AI receptionist
The main line, answered.Messages, taken.
An AI receptionist is a voice assistant that answers your company's general number. It says from the start that it is automated, handles simple questions and passes the call or message to the person who deals with the topic, including outside office hours.
The general phone line interrupts everyone
Customers, suppliers, job candidates and couriers all call the main number. Whoever answers has to stop what they are doing, find out what the caller wants and track down the right colleague. When nobody answers, the call is lost without a trace.
- Calls during breaks, after hours or during a meeting go unanswered
- Messages are jotted on paper or kept in someone's head and do not always reach the recipient
- Callers are passed from one colleague to another until they find the right person
- Questions like “what are your opening hours?” eat into the time of the busiest person in the office
Who it makes sense for
- Small and mid-sized businesses with a single phone number for every topic
- Offices where the same person answers the phone and also handles other tasks
- Practices, agencies and service firms that receive calls outside office hours too
- Teams that want to know who called and why, without relying on sticky notes
What an AI receptionist does on the phone
- 01
Greeting and disclosure
Introduces itself as the company's automated assistant and says whether the call is recorded and for what purpose.
- 02
Answers to basic questions
Opening hours, address, directions, the services you offer — only from the information you approve.
- 03
Call routing
Finds out the topic and transfers to the agreed department or person, following your rules and schedule.
- 04
Structured messages
When the person requested is unavailable, it records the name, number, topic and urgency and sends them to the colleague.
- 05
Screening unsolicited calls
Recognises unsolicited sales pitches and takes them as a message, without interrupting the team.
How it works
How a call moves through the main line
The steps marked in yellow are approved by a person.
- Input
- AI
- Action
- Human in the loop
- Result
- 01
Input
Call to the main line
The customer calls the company's general number.
- 02
AI
Disclosure and intent
The assistant introduces itself as automated and finds out why the person is calling.
- 03
Action
Checks availability
Looks up the routing rules and who is available right now.
- 04
Human in the loop
A colleague takes over
The right person accepts the transfer or receives the message.
- 05
Result
Message and log
The request stays on record, with a summary and contact details.
What information the AI receptionist needs
- The list of departments, people and the topics each one handles
- Working hours, days off and the rules for calls outside office hours
- An approved set of answers about the company: address, hours, services, access
- The internal numbers or extensions calls can be transferred to
- The disclosure text about the automated assistant and about recording
Possible integrations
- Virtual phone systems (cloud PBX)
- VoIP telephony via SIP trunks
- Twilio
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Workspace
- Slack
- HubSpot
- Pipedrive
- Email and SMS for notifications
- Virtual phone systems (cloud PBX)
- VoIP telephony via SIP trunks
- Twilio
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Workspace
- Slack
- HubSpot
- Pipedrive
- Email and SMS for notifications
Each integration's compatibility is checked during the analysis phase, for the systems and versions you use.
Control and transparency
Where a person decides
- The colleague the call is transferred to decides whether to take it now or call back later
- Messages marked urgent are checked by a designated person, not handled automatically
- The answers the assistant is allowed to give are approved by the company before launch
- Routing rules are reviewed periodically by someone on the team, based on real messages
Limits and operating conditions
- The voice is synthetic: clear and polite, but not identical to a human one, and conversations may involve small misunderstandings
- Proper names, numbers or speech from noisy places can be misheard, which is why it repeats important details for confirmation
- It does not negotiate, make offers or take decisions on behalf of the company
- It does not answer questions it has no approved information for; it takes a message instead of inventing an answer
- It depends on the quality of the phone line and the phone system it is connected to
How we measure the AI receptionist's quality
We agree the indicators together before launch and track them afterwards. The values depend on the process, the data and the volume.
- Calls routed correctly
- A sample of calls checked monthly by the team: did the call reach the right person?
- Complete messages
- The share of messages that include name, number and topic, checked by the recipients
- Calls ended before resolution
- Counted from the call log and analysed by reason
- Answers outside the sources
- Transcripts checked against a set of real questions for unapproved answers
Implementing the AI receptionist in 4 steps
- 01
Call map
We find out who calls the main number, about what, and who each call should reach.
- 02
Scenarios and answers
Together we write the greeting, the disclosure message, the approved answers and the transfer rules.
- 03
Test on a separate line
The team calls a test number with real situations, and we adjust until routing is correct.
- 04
Launch and review
We connect the main line, monitor the first weeks and review the rules based on the messages received.
Use cases
The scenarios below are conceptual examples, built to illustrate what is possible. They do not describe implementations delivered by WEB-AZ.
- Law firm
Messages for the right lawyer
The caller briefly states the area of their request, and the assistant records the details and sends the message to the lawyer on duty, without offering any legal opinion.
Conceptual example - Construction company
Routing between office and site
Suppliers are sent to procurement, new customers to quoting, and calls outside office hours become messages for the next morning.
Conceptual example - Estate agency
Taking calls after hours
In the evening, the assistant notes which property the caller is interested in and when they can be called, and the responsible agent receives the message.
Conceptual example
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI receptionist and how does it differ from an agent for support calls?
The AI receptionist answers the company's general number: it greets callers, answers basic questions, finds out the topic and routes the call or takes a message. The AI voice agent for inbound calls is designed for high-volume support and order lines, where it checks statuses in your systems and opens tickets.
Will callers know they are talking to an automated assistant?
Yes. The assistant introduces itself as automated from the start, and if the call is recorded, it says so and explains the purpose of the recording. The caller can ask at any time to leave a message for a colleague.
What happens when the assistant does not understand what the caller wants?
It rephrases the question once or twice, then does not insist: it transfers the call to a designated person or takes a message with contact details.
Where does callers' data go and who can see it?
Messages and any recordings are kept in the systems agreed together, accessible only to the people who need them and with a defined retention period. Unnecessary data can be deleted or masked.
Can I keep my current phone number?
Usually yes, if your carrier or phone system allows call forwarding or a SIP connection. We check this at the start of the project.
Does the AI receptionist replace the person at reception?
It is not designed that way. It takes the repetitive questions and the calls nobody can answer at that moment, so the people in the office can focus on the customers and situations that need attention.
Can’t find the answer? Write to us and we’ll reply directly.
Want your main number to stop going unanswered?
Tell us who calls you and who each call should reach. We will show you what an AI receptionist could look like for your company.
Related solutions
- AI voice agent for inbound callsThe first line for high volumes of support and order calls: caller identification, answers from approved sources, a ticket created and a transfer with context.
- AI phone bookingBookings, rescheduling and cancellations made by phone directly in your live calendar, with a confirmation sent to the customer.
- AI agent for customer supportAnswers customers from approved information, checks order status in your systems and hands over to colleagues the cases that need a person.