

• AI confidence

• Human escalation

• Audio quality

• Latency

• Transfer success

• Integration stability

• Customer sentiment

Callab's deployment model follows this approach: discovery, SIP connection, controlled pilot and then expansion at the organization's preferred pace.

How should enterprises approach a Voice AI integration?

Start by mapping what exists today.

That includes:

• Contact-center platform

• PBX

• SBC

• SIP trunks

• Carriers

• IVR

• Human-agent queues

• Call-routing rules

• CRM

• Backend systems

• Call-recording infrastructure

• Security requirements

• Compliance requirements

Then choose a specific call workflow.

Determine where the AI should enter the call.

Determine where the call goes if AI resolves it.

Determine where it goes if AI cannot.

Determine which systems the agent needs access to.

And determine how supervisors will monitor the interaction.

This gives the Voice AI a clearly defined role within the existing architecture rather than attempting to redesign the contact center around the AI product.

Voice AI integrations with Callab AI

Callab AI is designed for organizations that want to introduce conversational AI without replacing the contact-center infrastructure already running their business.

Callab connects as a SIP endpoint to existing PBX, SBC and contact-center environments. The existing telephony infrastructure stays in place while selected calls are routed to AI agents.

This architecture can support environments built around platforms such as Cisco CUCM, Mitel and Avaya, as well as cloud contact-center environments where the appropriate SIP, BYOC, transfer or external-agent integration path is available.

Once connected, Callab AI agents can handle inbound and outbound conversations, access company knowledge, interact with business workflows and escalate conversations when human assistance is required.

Supervisors retain live visibility into AI conversations through transcripts, sentiment and confidence signals and can take over when necessary.

Afterwards, conversations can be recorded, transcribed, analysed and converted into structured information for connected business systems.

The objective is not:

Replace Cisco with AI.

or:

Replace Genesys with AI.

It is:

Add AI to the contact-center environment already running the business.

Want to understand where Callab AI could sit in your existing telephony architecture? Book a demo and we'll start by mapping your current call flows and contact-center stack.

Frequently asked questions