If your contact centre uses Observe.AI, for a financial services collections operation, a healthcare revenue-cycle team, an insurance servicing organisation, or an outsourced support BPO, you've probably already met the payment gap. Observe.AI's voice agents and agent assist tools transcribe, analyse, score, and coach in real time across every call. But when a customer says "I'd like to pay," neither Observe.AI nor the CCaaS underneath it has a native, PCI-compliant way to capture their card.
Observe.AI sits across the conversation layer, voice AI agents handling automated flows, agent assist coaching live agents in real time, post-call quality monitoring, and conversation intelligence for compliance and coaching. The platform integrates with Genesys, Five9, NICE CXone, Avaya, Talkdesk, Twilio, Cisco, and other major CCaaS environments. What Observe.AI doesn't do, and isn't built to do, is the secure card-capture moment.
This guide is for merchants running Observe.AI on top of a CCaaS platform, and for solution providers and Observe.AI partners deploying Observe.AI for clients. It covers how Shuttle adds PCI-compliant payment capture to Observe.AI-powered operations, what that involves today, and why card data stays out of Observe.AI's analysis pipeline.
The Payment Gap Around Observe.AI
Observe.AI is a voice AI and conversation intelligence platform. Card capture is a separate problem, and here are the gaps for businesses taking payments on Observe.AI-powered calls:
Observe.AI sits on the AI/analytics layer, not telephony. The platform analyses conversations, surfaces insights, and runs voice AI agents, but card capture has to happen elsewhere.
The CCaaS underneath usually doesn't capture cards either. Genesys, Five9, NICE CXone, Talkdesk, Avaya all face the same payment gap, see the contact centre payments guide for platform-specific detail.
Voice AI cannot execute card transactions safely. Observe.AI voice agents handle conversational flows, intent recognition, routing, scheduling, FAQ. Capturing a card during a fully autonomous voice AI call requires a PCI-compliant payment layer the AI can hand off to.
Recording and transcription pose PCI risk. Observe.AI processes recordings and transcripts in real time and post-call. If card numbers are spoken aloud, they end up in transcripts and analytics, dragging Observe.AI-adjacent infrastructure into PCI scope.
Single-PSP add-ons miss the multi-tenant case. BPOs and outsourcers running Observe.AI across multiple end-clients each have different acquirer relationships. Single-gateway integrations don't fit.
How Shuttle Adds Payments to Observe.AI
Shuttle adds PCI-compliant card capture to your Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI recordings, transcription, or your agents. Shuttle customers already take payments this way on Observe.AI-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 Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI call flow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. Customers running Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI's transcripts, voice agent flows, quality scoring, or coaching outputs, because the card data never enters that pipeline. See the Twilio IVR & Agent Assist payment docs for the technical flow.
Voice AI payment handoff
For autonomous Observe.AI voice agent calls, the payment moment is a handoff: the AI agent confirms intent and amount, then hands off to Shuttle's secure Twilio Pay capture. The AI never touches cardholder data. This is the handoff pattern via Shuttle's APIs, which you wire into your own voice AI flow rather than relying on a pre-built connector.
Payment Links
This is the most turnkey path. For outbound recovery, agreed payment plans, or customers who can't enter card details on the phone, Shuttle generates payment links with the agreed amount and sends them via SMS or email, including mid-call. Status posts back into the case for the agent's reference. 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 Observe.AI, 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 Observe.AI have already built this. There is more in the "What to Expect" section below.
How a voice payment works
The call proceeds on your CCaaS as normal. Observe.AI continues transcribing, scoring, and coaching the surrounding conversation.
Payment is triggered from your agent interface, or via handoff from an autonomous voice AI flow, when the customer is ready to pay.
Card captured securely. The card is captured in a PCI DSS Level 1 call via Twilio Pay, the customer enters their card on the keypad, and the digits are captured inside Shuttle's certified environment, never reaching Observe.AI.
Transaction is processed. Shuttle routes to the configured PSP, any of 30+ supported gateways, then tokenises before any return to your systems.
Result returned to your interface and your systems via webhook.
No card data in Observe.AI. Observe.AI transcripts, voice agent flows, quality scoring, and coaching outputs never contain card numbers.
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 BPO client, useful for enterprise Observe.AI deployments where each tenant or brand has its own acquirer.
Switching processors later is straightforward, gateway choice is configuration, not a re-integration. One caveat for voice specifically: a small number of gateways (for example Braintree) don't permit raw card data to be passed to them, so they don't work for voice capture, though they do work for payment links.
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).
PCI Compliance
Shuttle is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified Service Provider. Because the card is captured in the secure Twilio Pay call, cardholder data stays out of the Observe.AI pipeline entirely:
Card digits are captured directly into Shuttle's certified environment, then tokenised before any return to your systems. They are never recorded, never transcribed, never reach Observe.AI's transcript stream.
Observe.AI transcripts, voice agent flows, quality scoring, and coaching outputs never contain card numbers. Your PCI scope, and Observe.AI's, stays narrow on the lighter SAQ-A path.
Audit trails, settlement reports, and reconciliation are available via Shuttle's reporting layer.
For Observe.AI customers in regulated verticals, financial services, insurance, healthcare, BPOs handling regulated products, Shuttle is built to keep certified scope tight without disrupting the voice AI and analytics layer. Full compliance documentation is in the security docs.
For Solution Providers and Observe.AI Implementation Partners
If you're an Observe.AI partner or SI deploying Observe.AI on top of Genesys, Five9, NICE CXone, Talkdesk, Avaya, or other CCaaS for clients, Shuttle is the payment layer you can add via a Twilio-based setup. We support white-label deployment, multi-PSP routing across your client portfolio (each client keeps their preferred acquirer), and partner-friendly commercials. Shuttle is a Pay Connector provider on the Twilio Marketplace. A native Observe.AI integration can be built as a paid project. For partnership conversations, book a discovery call.
Use Cases
Financial Services Collections
Collections teams using Observe.AI for tone-aware coaching during recovery calls can settle agreed payment plans during the call. Multi-PSP routing handles different agency-of-record arrangements.
Healthcare Revenue Cycle
Healthcare revenue-cycle teams using Observe.AI for compliance-aware quality monitoring can take patient payments during billing calls without exposing PHI or cardholder data to the analytics pipeline.
Insurance Premium and Renewal
Insurance servicing teams using Observe.AI can take premium payments and renewals during inbound enquiries or outbound nudges. Voice AI agents can handle the conversational flow; Shuttle handles the secure capture.
BPO and Outsourced Contact Centres
BPOs running Observe.AI across multiple end-clients can route payment transactions to each client's preferred acquirer, with per-tenant configuration and clean settlement separation.
What to Expect
Shuttle is a payment layer you connect to your stack, not a pre-packaged Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI call flow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. It is light, and customers running Observe.AI have already done it.
A native Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI 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 Observe.AI or its underlying CCaaS. 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 Observe.AI have already done. We can build a native Observe.AI 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.
Will Shuttle work with Observe.AI's voice AI agents?
For autonomous voice AI flows, the payment moment is a handoff, the AI confirms amount and intent, Shuttle handles the secure capture via Twilio Pay, then control returns to the AI. The AI never touches cardholder data. You wire this handoff into your flow using Shuttle's APIs.
Does Shuttle affect Observe.AI's transcripts or quality scoring?
No. Observe.AI continues transcribing, scoring, and analysing the surrounding conversation. Because the card is captured in the separate Twilio Pay call, transcripts and quality outputs never contain cardholder data.
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.
What does Shuttle cost?
$0.20 per successful transaction for voice, with no per-seat fees, so cost scales with payment volume not headcount. Payment links are currently free.
Related Reading
PCI-Compliant Payments for Contact Centres, the platform-by-platform merchant + SI guide
Genesys Payments, common CCaaS underneath Observe.AI
Five9 Payments, common CCaaS underneath Observe.AI
NICE CXone Payments, common CCaaS underneath Observe.AI
AI Voice Agent PCI Payments, for AI-led contact centres
Twilio Pay Connectors, Shuttle's multi-gateway Pay Connector
Voice Payments, comprehensive voice payment capture guide
Get Started
Shuttle adds enterprise-grade, PCI-compliant payment capture to an Observe.AI-powered operation via Twilio, without changes to Observe.AI's analytics layer, your CCaaS configuration, or your agent training, and 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 Observe.AI + CCaaS deployment.