AI & Automation
AI voice agents — a receptionist that answers every call
An AI voice agent answers your after-hours and overflow calls, captures the enquiry and sends it straight to you — a text and an email to your phone, or into your booking system if you have one — built, monitored and supported by a family-run Dorset IT team.
- ● From £95/month
- ● Family-run since 1995
- ● 4.9-star Google rating
/01 — THE CALLS YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT
The calls you never hear about
Most small businesses lose enquiries the same way. The phone rings at 6.40pm and goes to voicemail. It rings at 11am while everyone is with a customer, and the caller waits four rings, hangs up and dials the next company on the list. Very few people leave a voicemail any more — and fewer still wait for a call back.
You rarely see this happen, because a missed call leaves almost no trace. There is no enquiry form in your inbox, no note in your diary, no name to ring back. Just a number in a call log that nobody checks.
An AI voice agent closes that gap. It answers when you can’t — out of hours, on overflow (when every line is busy), or whenever you route calls to it — has a natural conversation with the caller, and makes sure the enquiry ends up somewhere your team will actually see it.
/02 — A CONNECTED ENQUIRY WORKFLOW, NOT JUST A RECEPTIONIST
A connected enquiry workflow, not just a receptionist
Plenty of services will answer your phone. The difference here is what happens after the call ends.
We design your voice agent as a complete enquiry workflow. The conversation is only the first half; the second half is deterministic automation — ordinary, reliable software logic — that logs the enquiry, raises a ticket or CRM record, and notifies the right person by SMS, email or Slack. AI does the one step where it genuinely helps: understanding a caller who speaks naturally. Everything downstream runs on fixed rules, because a follow-up should never depend on an AI making a judgement call.
That split matters. It means the agent can be flexible in conversation but completely predictable in what it does with the information — every call handled the same way, every enquiry landing in the same place. It’s the same approach we use across our AI agents work: AI where it helps, plain automation everywhere else.
/03 — WHAT THE VOICE AGENT HANDLES
What the voice agent handles
Each agent is designed around your business, but the building blocks are consistent:
After-hours and overflow answering
calls route to the agent when you’re closed, engaged or simply busy, on rules you choose.
Enquiry capture
the caller’s name, number and what they need, taken in a natural conversation rather than a rigid menu.
Answering agreed questions
opening hours, coverage area, how your service works — drawn only from information you have approved. The agent doesn’t improvise answers.
Booking and callback capture
the agent can take a booking request or arrange a callback slot, so the caller leaves with a next step rather than a promise.
Message taking
a clear, structured message instead of a mumbled voicemail.
Human transfer
during staffed hours, callers who need a person are put through to one. The agent is an extra layer, not a wall.
The follow-up workflow
every call generates a record in your CRM or ticketing system and a notification to your team, automatically.
/04 — HOW A CALL FLOWS, STEP BY STEP
How a call flows, step by step
Here is a typical flow — yours is designed with you, but this is the shape of it:
- 1
1. The call routes to the agent
out of hours, after a set number of rings, or whenever your line is engaged. Your existing number stays the front door.
- 2
2. The caller is told it’s an AI
a clear, friendly disclosure at the start of every call. We don’t build agents that pretend to be human.
- 3
3. The agent asks what they need
and the caller answers in their own words. No “press one for sales”.
- 4
4. It answers or captures
agreed questions get answered from your approved information; anything else becomes a structured enquiry with name, number and details.
- 5
5. It offers a next step
a booking request, a callback slot, or a transfer to your team if someone is available and the caller needs a person now.
- 6
6. The call ends and is recorded to your agreed setup
recording and transcription are configured with you, with retention you have signed off, not defaults you never saw.
- 7
7. The follow-up fires
the enquiry is written into your CRM or raised as a ticket, and your team is notified by SMS, email or Slack. By the time you pick up your phone, the enquiry is already in your system with a record of what was said.
Nothing in steps six and seven involves AI judgement — it’s fixed automation, which is exactly why it’s dependable.
/05 — HONEST ABOUT THE DETAILS
Honest about the details
A few things other providers tend to gloss over, stated plainly:
Callers always know.
The agent discloses that it’s an AI assistant at the start of every call. In our experience people are fine with that — what frustrates callers is not being answered at all.
Recording and data are agreed, not assumed.
Running the service means calls are processed, and usually recorded and transcribed, by the underlying telephony and AI platforms. We document exactly what is stored, where, and for how long, and we set retention with you — the setup is designed to support your obligations under UK data protection law, and you’ll see it in writing before anything goes live.
Usage costs are itemised.
Call minutes and telephony charges depend on your call volume, so we identify them line by line in your quote rather than burying them in the subscription or promising they’re “included forever”.
Humans stay in control.
The agent captures and routes; it doesn’t commit your business to anything. Anything consequential goes to a person, and transfer to your team is part of the design, not an afterthought.
/06 — BUILT, MONITORED AND SUPPORTED IN DORSET
Built, monitored and supported in Dorset
We’re a family-run IT support business in Bournemouth, trading since 1995, and your voice agent is looked after by the same local team that can look after the rest of your IT. It isn’t a portal login and a chatbot for support — it’s people you can ring, serving Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and the wider Dorset area, and remotely across the UK where that suits.
We also hold ourselves to the standard we’d ask of anyone else: proof before promises. There are no AI customer case studies on this page because we won’t invent them — instead, we can show you the systems we run on ourselves. Our own booking automation, review-request automation, SMS scheduling and Slack-connected workflows were all built in-house and handle real work in our business every day. You can also see our approach to AI in the open on the 365 AI OS demonstration — a scripted demo, honestly labelled as one.
The monthly subscription is a service, not just a licence: we monitor the agent, review how calls are being handled, adjust the call flows as your business changes, and stay accountable for the result.
Open the 365 AI OS demo/07 — WHAT IT COSTS
What it costs
The pricing follows the same model as every service on our AI & automation pages: a monthly service subscription plus a one-off design and build.
Service subscription — from £95/month.
This covers running the agent, monitoring, support from our team, and ongoing adjustments to what it says and where enquiries go.
Design and build — one-off, quoted by complexity.
A simple after-hours answering and message flow sits at one end; an agent wired into your CRM, booking system and ticketing sits at the other. The quote reflects the number of call flows, the questions you want answered, and the systems we connect.
Telephony and usage — identified in your quote.
Call minutes vary by business, so we show them separately and honestly.
To get a quote, we start with a short conversation about your calls — when they’re missed, what callers usually want, and where enquiries should land. Tell us what’s wasting your team’s time and we’ll take it from there.
// SERVICE & BUILD
From £95/month — monthly service subscription
One-off design and build — quoted by complexity Call minutes, telephony and any usage charges are identified line by line in your quote, so you can see the full running cost before you commit.
// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
How much does an AI voice agent cost?
The service subscription starts from £95/month, which covers running the agent plus monitoring, support and ongoing adjustments by our team. The design and build is a separate one-off cost, quoted by complexity — a simple message-taking flow costs less to build than an agent connected to your CRM and booking system. Call minutes and telephony charges are identified separately in your quote, so you see the full running cost up front. For the full breakdown — including how the wider UK market bills for this — see our AI receptionist cost guide.
Will callers know they are talking to an AI?
Yes, always. The agent discloses at the start of every call that it’s an AI assistant. We don’t build agents that pretend to be human — and in practice, callers care far more about being answered and helped than about who answered.
What happens if the agent can't help a caller?
During staffed hours it transfers the caller to your team. Out of hours it takes a structured message, offers a callback slot, and notifies you immediately — so the caller always leaves with a next step, and you always know the call happened. The agent only answers questions from information you have approved; it never guesses.
Will this replace our receptionist?
That’s not how we design it. The agent handles the calls a person can’t — after hours, when the line is engaged, when everyone is with a customer. If you have someone answering the phone, they keep doing what they do well, and the agent stops enquiries falling through the gaps around them.
Do we need a new phone number or new lines?
Usually not. Your existing number stays the front door, and calls divert to the agent on rules you choose — out of hours, after a set number of rings, or on overflow. We handle the telephony setup as part of the build, and any line or call costs are identified in your quote.
What happens to call recordings and caller data?
We tell you exactly what is stored, where, and for how long, before anything goes live. Recording and transcription settings and retention periods are agreed with you, and the setup is designed to support your obligations under UK data protection law. Every enquiry the agent captures lands in your systems — your CRM, your ticketing, your notifications — not in a black box.
Stop missing calls
An AI voice agent that answers every call, captures every enquiry and books the work — from £95 a month, with the design and build quoted by complexity.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM