Avaya Does Not Have Native PCI-Compliant Payment Capture
Avaya has been the backbone of enterprise contact centres for decades. Avaya Aura, Avaya OneCloud CCaaS, and the Communication Manager platform handle millions of calls daily across some of the largest contact centre operations in the world.
But Avaya was built for call management, not payment processing. There is no built-in mechanism to securely capture card details during a live call without exposing your agents, recordings, and infrastructure to PCI scope.
This is a particularly acute problem for Avaya customers because many operate in heavily regulated industries (financial services, insurance, utilities, government) where PCI compliance is not optional and audit scrutiny is intense.
The Payment Gap in Avaya
Avaya environments range from fully on-premises Aura deployments to hybrid architectures mixing on-prem and cloud, to the newer Avaya Cloud Office and OneCloud CCaaS platforms. The payment gap exists across all of them.
No secure card capture in the call flow. Avaya can route calls, queue them, record them, and provide IVR menus, but when a customer enters card digits via keypad during a call, those tones are audible to the agent and captured in the call recording. There is no native mechanism to keep card data out of the recorded stream while keeping the agent connected.
Recording infrastructure captures everything. Avaya's call recording, whether through Avaya Workforce Engagement or third-party recorders like Verint or NICE, records the full audio stream by default. Pause-and-resume recording is technically possible, but it relies on agents remembering to pause at the right moment and resume after. In practice, compliance teams consistently find gaps: agents who forget, who pause late, or who resume too early. And even with pause-and-resume, the agent still hears the card number.
Legacy infrastructure complicates payments. Many Avaya deployments run on older infrastructure: Session Border Controllers, Avaya Media Servers, proprietary SIP implementations. Bolting card capture directly onto this stack is not trivial and varies significantly between deployments.
Migration uncertainty. Avaya's corporate restructuring has left many customers evaluating migration paths. Some are moving to Avaya's cloud offerings. Others are migrating to Genesys, Five9, or Amazon Connect. In either case, investing in a deeply coupled, Avaya-specific payment integration carries risk. You need a payment approach that works for your operation today and travels with you to whatever platform comes next.
How Shuttle Adds Payments to Avaya
Shuttle adds PCI-compliant card capture to your Avaya payment flows. When the customer is ready to pay, the card is captured inside Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 certified environment via Twilio Pay (Shuttle is Twilio's preferred payments partner), and the card data never reaches your Avaya recordings, transcription, or your agents. Shuttle customers already take payments this way on Avaya-based operations today.
The setup is light. It runs on Twilio Pay, so you need to be a Twilio customer, and you build a small integration on your side. Shuttle ships the secure PCI capture, payment links, IVR, and the payment APIs; what it does not ship is an out-of-the-box agent screen, the input UX, or the amount-passing API call wired for Avaya specifically. So the part you build is small: pass the payment amount to Shuttle through its API (the minimum data we need), connect the secure capture into your Avaya call flow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. Customers running Avaya have already built exactly this. If that fits, book a call and we will scope your exact setup. There is practical detail in the "What to Expect" section further down.
Secure card capture (voice)
When it is time to pay, the card is captured in a secure, PCI DSS Level 1 call via Twilio Pay. The customer enters their card details on their phone keypad, and the digits are captured inside Shuttle's certified environment. They never reach your Avaya recordings, your recorder (Verint, NICE, or Avaya Workforce Engagement), or your agents. See the Twilio IVR & Agent Assist payment docs for the technical flow.
Payment Links via SMS or email
This is the most turnkey path. Shuttle generates payment links and sends them via SMS or email, including mid-call to a customer who is still on the line. The customer completes payment on a secure hosted page, and confirmation is returned in real time. Shuttle provides the link interfaces out of the box, and links work even with gateways that don't support voice capture. See the Payment Links docs.
Agent experience
For voice, the agent triggers the capture and sees the result without ever handling card data. Shuttle does not ship a pre-built agent screen or input UX for Avaya, so you build that minimal piece against Shuttle's APIs: trigger the capture, pass the amount, and show the result in your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. Customers running Avaya have already built this. There is more in the "What to Expect" section below.
How a voice payment works
Call is handled normally. The customer calls in, is routed through Avaya, and speaks with an agent. The conversation proceeds as usual.
Payment is needed. The agent identifies that payment is required (a bill, a premium, a balance, a booking) and triggers payment from the Shuttle interface.
Card is captured securely. The card is captured in a PCI DSS Level 1 call via Twilio Pay. The customer enters their card number, expiry, and CVV on the keypad, and the digits are captured inside Shuttle's certified environment, never your Avaya recordings.
**Transaction is processed.** Shuttle routes the payment to the appropriate PSP (Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com, or any of 30+ supported gateways). Routing is configured by merchant, region, or failover rules.
Agent sees the result. The transaction result (approved, declined, error) is returned in real time via webhook. A tokenised reference is available for CRM logging.
Call continues. The agent confirms payment to the customer and continues the conversation.
Multi-PSP Support
Avaya is disproportionately deployed in large enterprises and regulated industries, organisations that typically have existing, long-standing PSP relationships. Migrating to a new payment gateway is rarely an option.
Shuttle supports 40+ PSPs and allows routing rules to be configured per merchant, per region, or per business unit. This is critical for Avaya environments that serve multiple brands or divisions.
Typical routing configurations for Avaya deployments:
UK operations route to Worldpay, European operations to Adyen
Different business divisions use different PSPs based on existing contracts
Failover routing: if the primary gateway returns errors, transactions automatically route to a backup
Card scheme routing: Amex transactions processed through a different gateway than Visa/Mastercard
No PSP migration required. Your existing payment relationships stay intact. Switching processors later is configuration, not a re-integration. One caveat for voice specifically: a small number of gateways (for example Braintree) don't permit the raw card data to be passed to them, so they don't work for voice capture, though they do work for payment links.
PCI Compliance
Shuttle is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified Service Provider.
For Avaya contact centres, this changes the compliance picture fundamentally:
Without Shuttle: Card data passes through your Avaya infrastructure, telephony, recording, agent desktops, and network. Your entire environment is in PCI scope. You face SAQ-D (300+ requirements), annual QSA audits, penetration testing, and significant ongoing compliance costs. For on-premises Avaya deployments with complex infrastructure, this is particularly burdensome.
**With Shuttle:** Because the card is captured in the secure Twilio Pay call, card data never enters your Avaya environment. Recordings contain no card data. Agents never hear card numbers. Your PCI scope drops to **SAQ-A**, the lightest level, with minimal requirements. Full compliance documentation is in the security docs.
This is especially important for Avaya customers in regulated industries where compliance audits are frequent and thorough. SAQ-A versus SAQ-D is typically a six-figure annual cost difference.
Voice payments cost $0.20 per successful transaction with no setup fees, no per-seat fees, and no monthly minimums. Payment links are currently free (a new pricing model is coming).
Use Cases
Financial Services
Banks and building societies running Avaya handle card payments for loan repayments, account top-ups, and service fees. PCI compliance in financial services is subject to FCA oversight, and regulators increasingly scrutinise how card data is handled in contact centres. Shuttle removes the risk entirely.
Insurance
Insurance companies are among Avaya's largest customer base. Premium collection, policy renewals, and claims payments happen over the phone daily. Shuttle allows agents to collect payments mid-call without breaking the conversation or creating PCI exposure, critical for maintaining retention during renewal calls.
Utilities
Utility companies processing bill payments through Avaya contact centres need high-volume, reliable payment capture. Shuttle handles automated IVR payments for self-service callers and agent-assisted payments for more complex interactions, all via the same Twilio Pay capture.
Government and Public Sector
Local councils, NHS trusts, and government agencies running Avaya can add secure payment collection for council tax, parking fines, prescription charges, and service fees. Shuttle's SAQ-A compliance model simplifies the procurement and audit process significantly.
What to Expect
Shuttle is a payment layer you connect to your stack, not a pre-packaged Avaya plugin. Here is the honest detail so there are no surprises on the call:
It runs on Twilio Pay today. Shuttle's voice capture uses Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is the certified payment connector, so you need to be a Twilio customer. A carrier-agnostic version that removes the Twilio requirement is on our roadmap for later in 2026.
You build a small integration, not a payment system. Shuttle ships the secure PCI capture, IVR, payment links, and payment APIs. What it does not ship is an out-of-the-box agent screen, the input UX, or the amount-passing API call for Avaya specifically. So you build that minimal glue: pass the amount to Shuttle via its API (the minimum data we need), connect the capture into your Avaya call flow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. It is light, and customers running Avaya have already done it.
A native Avaya integration is available as a paid project. If you would rather not build the integration yourself, we can build one for your deployment with you.
Point-of-payment capture is what is live. Securely capturing the card at the moment of payment works today. Shuttle staying present across the entire conversation, or handing the caller back to the same agent afterwards, is part of the fuller call control coming with the carrier-agnostic version.
Payment links are the most turnkey path and need the least build. Many teams start there and add voice capture later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Shuttle have a native Avaya integration?
Not today. Shuttle's voice capture runs on Twilio Pay (we're Twilio's preferred payments partner), and you invoke that setup rather than installing a Shuttle app in your Avaya stack. You'll need to be a Twilio customer and to build a small integration on your side (pass the amount to Shuttle's API and wire the secure capture into your call flow over Twilio), which customers running Avaya have already done. We can build a native Avaya integration as a paid project if you'd rather not build it yourself, and a carrier-agnostic version is on our roadmap.
Does this require Twilio?
Yes, today. The secure card capture runs via Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is the certified payment connector. The carrier-agnostic version that removes this requirement is on our roadmap.
What if we are migrating away from Avaya?
The payment leg runs through Twilio Pay, not coupled into your Avaya infrastructure, so the approach is independent of your telephony platform. If you are migrating from Avaya to Genesys, Five9, Amazon Connect, or another CCaaS platform, your Shuttle setup is not Avaya-specific and travels with you (provided you remain a Twilio customer for voice capture).
How does Shuttle keep card data out of Avaya's call recording?
The card is captured in a separate, secure Twilio Pay call rather than in the Avaya-recorded audio, so your recording platform (Avaya Workforce Engagement, Verint, NICE, or another solution) never receives card data. No pause-and-resume configuration is needed.
Can we just use payment links instead of voice capture?
Yes. Many teams use links only, sent via SMS or email, including mid-call. Links are the most turnkey part of Shuttle and work with gateways that don't support voice capture.
Can we try it before committing?
Yes. You can build a proof of concept against Shuttle's sandbox gateway and demo app to see the IVR flow, then move to a compatible production gateway when you're ready.
What is the cost?
$0.20 per successful transaction for voice, no setup fees, no per-seat fees, no monthly minimums. Payment links are currently free.
Related Reading
PCI-Compliant Payments for Contact Centres, the complete guide to secure contact centre payments
Twilio Pay Connectors, how Shuttle integrates with Twilio's payment infrastructure
Voice Payments, the definitive guide to taking payments over voice channels
AI Voice Agent PCI Payments, adding payment capture to AI-powered voice agents
Voice Checkout, Shuttle's voice payment product
Get Started
Adding PCI-compliant payments to an Avaya operation does not require replacing your telephony infrastructure. Shuttle provides a Twilio-based payment layer that works alongside your existing Avaya deployment (on-prem, hybrid, or cloud) and your existing PSP relationships. We'll walk you through what's live today and the path for your setup.
Talk to our team about adding secure payment capture to your Avaya contact centre, or explore Voice Checkout to see how it works.