Auto-attendant
Auto-attendant features built right into RingCentral RingEX help you make the most of every call. Greet every caller, route them to the right department, help them leave a voicemail, and more—all without taking up the time of your staff.
RingCentral RingEX: Business phone with auto-attendant features and a whole lot more
Businesses have a common currency always in use—time. That's why every minute must result in productive work. With professionals wanting to get their job done faster, there's no room for lull time, even on phone calls.
Business phone auto-attendant features help your teams make the most of every precious second. From basic business auto-attendant functions, such as call routing, to enterprise-ready interactive voice response, these features cater to the needs of callers while keeping your staff efficient and productive.
RingCentral RingEX provides everything you need from an auto-attendant for business. You'll never miss another customer service call—or sales opportunity. Customize your virtual answering service to route calls to the appropriate department, extension, or voicemail inbox, even outside office hours.
When you choose RingEX, though, you get much more than an auto-attendant for small business. You get an AI business phone system that keeps your teams connected and collaborating seamlessly. Not only can you manage all calls efficiently, you can also unify business SMS, fax, and other channels on one intuitive platform—and support them all with a range of cutting-edge AI-powered features.
What is an auto-attendant phone system?
Auto-attendants are telephony systems that enable the transfer of incoming calls to various extensions or company numbers without human intervention.
An automated attendant phone system is really any setup that offers call management features, such as routing calls to various landline phones, mobile phones, VoIP phones, or other devices.
A virtual phone system with auto-attendant features, meanwhile, often offers a bit more. For instance, you may get customizable routing rules, the ability to direct callers to other communication channels, and more
The different types of automated attendant
Automated attendants as part of business phone systems come in all shapes and sizes. Really, the term is used to describe any features that aid call management without the need for human intervention.
The simplest telephone automated attendant provides basic call routing and flow management. It offers simple menu options for callers to select destinations and plays hold music when necessary.
An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature, meanwhile, is a more sophisticated example of automated attendant phone systems. They include things like submenus, dial-by-name directories, and custom greetings. Multi-level IVRs allow for structured, multiple-layer phone routing menus, connecting callers to extensions, voicemail boxes, or external numbers.
AI Receptionists represent the latest evolution of automated attendant service. These systems use artificial intelligence to understand natural language, enabling more complex interactions. AI Receptionists can engage in conversational exchanges, interpret caller intent, and provide personalized responses. Their capabilities may include answering frequently asked questions, scheduling appointments, and handling a wider range of inquiries without human intervention.
Each of these automated attendant systems offers different levels of functionality and complexity, allowing businesses to choose the solution that best fits their needs and resources. And the best news for you? You can get all of them with RingCentral.
How does a telephone auto-attendant service work?
For today's business communications to meet customer expectations, they need to be both fast and efficient. An auto-attendant system helps you achieve this by replacing the manual act of answering and managing phone calls for your business.
Instead of a human operator, an auto-attendant phone service answers all inbound calls and directs incoming callers to the correct employee or department.
You can also use the system to assist with incoming calls outside regular business hours when a live operator is unavailable.
Other functionalities typical to auto-attendant services include transfers of calls to:
- Specific extensions
- Voicemail boxes
- Submenus
- Human operators or customer service representatives.
Other basic functionalities of a phone attendant system are to repeat the choices in a specific menu and terminate the call ("hang up") should the caller fail to choose from a predetermined period from the menu options accessed via keypad.
With an interactive voice response (IVR), you can customize different menu systems, change business hours, and handle inbound calls at various times of day (for example, business hours and non-business hours).
The AI Receptionist version of a phone attendant service, meanwhile, takes things one step further. Thanks to its use of artificial intelligence, it can also answer customer queries, schedule appointments, and more—still without human involvement.
Getting the best auto-attendant for your business
Now you know what auto-attendant systems are, the next question you may have is how you can choose the best auto-attendant software for your business. Here are some things you need to think about:
Self-service capabilities
The best auto-attendant should make work easier for your employees—to the point that they don’t have to get involved at all. If your menu options are well-structured, callers can dial the extension number through their keypad and connect directly to their desired department or person, lessening call queues and wait time.
Call volume
How many calls can your chosen auto-attendant systemhandle?. Whether they have to route calls for ten or a hundred, the best alternatives should do their job just the same.
Call routing features
Managing and routing calls is an essential aspect any auto-attendant must have. How many menu options can a specific system handle? Is it only limited to doing a specific number of calls, or can it be used to scale for growth? The demands of customers can be challenging; that's why your auto-attendant must be able to adjust. The better your call flow management is, the better for both your agents and customers.
More advanced features
Are you just getting a simple auto-attendant app or platform, or are you getting more bang for your buck? Some solutions like RingEX offer AI auto-attendant functionality via an AI Receptionist, for instance, that boasts advanced features like naturally handling routine questions and even scheduling appointments.
RingCentral virtual auto-attendant features
With many automated phone systems and virtual answering services in the market, it’s important to understand what they offer. Some offer just a basic menu system, while others provide a whole lot more. If you trust RingCentral for your business communications, you get all these virtual phone attendant features and more:
Custom company business hours
IVR mode
Company call handling
Dial-by-name directory
Call recording
General IVR settings
Company fax/ SMS recipient
Regional settings
AI Receptionist
Auto-attendant phone system benefits
We covered which features and functionalities you can choose from if you choose RingEX as your auto-attendant. Precisely what, though, can it do for your business? Here are some of the benefits you could see in day-to-day operations:
More effective call management
RingCentral RingEX is not your ordinary auto-attendant. It's a sophisticated AI-powered communications platform with a range of advanced features for call management and more. Aside from automated call answering and filtering, you can customize your company greeting, dial by name directory, and even route callers to appropriate extensions. You can even set up a professionally recorded greeting with the voice of your choice. With RingCentral, you are free to customize your call routing to ensure effective call management.
Less spam, more direct callers
Increase customer satisfaction in every call when you don't have to spend time fielding spam bots. With an auto-attendant, you can lessen the time wasted on spam calls. Callers don't have to wait in long queues along with the spammers and live agents can spend more time catering to actual calls.
More efficient call flow
Most businesses acquire auto-attendant services because they want to manage inbound call flow efficiently. With an auto-attendant, your company's primary contact number can stay open to receiving direct calls from your customers. You can easily redirect callers to the specific person they need by dial-by-name directory or even through the submenus; they can engage it using a keypad.
Whether a contact center or a small business, you can direct the flow of your incoming calls efficiently so that agents can handle the call volume your business receives.
Improved self-service
With an auto-attendant, live operators don't need to spend precious time determining the intent of every caller. You can now give up some control to the callers, as they can easily choose from your menu options. With this, your phone queues are shorter, which makes customers and agents happy. Plus, if you choose the AI Receptionist option, many simple queries get handled without any live agent involvement.
Greater cost-efficiency
Another significant advantage to getting an auto-attendant is that it’s cost-efficient. You can maximize the potential use of this technology, as it works even during holidays and after hours, as there's no need for breaks or time off. With these phone auto-attendant systems, you can rest easy knowing that someone will receive a call in your business phone system, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Customizable call management
With the RingCentral app, you can quickly modify auto-attendant settings from any device, including smart mobile phones and tablets. You don't need to worry about how to manage inbound calls, as you can easily forward them to any extension, outside line, or even directly to voicemail.
Want to create a rule that provides special handling from a specific caller ID? Then you can do so, especially if they are your suppliers, VIP customers, and investors.
A better customer experience
A surefire way to gain and retain customers is to have a great customer experience. For customers who appreciate calls as a way to reach out to companies, the fact that they can call you straight away and with less waiting time can go a long way toward customer loyalty.
Auto-attendant FAQs
- Forward calls to another number or several phone numbers.
- Send callers directly to voicemail.
- Play an unconditional forwarding to forward calls directly to a different phone number, bypassing any greetings.
- Set the connecting message (e.g., "Please hold while I try to connect you.").
- Choose from among dozens of music selections to play while calls are connecting or on hold.