AI receptionist

What it is

An AI receptionist is a voice agent packaged for a small business: a dental practice, a plumbing company, a law office, a salon. It answers every call, greets the caller, answers routine questions from information you give it, takes structured messages and, in most products, books appointments into your calendar or practice-management system. Some products also handle overflow only, picking up when your staff do not answer within a set number of rings.

Enterprise buyers call the same technology a voice agent. The engineering is identical; the packaging, pricing and integration depth are not.

Why it matters when buying

Most AI receptionists are sold on a monthly plan with a minute or call allowance, which hides the per-minute economics that platform buyers see. The two questions that matter most are whether the booking lands in your real system (see write-back) and how the agent behaves when it is out of its depth: emergencies, angry callers, or a question it cannot answer. A product that "takes a message" for everything difficult may still be worth having, but it is an answering service, not a receptionist.

What to ask

Ask to see a booking appear in a sandbox of your own scheduling system during the call. Ask what the agent says when a caller describes an emergency. Ask how you change opening hours or services yourself. Ask for the all-in monthly cost at your call volume, including overage and telephony.