Before
Routine inbound calls need a person on the line all day, for questions with the same answers.
After
Routine calls are handled. Staff take only the ones that need a human.
Uses AI
Automate routine inbound calls so staff only take the ones that need a person
Routine inbound calls need a person on the line all day, for questions with the same answers. Routine calls are handled. Staff take only the ones that need a human.
In short
Routine inbound calls tie up a person all day for the same handful of answers. We build a voice agent that answers, handles the routine questions from your own answers and records, and hands anything else to a person with a note. This one uses AI, and it says so on the call. A larger workflow, $25,000 to $75,000. First deliverable running within 30 days.
AI phone agents: inbound answeringWatch a simulated run of this job- Free evaluation
- Fixed quote before work begins
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed
- Small tasks welcome
What this costs you today
The phone rings all day. Most calls are the same handful of questions: where is my order, what are your hours, can you confirm you received it. Someone answers every one, because a caller cannot tell the routine ones from the ones that matter.
The person on the phone cannot do anything else. The calls that need real help wait behind the ones that do not.
Call a fully loaded employee $45,000 a year, as an illustration. When answering routine calls takes a full day, every day, that is 40 hours a week of a person's time spent giving the same answers.
- Typical time
- 40 hrs / week
- That is
- a whole person
- At an illustrative $45,000 a year
- $45,000 / year
Typical figures, using $45,000 as an illustrative fully loaded cost. Your numbers go in the calculator below. If your version is a couple of hours a week, that still counts. Or open these figures in the calculator and change them.
How it works
- 1
Step 1
We listen to a sample of real calls with you and sort them: routine questions, lookups, and the ones that need a person.
- 2
Step 2
We write the answers the agent may give, in your words, and connect it to the records it needs to look up.
- 3
Step 3
We set the handoff rules: which calls go to whom, and what the agent says while it transfers.
- 4
Step 4
The agent takes calls with a person checking the edges. Answers it gets wrong are fixed before it takes more.
- 5
Step 5
The first call type is live on your line within 30 days. Others follow.
What CBIT builds instead
We build a voice agent that answers the phone, understands what the caller is asking, and handles the routine questions using your own answers and your own records. It can look up an order, confirm a receipt, or take a message.
When a call is not routine, the agent hands it to a person, with a note on who is calling and why. The person picks up already knowing what the call is about.
This is AI. Plain automation handles most repetitive work, and we use newer tools only where they clearly earn their place. Listening to a caller is one of those places. A person checks the edges at first, and the agent only answers questions you have approved.
What the staff get back is the phone. They take the calls that need them and nothing else.
Plain automation or AI?
This one uses AI, and we say so. Callers do not follow a script. Understanding what someone is asking in their own words is judgment, and plain automation cannot do it. The voice agent handles the routine questions. Everything else goes to a person.
Automation vs. AI: which one your task needsOne example, names left out
Real work from real clients, with the names left out. What matters is the shape of the problem, and how often we see it.
Price band and timeline
- Usually
- Larger workflow
- Band
- $25,000–$75,000
- First deliverable running
- Within 30 days
This kind of project
More involved, quoted to the scope
A voice agent needs your answers written down, a connection to the records it looks up, a clean handoff to a person, and time in testing before it takes real calls. It also has a running cost per call. That makes it more involved than a scheduled script, and we quote it to match.
- Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. We look at what needs to happen and give you a fixed quote before work begins. No hourly meter.
- First deliverable running in 14 days, guaranteed.
- Changes to outside systems (a portal redesign, a vendor's API change) may require separately quoted repair work. We tell you when that happens.
All prices and the guaranteeWhat business automation actually costs
Run your own numbers.
Set to the typical figures for this task. Change them to match your team, however small the number.
What this task costs you in time
Hours a week, times the people doing it, at whatever a person costs you. $45,000 a year is an illustration; set it to your own figure.
People doing this work
1
Hours each, per week
Half an hour counts. 40 is a full week.
40
Fully loaded cost per person, per year
Salary, benefits, taxes, overhead. $45,000 is an illustration; set it to yours.
$45,000
Time spent on this task
40 hrs / week
About 2,080 hours a year of a person's time.
- Labor value of that time
- $45,000 / year
- Your project price
- Fixed quote after a free evaluation
These figures show the value of time spent on the task, not a project quote or guaranteed cash savings. We will help estimate what can realistically be automated.
Questions about this task.
Which questions can it answer?
The ones you approve, from answers you have written down: hours, order status, whether a document arrived, how to reach the right person. It looks up records in your system when it needs to. Anything outside that list goes to a person rather than an improvised answer.
How does a call reach a person?
By the rules you set. The agent can transfer to a named person, a department line or a queue, and it passes along who is calling and why. If nobody is available, it takes a message and writes it where your team already looks.
How do we know what it said?
Every call is logged with what the caller asked and what the agent answered or did. You can read them. That log is also how the agent improves: we tune the answers from real transcripts, not from guesses.
How is this priced?
A phone agent is a larger workflow, $25,000 to $75,000, because of the answers, the lookups, the handoff and the testing before it takes real calls. It also has a running cost per call, which we size to your volume and quote up front. Setup and monthly figures are on the AI phone agents page.
How long until it is answering?
The first deliverable is running on your line within 30 days: one call type, with a person checking the edges. The clock starts when we have your answers and access to the records it looks up.
What if our answers change?
You change them, or we do. Adding a question or changing an answer is a small change. Under the managed plan, small changes each month are included and the agent is monitored around the clock.
Tell us about the task your team keeps doing by hand.
Every morning, every Friday, or every time an order comes in. Small tasks and larger workflows are both welcome. The evaluation is free, and if we take it on, the first deliverable is running in your operation within 14 days, guaranteed.
Free evaluation. Fixed quote before work begins.
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Guide
Automation vs. AI: which one your task needs
A simple test you can run on your own task, and the places where each one earns its place.
Everything we automate, with what goes into each one.