BEST Auto Attendant Phone System For Call Answering

Do you dread ringing up a company’s helpline, worried you’ll be met with elevator music and robotic answer machines? Ringing a helpdesk is rarely a thrilling experience. You’ll often get passed around different departments, using various numbers, and on the receiving end of forward calls.

Few customers are willing to put up with this, especially as technology continues to advance. Luckily, you can now get an automated business phone system with excellent customer support, taking you to the right person every time.

Automated phone systems have rapidly moved into the best option for businesses implementing an automated calling system. It’s no longer just about routing a phone call - instead, customer calls are attended by a human operator, and create a smooth experience that feels personalized (even when fully automated with an automated attendant).

If you run a business, then your customer service team can now handle inbound calls, give custom greetings, ensure seamless integrations with other helpful apps, and more. You’ll cut down on your call queues and improve customer satisfaction.

You’ll need to follow best practices, though. Your contact centers need to be fully trained, as do your sales team, so there’s no discernible drop in customer service standards. Keep reading to find out how artificial intelligence, combined with humans, can make complex tasks much easier.

What is an automated phone system?

An automated phone system is software that receives phone calls and deals with them in the correct way, without needing a ‘live receptionist’. Instead, your callers receive interactive voice response features during all business hours, including routing them to specific departments that the caller needs.

This technology is powered by AI and even small business owners and medium-sized businesses in 2025 are implementing an automated answering service, to save time and money on manual work.

Automated phone systems can do much more than only play recorded messages. You can also get them to transcribe phone calls, integrate with your CRM, recognize specific phone numbers (useful for important calls) and more. There will be effective communication at every step of the way, with all incoming calls automatically routed based on caller intent.

Other features include voicemail transcription, forwarding calls to the right place, offering technical support, logging caller ID, and more. Most automated phone system platforms will offer a free trial to see whether it can meet the needs of your business.

How to install an automated phone system for business calls

Even if you’ve never gone down this path before, the setup burden isn’t prohibitively high. Small business owners can have set this up, ready to go, in less than a day.

1. Your first step is to choose the right provider. You need a company that matches your office hours, feels personable and supportive, and has compatibility with the relevant mobile app solutions. You should be able to get customizable call flows, integration with your CRM and calendar, plus an attendant system that’s indistinguishable from ‘regular’ telephone systems.

2. You’ll need to define your call flow. This refers to how your automated system will handle direct calls. Will there be pre-recorded voice messages? How many phone menu options are there? And do you offer a callback option? Ideally, you’ll use natural language prompts, rather than a numbers-only system. That’s the main difference between a personable menu of options, and a disengaging one.

3. Your third task is to create voice scripts. This could involve uploading some, if needed, from team members at your company. Lifelike AI voices can be generated using TTS providers like Neuphonic, which change based on time zones, caller history, or even their location. The more personalized the human interaction, the better.

4. Don’t forget to link to your phone number as step number four. Most network providers can give you a step-by-step guide on how to do this, often using mobile devices. You may be able to create a virtual phone number for each section of your business, which helps to ensure that calls always go through to the right department. Clever organization can also stop your phone lines getting clogged up.

5. Last but not least, it’s time to try it out. Call the line, give it some basic information, and then see whether the auto-attendant feature is working as you wish. How does it compare to other call centers you’ve used? Put yourself in the shoes of your customer, and decide whether you’d be happy. Double check that the routing logic makes sense, and then adjust the automated call system based on your findings.

Do automated mobile phone systems give good quality service?

It’s no secret that some people are skeptical about using an auto receptionist. You’ve probably dealt with some ineffective ones in the past which can give the technology a bad name. The truth is, multi-level auto attendant technology is improving dramatically as each month passes. With AI capabilities moving forward, today’s systems have a huge range of exciting key features.

Modern automated phone systems can understand various languages and accents. This can be extremely useful, depending on the time of day. You’ll also be able to install video conferencing capabilities, along with reducing background noise on the calls. Many systems can now make outbound calls on your behalf, as well.

Multilingual support has become mainstream, and contextual memory can be built into the system, so that past interactions are considered in all future conversations. Your pre-recorded message can be tailored to each person, and a virtual receptionist service can handle lots of calls at once.

There are plenty of customers who prefer automated systems. If it means faster responses, and more control over their call, then it’s a win-win. And there’s lots of data showing that companies using IVR systems miss fewer calls, document conversations better, and improve first-time solution rates. There’s less human error, which is a bonus for your business!

Benefits of an automated phone system attendant

Your business can unlock several advantages from an automated phone system attendant. These include:

• Ensure that every call is answered

• Give more time to your other team members

• Increase caller satisfaction

• Reduce your costs

• Keep the lines running 24/7

• Achieve consistency over what your caller hears and experiences

Just make sure that your wait times aren’t too long, that even basic cell phones can navigate it, and that personable customer service isn’t lost.

How will automated phone systems improve in the future?

Automated phone systems are still at a relatively early stage of their introduction across industries, meaning that many improvements are still expected. This will come hand-in-hand with AI and voice recognition developments.

Systems will become more intuitive and conversational. The interactions will be full and natural - no different to talking to a real live agent.

Contextual understanding will also improve. This means that the system logs all past phone calls, recognizes a return phone number, and tailors responses based on your customer history. This stops customers always repeating themselves.

Multilingual support will keep improving, with ambitious developers aiming to one day reach every language in the world (wow!). And the text-to-voice technology will sound more natural than ever before, including tone, emotion, and pacing that replicates a real person, even using AI voice cloning. Ideally, once setup is achieved, it can keep running with zero human intervention.

Will an automated phone system replace a human receptionist?

Not entirely. There are still plenty of jobs at a company that a human receptionist can do, which an automated phone system cannot. But the tasks that fit within this job title will undoubtedly change.

A receptionist probably won’t be needed to route calls. And the system can probably be setup so that direct callers from toll-free numbers always feel entirely satisfied at the end of the call.

Less repetitive tasks can still easily fall within the receptionist’s purview, though. High-value interactions may be better left with a real person. And sending text messages, leaving voicemails, or doing other office admin roles are still certainly better suited for a person.

Each company and business owner will take their own unique approach to this dilemma. Ultimately, automation isn’t going to take away jobs - it will just enhance them. The goal is to work smarter and give your customers the best of both worlds.

What does an auto attendant voice sound like?

Auto attendant voices have come on leaps and bounds in recent years. This technology no longer sounds jolty, boring and disengaging. Monotonous answering machines are a thing of the past.

In its place are voices that sound as real as a human. They can convey emotion, change their tone and pacing, use various pitches, and even refer to past conversations. Ideally, the voice sounds soft and warm, so that your customer feels at ease.

For businesses with offices all over the world, you could even find auto attendant voices that recreate the local accent, language and terminology. And your industry could require a certain tone to be struck, as well - for example, a doctor’s waiting room may need to have a soft and sympathetic voice message, while a music venue helpdesk should probably sound more exciting.

You could even customize scripts based on the time of year, such as if you want to wish callers a happy holidays.

Can an auto attendant make a mistake?

It’s not impossible for your auto attendant to make a mistake. Just like humans make errors, so too can machines. It’s unlikely to happen with repetitive, basic tasks that fall comfortably within what they were programmed to do. But if your caller has background noise, an unusual accent, an unfamiliar language, or a vague request, it can trigger some problems. The same applies to having a human live operator managing your incoming calls, too.

You can assign someone to overlook your incoming calls in real time. Even if the caller hears an automated message, this can save time and money, if dozens of calls at any given moment are handled by just one person. This can feel extremely reassuring, because it means that if something goes wrong, it won’t take hours or days for someone to be made aware. Someone is on-hand, instantly.

Meanwhile, with the typical requests that happen every day, automated systems are usually more reliable than humans. Mistakes are rare, and smart planning can make them even rarer.

How much does an automated phone system cost?

It depends on several different factors, such as your location, the number of features you need, the scale of the package, and your provider. Luckily, whatever your needs or budget, there’s almost certainly an option that’ll work perfectly for you.

Small businesses can find packages that work at around $25 per month. This offers basic features like call routing, voicemail, and assigning numbers for each department.

Mid-sized businesses can pay a bit more, and this enables integration with other apps. CRM integration is a common example. Around $80 to $100 per month is common for a mid-range service.

You then reach the upper echelons, and the truth is, this price can go as high as you wish. The largest companies in the world will pay thousands per year on their automated phone systems. This can offer custom-built AI solutions, high call volumes, tailored responses for each caller, and more. It also allows these companies to save on staff costs, if that’s the route they choose to go down.

Don’t forget that any money you invest into automated systems will ideally create greater customer satisfaction, more brand loyalty, and no missed calls. You’ll also find providers that give free trials and plans that you can scale up, as your needs increase or change.

The future of attendant phone system automations

This growing technology can become a real asset to your business, if you allow it to be. It doesn’t need to take away jobs, nor does it need to give your customers a headache. It can enable your team to work smarter, and spend their time in more productive places. And it can also ensure that your customers are ultra-satisfied. Advanced features will ensure that every query is dealt with, providing an outstanding customer experience.

Just make sure that you choose the right solution for your needs. Start small and slow, and then build up as time passes. In no time at all, your customer service will be miles ahead of the competition, and your balance sheet will be stronger because of it.