Auto Attendant for Call Management: Benefits, Software & more

Introduction

Are you looking for a way to simplify your business call flow and maximize agent productivity? If yes, then auto attendant for call management could be just the right thing for you. Business phones with auto attendants interact with your customer calls to ensure that they are answered promptly and are either solved directly or directed to the right person for further help. Keep reading to find out more such benefits of auto attendants and some of the best software to consider for the same. 

What is an Auto Attendant? 

Auto attendant is a voice menu system that transfers incoming calls to different extensions or departments of a business, depending on the caller’s input. Auto attendants announce phone menu options to the caller, such as press 1 to continue, press 2 for sales, press 3 for orders, etc. Auto attendants are also known as virtual receptionists, audio phone menus, or IVR systems and help businesses manage calls.  

What is an Auto Attendant Phone System? 

The auto attendant phone system is an advanced feature that automates the routing and answering of incoming calls to the caller’s desired destination. Having an auto-attendant phone system is like having a 24×7 virtual receptionist that ensures no call goes unanswered and is directed to the most accurate person. It’s essentially an automated program that does what a person would otherwise do- connects you to the right person to take the call.  

5 Best Auto Attendant Phone System: Quick Glance 

1. Emitrr
2. Nextiva
3. CallHippo
4. Ooma
5. Dialpad 

How Does a Business Phone with Auto Attendant Work?

Here’s how a business phone with auto attendant work: 

Auto-Attendant vs. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Auto-attendant and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) are both automated answering services, but both have subtle differences:

• The auto attendant comes with features focused on call routing, call flow, etc. In contrast, IVR offers sub menus with advanced features such as custom greetings, live operator, dial-by-name directory, etc.
• While auto attendants play hold music, IVR offers more custom virtual receptionist services.
• Auto attendants mainly focus on directing the caller to the right destination; IVR can perform more complex tasks such as appointment scheduling, sharing order status or billing updates, etc. 

Benefits of Automated Attendant Phone System for Call Management 

Automated telephone system ensures smooth call flow

Businesses require a phone auto-attendant system to manage inbound call flow efficiently. With auto-attendants, you can keep your company’s main phone number accessible to customers, who can then interact with the IVR menu and get answers to their queries or be directed to the right person. This automated process ensures a smooth call flow. 

Less spam calls

If you were being plagued by spam calls earlier, leading to a waste of precious agent time, then auto-attendants can be of great help. Bots can’t press numbers, so auto-attendants can drastically reduce spam calls that you may have been receiving earlier. 

Automatically route calls

A VoIP business phone system with auto attendant can automatically route calls to the most relevant person or department based on pre-set rules or the caller’s input. This automated system reduces the time spent by employees in transferring calls manually and improves efficiency. 

Allow employees to focus on their work

Auto receptionist allows your employees to focus on high-value tasks like talking to customers and offering them solutions instead of wasting time directing calls to relevant departments. This ensures that you get the maximum productivity out of your employee’s limited time. . 

Ensures better customer experience

A sure-shot way to retain customers is by offering them a great customer experience. For customers who prefer calling businesses, knowing that they can reach out any time with minimal wait times can go a long way toward customer loyalty. And so, by using an automated phone answering service, you can make this possible. 

Improves FCR rate 

A carefully curated IVR menu in an automated phone system can help the customer receive a resolution in the first interaction itself, improving the first call resolution rate and, thereby, the customer satisfaction score of your business. 

Automated calling system are cost efficient 

The best part about having a virtual receptionist is that it operates 24×7, during holidays and after hours. With virtual receptionists, you can rest assured that someone is always there to receive calls no matter what day or time it is that too without paying anything extra for it. 

5 Best Auto Attendant Phone System: Detailed Analysis

Emitrr

Emitrr is the best auto-attendant phone system for contact management. The software comes with a plethora of useful features that ensure a smooth business call flow. It integrates with a variety of CRM tools that ensure quick call resolution. Emitrr has also been rated 5/5 on Capterra for its excellent customer service and is a tool that offers the best value for money. Here’s a detailed look at what Emitrr has to offer: 

Emitrr Overview 

Emitrr Features 

• IVR menu customization: Allows you to build and set-up your IVR menu with options to edit, delete or create as many options you want. 
• Users & extensions: Assign extensions to different users to determine call-forwarding behavior. Edit, remove, or add more users as per your business needs. 
• Set user hours: Set individual user hours as per their availability for different days and times. 
• Edit user’s timezone: Have a team of agents working from different time zones? Emitrr allows you to set user timings as per different time zones.  
• Set custom company business hours: Set your company’s office hours and business hours so that the auto-attendant can direct the caller accordingly. 
• Call forwarding: Forwards incoming calls to the right department or person as set by you and as per the caller’s input.  
• Set up a custom voice prompt for unanswered calls: Type in your desired prompt, and that is what the caller will hear if the call goes unanswered. 
• Call queue groups: Add members to call queue groups to answer customer calls as per who gets available first. 
• Add members to call queue groups: Allows you add or remove members from call queue groups. 
• Call recording: Set the call recording option to record both incoming and outgoing calls.
• Set maximum caller wait time in queue: Allows you to set maximum time the caller waits for an available member. 
• Simultaneous & sequential calls: Set up if the call should go to different agents simultaneously or in a sequence. 
• CRM integration: Integrate with your existing CRM software so that your agents can access caller data and history without any extra effort. 

Emitrr Pros 

• Comes with a wide range of features
• Offers integration with 1000+ tools
• Offers excellent customer service
• Best value for money
• Easy-to-use
• Customizable

Emitrr Cons

• More features are coming soon

Emitrr Pricing

Emitrr offers the most affordable phone system with pricing starting at just $30 per user per month. 

Emitrr Customer Support Channels

• Live chat: Chat with Emitrr’s live representatives
• Phone: Call Emitrr at +1 (210) 941-4696
• Email: Send email to Emitrr’s support team at [email protected]
• Help desk
• Knowledge base
• FAQs/forum
• SMS

Emitrr Reviews & Ratings

• Capterra: 5/5
• G2: 4.7/5

Nextiva

Nextiva Overview

Nextiva is an AI-powered phone system that offers an auto-attendant feature so that you can route calls to your team efficiently. Although Nextiva offers plenty of useful auto attendant features, setting it up can be quite a task. Nextiva’s customer service is good, and pricing is also affordable. Here’s a detailed overview of Nextiva 

Nextiva Features 

• Multi-level system: Allow the caller to interact with multi-level auto attendant so that they can reach their desired destination. 
• Dial-by-name: Add a dial-by-name option such as “press 2 for dial by name directory” to move the caller to a menu where they can type the name of the person they want to connect with. 
• Menu options: Give options to the caller from a menu so that they can reach their desired department. 
• Business hours: Allows you to route calls based on business hours. 
• Custom greetings: Record and play customer greetings for your auto attendant to play on every call.
• Call forwarding: Forward incoming calls to the right destination as per the caller’s input. 

Nextiva Pros

• Competitive pricing
• Good call quality
• Easy to set up call routing

Nextiva Cons

• Dropped calls & audio problem
• Difficult to navigate 
• Difficult to set up the auto attendant 

Nextiva Pricing

Nextiva offers four pricing options:

• Digital: $20/user/month
• Core: $30/user/month
• Engage: $40/user/month
• Power Suite: $60/user/month

Nextiva Customer Support Channels

• Phone
• Email
• Live chat
• Ticket submission 

Nextiva Reviews & Ratings

• Capterra: 4.6/5
• G2: 4.5/5

8×8

8×8 Overview 

8×8 is essentially a unified contact center that offers not only auto attendant but also multi-level auto attendant options. This software offers plenty of unique features, such as call direction, the ability to clone an existing auto attendant, and more. In this respect, 8×8 is a good option; however, its customer service is not that good, and pricing is not transparent. 

8×8 Features

• Shared schedule: Centrally update your business hours and use it across multiple auto attendants. 
• Text-To-Speech prompt: Create text-to-speech prompt in more than 50 languages.
• Ability to clone: Clone existing auto attendant, select a phone number, make changes to the site and get them going quickly.
• Call direction: Direct incoming calls to voicemail, call queues, ring groups, etc. 
• Holiday menu: Create prompt for holiday season with closed or shortened business hours 
• Test menu: Allows you to test your auto attendant before making it live. 

8×8 Pros

• Many unique features
• Easy setup & training 
• Offers multi-level call attendant 

8×8 Cons

• Caller ID in auto attendant does not appear properly 
• Poor customer service
• Poor call quality 

8×8 Pricing

8×8 has not revealed its pricing. Get in touch with the company to know more about this.

8×8 Customer Support Channels

• Phone
• Email
• Chat
• SMS
• Support portl

8×8 Reviews & Ratings

• Capterra: 4/4
• G2: 4/4

Dialpad 

Dialpad Overview 

Dialpad is an AI-powered phone system that offers multi-level auto attendant to automate call flows and simplify the calling process. The software is very easy to use and offers three kinds of pricing options. However, in order to access the IVR feature, you need to choose the custom enterprise plan, which may cost more. Have a look at dialpad’s overview for more: 

Dialpad Features  

• Custom messaging: Set when your auto attendant should be active and what greetings it should play.  
• Multi-level auto attendant: Allow the caller to reach the right destination by giving them the option to interact with multiple layers of menu options. 
• Extensions: Allow the caller to get in touch with the right person by dialing their phone extension. 
• Hold queues: Place the caller on hold until the next agent is available. 
• Call flow prioritization: This allows you to customize the call flow so that you can prioritize emergency queues.
• Real-time transcriptions: Use Dialpad’s AI to transcribe calls in real-time. 

Dialpad Pros

• AI transcript
• User friendly interface  
• Spam call reduction

Dialpad Cons

• Need to choose enterprise plan for IVR
• Expensive 

Dialpad Pricing

Dialpad offers three kinds of pricing options:

• Standard: $15/user/month
• Pro: $25/user/month
• Enterprise: Custom

Dialpad Customer Support Channels

• Live chat
• Phone
• Video chat
• Social media channels

Dialpad Reviews & Ratings

• Capterra: 4.5/5
• G2: 4.4/5

CallHippo 

CallHippo Overview 

CallHippo is another great option to consider when it comes to choosing an automated phone system for small businesses. This software comes with AI-powered features such as DID routing, multilingual IVR, etc, and offers HD sound quality as well. However, most IVR functions are not included in the free and starter plan, and you have to spend more to access these features. Here’s a detailed overview of CallHippo: 

CallHippo Features 

• AI smart DID routing: AI routes incoming calls to the most suitable agent or department. 
• Call distribution: 
• Call barging: Allows supervisors to discreetly listen to ongoing calls. 
• Call hold audio: Allows you to play pleasant music while the customer is on hold.
• Call whispering: Allows you to provide guidance to agents during ongoing calls without the knowledge of the caller. 
• IVR: Allows the caller to interact with your menu system using voice inputs. 

CallHippo Pros

• Unique auto attendant features
• Good customer service
• Good call quality

CallHippo Cons

• Free plan does not include auto-attendant
• Auto-attendant features are available with higher plans only 
• Offers only email support 

CallHippo Pricing

CallHippo offers four kinds of pricing options:

• Basic: Free
• Starter: $18 per user per month
• Professional: $30 per user per month
• Starter: $42 per user per month

CallHippo Customer Support Channels

• Email 

CallHippo Reviews & Ratings 

• Capterra: 4.6/5
• G2: 4.4/5

Why Emitrr is the Best Auto Attendant Phone System?

After comparing the five best auto attendant phone systems for businesses, we found Emitrr to be the best option, and here’s why: 

24/7 call availability

Emitrr’s auto attendant functions 24×7, 365 days. All you need to do is set business hours and set up a message that can be played when someone calls you post your business hours, and that’s it now you can ensure all inbound calls are answered. 

Customization to meet the needs of your business

Emitrr’s virtual assistant phone system can be customized according to your business needs. Using it, you can add multiple extensions and users, edit them whenever needed, add custom messages, set user time availability, their time zones, the way calls would ring, and much more! 

Excellent customer service

Emitrr takes great pride in offering the best customer service, and a solid 5/5 star rating on Capterra proves it. You can get in touch with Emitrr’s customer support 24/7 via different channels such as chat, email, call, etc., and expect a good experience always. 

Advanced auto attendant for call management features

Emitrr comes with advanced features such as setting up a custom voice prompt for unanswered calls, call queue groups, setting user hours as per their time zone, and much more, ensuring you are able to maintain a smooth call flow for your business. 

Emitrr’s automated calling system is affordable 

Most VoIP systems are either expensive or offer auto-attendant functions with only higher plans. However, Emitrr’s pricing starts at just $30 per user per month, making it one of the most affordable options to choose from. 

How to Set Up an Auto Attendant for Call Management? 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can set up an auto attendant for call management using Emitrr:

1. Login to your Emitrr dashboard and access the “settings” option from the left panel.

2. Go to the phone settings and click on “IVR.”

3. Click on create new, to start building and setting up your IVR menu.

4. Click on the “users and extensions” option to add extensions to users, and update hours and their call forwarding behavior.

5. Access the “call queue groups” option to set the call forwarding behavior, maximum caller wait time, edit the voice prompt, etc.

6. Lastly, go to “general settings” to set up office hours, after office hours, select IVR menu and make changes to other general settings.

FAQs

Conclusion

Having an auto attendant for call management could be a game changer for you. From reducing spam calls and maximizing agent productivity to improving the first contact resolution rate, there’s so much you can do with this system. And if you like the idea of having a virtual receptionist for your business as well, then consider trying out Emitrr- book a demo to learn more!