If your contact centre uses Cresta — for an insurance sales operation, a financial services collections team, a SaaS retention organisation, or an outsourced sales BPO — you've probably already met the payment gap. Cresta makes your agents better. It surfaces real-time coaching, suggests next-best responses, and detects intent and sentiment as the conversation unfolds. But when a customer says "I'd like to pay," Cresta's AI doesn't capture cards — and the underlying CCaaS that Cresta sits on top of usually doesn't either.
Cresta works alongside Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, Webex Contact Centre, and other major CCaaS platforms. The AI runs in real time across both human-agent calls and automated voice flows. What Cresta doesn't handle — and isn't built to handle — is the secure card-capture moment. That's a separate problem, and it's where most Cresta customers end up either reading numbers into recordings, redirecting to external IVRs, or running single-PSP add-ons that lock them to one acquirer.
This guide is for merchants running Cresta on top of a CCaaS platform, and for solution providers and Cresta partners deploying Cresta for clients. It covers how Shuttle adds PCI-compliant payment capture to Cresta-powered contact centres — multi-PSP, integrates at the CCaaS layer beneath Cresta, and built so Cresta's AI assist remains active throughout the payment moment.
The Payment Gap Around Cresta
Cresta is purpose-built for real-time conversation intelligence and agent coaching. It is not a payment platform, and the gaps for businesses taking payments on Cresta-powered calls:
Cresta sits on the AI layer, not the telephony layer. Cresta surfaces coaching cues and intent detection in real time, but it doesn't route calls or capture DTMF. Card capture has to happen at the underlying CCaaS layer or via a side integration.
**The CCaaS underneath usually doesn't capture cards either.** Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, and Webex CC all face the same payment gap — see the contact centre payments guide for platform-specific detail.
Single-PSP add-ons miss the multi-tenant case. Cresta is heavily used by enterprise sales teams, BPOs, and outsourced contact centres where each business unit may have its own acquirer. Single-gateway integrations don't fit.
Cresta AI cannot execute a card transaction. Cresta's value is in the coaching and analysis layer. The agent still needs a secure mechanism to capture and settle the card. Cresta can detect that a payment is about to happen — it cannot make the payment safe.
Recording and transcription pose PCI risk. Cresta processes call transcripts in real time. If card numbers are spoken aloud, they end up in transcripts and recordings, dragging Cresta-adjacent infrastructure into PCI scope.
How to Add Payments to a Cresta-Powered Contact Centre
Shuttle integrates at the CCaaS layer beneath Cresta — Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, Webex CC, or whichever platform Cresta is sitting on top of — so the payment moment runs through a PCI-compliant path while Cresta continues to coach and analyse.
DTMF Masking via SIP at the CCaaS Layer
For voice calls, Shuttle integrates inline with the underlying CCaaS via SIP routing or Twilio Pay. When the agent (cued by Cresta) is ready to take payment, the call is briefly routed through Shuttle's PCI-DSS Level 1 environment, then returned. DTMF tones are masked at the SIP layer — neither the agent, nor the CCaaS recordings, nor Cresta's transcript pipeline receive cardholder data.
Cresta-Triggered Payment Cues
Cresta's real-time intent detection can flag the moment the customer is ready to pay. The agent sees the cue in the Cresta UI, then triggers a Shuttle payment action from their workspace. The integration is event-driven: Cresta detects intent, the agent confirms, Shuttle handles the secure capture.
Payment Links via SMS
For asynchronous capture — outbound sales follow-ups, agreed payment plans, customers who can't enter card details on the phone — Shuttle generates a payment link with the agreed amount. The agent drops the link into an SMS or email from their workspace. Status posts back to the agent's screen.
How It Works
Shuttle plugs into the CCaaS underneath Cresta via SIP integration, an agent-side UI, and webhooks for status reporting. Cresta continues to operate in parallel, coaching and analysing the conversation around the payment moment without ever capturing cardholder data.
Agent workflow
The agent stays on the live call. Cresta surfaces coaching cues for the conversation. When the customer is ready to pay, the agent clicks a payment action in their workspace and confirms the amount. They never see, type, or hear the card number — DTMF tones are masked at the SIP layer beneath Cresta. The agent sees status updates (entered card, validated, processed, approved or declined) without entering PCI scope. Cresta's coaching continues throughout.
Customer experience
The customer stays on the same call with the same agent. When prompted, they enter their card details on their phone keypad — tones are masked, neither the agent nor the recording captures them. They hear confirmation in real time and stay on the line for follow-ups. Cresta continues to analyse the surrounding conversation in real time — it just doesn't capture the card data, because the data never enters its pipeline.
Multi-PSP Support
Shuttle is gateway-agnostic. We connect to 40+ PSPs, including Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com, Braintree, Authorize.Net, GlobalPayments, FreedomPay, FIS, Elavon, Fiserv, and most regional acquirers. You can route transactions based on currency, region, business unit, or tenant — useful for enterprise Cresta deployments running BPO models or multi-brand operations.
Pricing is transparent and volume-based — see Shuttle pricing for the per-transaction model and what you pay across multiple PSPs.
PCI Compliance
Shuttle is PCI-DSS Level 1 certified. The integration keeps cardholder data out of the Cresta pipeline entirely:
DTMF tones are masked at the SIP layer in real time — never recorded, never transcribed, never reach Cresta's transcript stream.
Card data is captured directly into Shuttle's certified environment, then tokenised before any return to your systems.
Cresta transcripts, coaching outputs, and analytics never contain card numbers. Your PCI scope — and Cresta's — stays narrow.
Audit trails, settlement reports, and reconciliation are available via Shuttle's reporting layer.
For Cresta customers in regulated verticals — financial services, insurance, healthcare, sales BPOs handling regulated products — Shuttle is built to keep certified scope tight without disrupting the AI coaching layer.
For Solution Providers and Cresta Implementation Partners
If you're a Cresta partner or SI deploying Cresta on top of Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, Webex CC, or other CCaaS for clients, Shuttle is the payment layer that plugs in alongside your build at the CCaaS level. We support white-label deployment, multi-PSP routing across your client portfolio (each client keeps their preferred acquirer), and partner-friendly commercials. Shuttle is Twilio's official payment partner and works with the most common CCaaS patterns underneath Cresta. For partnership conversations, book a discovery call.
Use Cases
Insurance Sales and Renewal
Insurance teams using Cresta for sales coaching can settle premium payments and renewals during the call itself. Cresta surfaces the moment to ask for the card, Shuttle handles the secure capture.
Sales BPOs and Outsourced Sales Teams
Sales BPOs deploying Cresta on top of Talkdesk or Five9 for client work can take payments inside the call, with multi-PSP routing per client account.
Collections and Recovery
Collections teams using Cresta for tone-aware coaching during recovery calls can take agreed payment plans during the call, with payment links as fallback.
SaaS Retention and Upsell
SaaS retention teams using Cresta for in-call coaching can take credit card details for plan upgrades or payment-method updates without breaking the call flow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Cresta work with Shuttle directly, or via the CCaaS underneath?
Shuttle integrates at the CCaaS layer (Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, Webex CC, etc.) underneath Cresta. Cresta continues to operate in parallel — its real-time coaching can flag the payment moment, but the card capture happens via Shuttle and the underlying CCaaS, not via Cresta directly.
Does Shuttle affect Cresta's transcripts or coaching?
No. Cresta continues transcribing and coaching throughout the payment flow. DTMF tones are masked at the SIP layer beneath Cresta, so transcripts and coaching outputs never contain cardholder data — but the conversational context around the payment moment is preserved.
What if our underlying CCaaS isn't supported?
Shuttle supports all major CCaaS platforms — Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, NICE CXone, RingCentral, Amazon Connect, Avaya, Cisco Webex, Vonage, 8x8, Dialpad, Aircall — plus generic SIP integration for less common setups. See the contact centre payments guide for the full list.
How quickly can we go live?
Most deployments go live in under two weeks. The integration sits at the CCaaS layer; Cresta continues unchanged.
What does Shuttle cost?
Per-transaction pricing — see Shuttle pricing. No per-seat fees, so cost scales with payment volume not headcount.
Related Reading
PCI-Compliant Payments for Contact Centres — the platform-by-platform merchant + SI guide
Talkdesk Payments — common CCaaS underneath Cresta
Genesys Payments — common CCaaS underneath Cresta
Five9 Payments — common CCaaS underneath Cresta
AI Voice Agent PCI Payments — for AI-led contact centres
Twilio Pay Connectors — Shuttle as Twilio's official payment partner
Voice Payments — comprehensive voice payment capture guide
Get Started
Shuttle adds enterprise-grade, PCI-compliant payment infrastructure to Cresta-powered contact centres without changes to Cresta's coaching layer, your CCaaS configuration, or your agent training. Most deployments go live in under two weeks across multiple PSPs.
If you take payments in a contact centre, see how Shuttle works for merchants, or book a discovery call to walk through your specific Cresta + CCaaS deployment.