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Set up the AI Receptionist

Configure your AI-powered virtual receptionist to answer calls, route callers to the right department, and take messages when nobody's available.

Who this is for: admins

Before you start

  • Admin access to your Phonovo portal.
  • AI Receptionist is a premium add-on. If the page shows a message saying it isn't enabled for your account, ask your administrator, or a Phonovo SuperAdmin can turn it on from the tenant's Settings tab.
  • The extensions, ring groups, or queues you want each department to reach already set up — see Create an extension and assign it to a user.
  • A list of email addresses that should receive a copy of any message the receptionist takes.

Steps

  1. In the sidebar, under Communication, select AI Receptionist. Make sure the Setup tab is selected at the top (the other tab, Messages, is where messages taken by the receptionist appear — see below).
  2. Under Business Identity, enter your Business Name (the receptionist greets callers using this) and a Receptionist Name (defaults to "Sophie"). Choose a Voice from the available options, then pick a Greeting Style — Formal, Friendly, or Custom. If you choose Custom, write your own greeting in the text box that appears.
  3. Under Departments, select Add Department for each team or person the receptionist should be able to transfer callers to. For each row, enter a Name (for example, "Sales"), choose a Type — Extension, Ring Group, or Queue — enter the matching Destination (an extension number, for example), and optionally a Description to help the AI decide when to use it. Select the trash icon on a row to remove it. If you leave this empty, the receptionist will only try to transfer callers by matching a person's name.
  4. Under Business Hours, set an opening and closing time for each day of the week, or tick Closed for days you're not open. Underneath, choose an After-Hours Action — Take a message, Take message then transfer, or Transfer directly — and if you choose either transfer option, enter an After-Hours Destination (an extension number or phone number).
  5. Under Custom Instructions (collapsed by default — select it to expand), you can add free-text guidance for the receptionist, such as always asking for a callback number, or noting an upcoming closure. This is limited to 2,000 characters.
  6. Under Fallback & Delivery (also collapsed by default), enter a Fallback Destination to transfer to if the receptionist can't help the caller. Add one or more Message Delivery Emails by typing an address and selecting Add (or pressing Enter) — a copy of every message taken is emailed to each address listed. Toggle In-App Notifications on to also see a notification in the portal whenever a message is taken.
  7. When you've made changes, a bar appears at the bottom of the page — select Save Changes to apply them, or Cancel to discard them and reload the saved configuration.

Screenshot

Screenshot of the AI Receptionist Setup tab showing the Business Identity section with voice selection, and the Departments table with Name, Type, and Destination columns.

Read the messages it takes

  1. On the AI Receptionist page, select the Messages tab (it shows a red badge with the number of unread messages, if any).
  2. Select a message's row to expand it and read the details the caller gave.
  3. Select Mark all read to clear the unread badge, or mark an individual message as read by opening it.

Ask Olivia

You can also ask Olivia, the in-portal assistant, to walk you through this.