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User ManualNeed configuration, code or deployment details? In the Technical Manual: Telnyx Voice ProviderCrestApps SMS Omnichannel Automation (AI)Realtime Voice (Speech-to-Speech)

Let the AI Answer Your Customers

Who it's for and what you get​

For managers and AI content managers who want an AI agent on the front line: answering your numbers around the clock, or working through a list of contacts.

When it is done:

  • the AI answers every text or call to a number you choose, greets the customer, and holds the conversation;
  • or the AI starts the conversations itself, texting or calling the contacts you load;
  • at the end, the AI picks an outcome from your dispositions, saves a summary, and your subject flow runs, just as if an agent had completed the work;
  • when the customer asks for a person, looks like a qualified lead, or is frustrated, the AI can hand them to an agent in a queue;
  • you can read every conversation afterwards.

Before you start​

You needWho sets it up
An AI provider connection and a chat deploymentYour administrator or AI content manager; see AI connections
For texts: an SMS provider and the features SMS Omnichannel Automation and SMS Messaging ChannelYour administrator
For calls: Telnyx as the phone provider and the feature Telnyx AI Voice Agent. For a live (realtime) spoken conversation, also Contact Center Voice Media and a realtime-capable deployment.Your administrator
To answer your numbers: Contact Center Inbound Entry Points, and Contact Center Inbound Voice for callsYour administrator
For hand-off to a person: Contact Center Work Distribution (queues), and the messaging workspace for textsYour administrator
A manager role with Manage Contact Center queues, Manage subject flows and Manage dispositions, plus access to AI profilesYour administrator; see Roles and permissions
Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Steps​

  1. Create the AI profile. Under Artificial Intelligence > Profiles, click Add Profile and pick a starting point: Answer calls at the front desk for calls, Customer care by text for texts, or Qualify leads by phone, Qualify leads by text or Confirm appointments by phone for outreach. Name your business and fill in the About the business part of the instructions. See AI profiles and Automated AI SMS and voice.
  2. Teach it about your company (optional). Attach documents or data sources so it answers from your own knowledge. See Build an AI knowledge assistant.
  3. List the number. The number must be on Interaction Center > Management > Omnichannel Addresses, with Voice calls or Text messages (SMS) ticked. See Omnichannel addresses.
  4. Set the outcomes and the hand-off. Give the number an Inbound, Automated subject with the Phone or SMS channel, whose Channel endpoint is that number, with dispositions and a subject flow. Fill in When to choose this disposition on each action. To allow hand-off, turn on Allow the AI to hand off to a live agent, pick the Handoff queue, and choose Escalate when. Without a subject, the AI still answers texts, but cannot pick an outcome or hand over. See Subjects and Subject flows.
  5. Staff the hand-off queue. Make sure agents work the handoff queue: calls ring an agent in the queue, and texts appear in the messaging workspace. See Queues and Messaging workspace.
  6. Point the number at the AI. Under Interaction Center > Management > Inbound entry points, edit the number's Voice calls or Text messages entry point. On Routing, set Route to to AI voice agent (calls) or AI agent (texts), and pick the profile under AI agent. Pick a business hours calendar if the AI should only answer at certain times. See Inbound entry points and IVR menus and Automated AI SMS and voice.
  7. Or let the AI reach out. To have the AI start the conversations instead, create an Automatic activity load with the profile, the channel and the number, and load it. Add a cadence to follow up on silence. See Automated AI SMS and voice and Follow up automatically.
  8. Review. Open a contact's List Activities and click Review AI conversation on a completed AI activity to read the transcript. The AI handoff & containment report shows how often the AI handed a conversation to a person. See Automated AI SMS and voice and Reports.

Check that it works​

  1. Call or text the number from your own phone while the entry point is open. The AI greets you, or replies to your text after its usual pause.
  2. Ask a question about your business, and check the answer.
  3. Ask to speak to a person. If hand-off is allowed, a text conversation appears in the messaging workspace, or the call rings an agent in the handoff queue.
  4. End the conversation, then open your contact's List Activities and read it with Review AI conversation.

Tips​

  • An entry point that is closed does not use the AI: calls go to voicemail (or are refused with Reject), and texts go to people with the closed auto-reply.
  • A text goes to people instead of the AI when a person already has an open conversation with the customer on that number, or when the customer's last AI conversation there ended less than an hour ago.
  • AI-answered text conversations do not appear in the messaging workspace unless the AI hands them over.
  • If the AI voice feature is turned off after an entry point points at the AI, its calls are refused until you pick another target.
  • Start with a test number and a few colleagues before you point your main number at the AI.