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TalkChief for Zendesk turns every TalkChief phone call into a Zendesk Support ticket for the caller, without anyone typing it in. You connect once with your Zendesk subdomain and your Zendesk login, with no API tokens to copy, and from then on each finished call appears as a ticket with the numbers, talk time, the agent who answered and the call recording.

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What the integration does

  • Logs every external call as a ticket: each inbound, outbound or voicemail call becomes one ticket. Calls between two TalkChief extensions are not logged.
  • Shows the call like a phone ticket: on Zendesk plans that include Talk Partner Edition (all Zendesk Suite plans), the ticket is a phone-call ticket. Its call details show the numbers, start time, talk time, the agent who answered, and a player for the recording. On other plans, the ticket gets an internal note with the same details and a link to the recording.
  • Finds the caller: TalkChief looks up the caller’s number (or the number you dialed) among your Zendesk users and makes that user the ticket’s requester.
  • Creates users for new numbers: when no Zendesk user has the number, TalkChief creates an end user with the caller ID name and the number. You can turn this off.
  • Assigns the ticket to the agent: answered calls are assigned to the Zendesk agent whose email matches the TalkChief agent’s email.
  • Calls from inside Zendesk: with the TalkChief app in Zendesk’s top bar, click a phone number and TalkChief places the call through your TalkChief phone. Incoming calls open the caller’s profile. See Call from Zendesk.
Each ticket shows: Calls usually appear in Zendesk within a few minutes of hanging up.

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Before you start

  • You are a company admin in TalkChief.
  • You sign in to Zendesk as an admin of the Zendesk account you want to connect. Agent and end-user logins can’t connect.
  • You know your Zendesk subdomain: the first part of the address you use to sign in, such as yourcompany in yourcompany.zendesk.com. Custom domains (host-mapped addresses) can’t be used to connect; use the zendesk.com address.
  • One Zendesk account can be connected to one TalkChief company.

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Connect Zendesk

1

Open Integrations in TalkChief

In the TalkChief web app, select Integrations under Configuration in the sidebar. The page opens on the CRM tab.
2

Enter your Zendesk address

On the Zendesk card, select Connect. In the Connect Zendesk window, enter your subdomain or full address in Zendesk address (for example yourcompany.zendesk.com), then select Connect. TalkChief sends you to your Zendesk account.
3

Sign in and approve access

Sign in to Zendesk if asked. Zendesk shows the access TalkChief asks for (see Data TalkChief uses in Zendesk). Approve it.
4

Confirm in TalkChief

Zendesk sends you back to Integrations in TalkChief. A message confirms that Zendesk is connected, and the Zendesk card moves to your connected integrations with a Connected label.
5

Test with a real call

Make or receive a call with TalkChief. A few minutes after you hang up, open Zendesk and check that a ticket for the call is in your views.

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Choose what gets logged

On the connected Zendesk card in Integrations, select the settings (gear) icon. The settings window shows the connected Zendesk account and three switches you can change at any time. Each change applies to calls that end afterwards.

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Call from Zendesk

The TalkChief app adds a TalkChief panel to the top bar of Zendesk Support, so each agent can place and receive TalkChief calls while working in Zendesk. You talk on your usual TalkChief phone (the TalkChief app or your desk phone), so moving between tickets never drops a call.
1

Install the TalkChief app in Zendesk

A Zendesk admin installs the TalkChief app in your Zendesk account. Its icon then appears in the top bar of Zendesk Support. Your TalkChief admin must also have connected Zendesk (see Connect Zendesk).
2

Sign in to TalkChief

Open the TalkChief panel from the top bar and select Sign in to TalkChief. A TalkChief window opens; sign in if asked, and it closes by itself when you are connected. Each agent signs in once on their own computer. Signing in here doesn’t sign you out of the TalkChief web app or your TalkChief apps.
3

Place a call

Click a phone number in a ticket or a user profile, or type a number in the panel and select Call. TalkChief rings your TalkChief phone first. Answer it, and TalkChief dials the number. Hang up on your phone.
4

Receive a call

When a call rings your TalkChief phone, the TalkChief panel opens and Zendesk shows the caller’s profile. Answer on your TalkChief phone as usual.
A call you place from a ticket is added to that ticket when it ends. Other calls get their own ticket, like every logged call.
Clicking phone numbers in Zendesk needs Talk Partner Edition, which all Zendesk Suite plans include. Without it, type the number in the TalkChief panel instead. Your TalkChief phone must be online to place calls: keep the TalkChief app open or your desk phone connected.

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Data TalkChief uses in Zendesk

When you connect, you allow TalkChief to read and write data in your Zendesk account. TalkChief uses that access to: TalkChief does not read, change or delete your other tickets, users, organizations or settings, and it does not copy your Zendesk data into TalkChief.

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Disconnect Zendesk

To stop logging calls and remove TalkChief’s access, open Integrations in TalkChief and select the trash icon on the Zendesk card, then confirm. When you disconnect:
  • Calls are no longer logged in Zendesk. Calls that were waiting to be logged are dropped.
  • TalkChief deletes its access token for your Zendesk account.
  • Tickets and users already in Zendesk stay there. Nothing is deleted from Zendesk.
You can connect again at any time from the Zendesk card.

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Remove TalkChief’s access from Zendesk

A Zendesk admin can also end TalkChief’s access from inside Zendesk by deleting the OAuth tokens of the TalkChief client in Admin Center. Calls then stop being logged and the Zendesk card in TalkChief shows Reconnect needed. Tickets and users already in Zendesk stay there. To remove the connection from TalkChief too, disconnect it on the Zendesk card.

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Troubleshooting

Enter your Zendesk subdomain (yourcompany) or the address ending in .zendesk.com. Custom domains such as support.yourcompany.com are not accepted.
The card shows Reconnect needed when TalkChief lost access to Zendesk, usually because its access was removed in Zendesk or the admin who connected it lost their role. Select Reconnect and approve access again. Calls that ended in the meantime are logged once you reconnect, as long as you reconnect within 7 days.
A Zendesk account can be connected to only one TalkChief company, so that each company’s calls stay in its own account. Disconnect it from the other TalkChief company first, or connect a different Zendesk account.
Phone-call tickets need Talk Partner Edition, which all Zendesk Suite plans include. Other plans need Talk Partner Edition licences for your agents. Without it, TalkChief logs each call as a ticket with an internal note. TalkChief tries phone-call tickets again every week, and every time you reconnect.
TalkChief assigns answered calls only when the agent’s TalkChief email matches a Zendesk agent’s email, and only if Zendesk accepts that agent as assignee. Use the same email in both, or add the agent to Zendesk.
TalkChief matches the caller by the phone number on the Zendesk user. Check that the user’s phone number is saved with its country code (for example +15551234567). If Create contacts for new numbers is off, calls from unknown numbers use the answering agent as requester.
Click-to-call reaches the TalkChief app only on Zendesk accounts with Talk Partner Edition, and only after you signed in to the TalkChief panel. Without Talk Partner Edition, the panel shows a message and you can type the number in the panel.
Your TalkChief sign-in in the panel lasts 12 hours. Select Sign in to TalkChief to continue. If nothing opens, allow pop-ups for Zendesk in your browser.
Zendesk keeps only a link to the recording and plays it in the agent’s browser. The recording is added only when the call was recorded: check that call recording is on for that number or team in TalkChief.
For anything else, contact TalkChief support at support@talkchief.io.