AI Front Office for Public Service Lines. AI answering for public service lines that files and routes
Zanus AI provides AI answering for public service lines: the information and help lines run by public bodies, utilities, school districts, transit authorities and nonprofit programs. It answers calls, chats, e-mails and web forms from the information you approve, gives every request a number, books counter visits and puts people through to the right office.
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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install
Easy setup
Answers & books
Supports
Helps your team
You talk. Lisa sets it up.
You“During an outage, read the posted update first; complaints go to the duty supervisor.”
Lisa“During an outage callers hear your posted update first, and complaints ring the duty supervisor. Apply?”
Any setting, in any module · applied only on your yes
Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
The whole Front Office › · All applications ›
Who reaches you
The people the AI answers for you
- Residents reporting a missed pickup, a pothole or a dark streetlight
- Parents asking about enrollment, bus routes or a snow closure
- Riders checking a schedule change or a lost item
- Members and program applicants asking which documents to bring
- Callers who speak another language and need the same answer
- People following up on a request they filed last week
One front office
AI answering for public service lines on every channel
The main number, first ring
AI Phone picks up the number printed on bills, notices and letters around the clock; each office you set up answers as an AI agent with its own voice, from your approved information, and passes a caller to the office that owns the matter.
The website, typed or spoken
AI Webchat answers residents on any page in their language, opens the page that explains the process and takes the service request inside the conversation, a self-service route that never closes.
Office inboxes answered
AI E-mail sorts each message to the right office desk, answers schedule and checklist questions under your rules, and keeps records requests and complaints for staff with a draft ready.
Report-a-problem forms
AI Web Forms replies the moment a form arrives, in the language it was filled in, and a screening rule tells the duty desk at once about a report that cannot wait.
Every request numbered
AI Tickets opens the request from the call, chat, e-mail or form with the resident's own words on it, and tells the resident when the office will answer.
Counter and inspection visits
AI Booking offers only the free slots of the right counter, inspector or advisor, verifies the resident and sends the confirmation with the list of documents to bring.
The line's hardest hours
A multilingual help line for residents on its busiest days
The morning after a storm
Residents ring about outages and fallen branches all at once. Each hears the posted update first and reports their street, while a caller describing a downed line hears your emergency instruction.
Enrollment week at the district
Parents ask which proof of address the district accepts and when the registration office opens. The AI answers from the enrollment page and books an advisor slot for the family that needs one.
The day before a holiday
Is pickup moving, is the office open, does the bus run? The same three questions arrive by phone, chat and e-mail, and an AI set up to answer common questions gives every channel the one approved answer.
A pothole form near midnight
The form asks for the nearest cross street, the reply leaves in seconds, and the request is numbered and waiting on the street crew's list when the yard opens.
Real screens
Public help line work on real Zanus AI screens
Each picture is a real Zanus AI screen with demo data, framed for this page: the calls the AI voice agents took, the requests and the visits your clerks open every morning.
Weigh the options
An AI answering service for public agencies, compared
What a resident gets from each way a public line is usually staffed.
| What you need | A phone menu and voicemail | An outsourced answering service | More clerks on the phones | Zanus AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A routine question at 7 PM | A recorded message, then a beep | An operator reads a script card | Waits until the office opens | Answered on the first ring: from the information you approved |
| A request that needs follow-up | A voicemail someone types up later | A message sheet e-mailed over | Written on a pad or a screen | A numbered request opened: with the reply time told to the resident |
| A caller in another language | Menu options in two languages | An interpreter, when one is free | The one bilingual clerk | Answered in the caller's language: on the phone, in chat and by e-mail |
| A question about eligibility | No answer at all | Relayed later as a message | Answered by whoever picks up | Put through to the office that decides: with the conversation attached |
| The record afterwards | Recordings to play one by one | A summary of each message | What the clerk remembers to note | Every conversation written down: with transcript and summary on the resident's record |
What goes to a person
Where the AI stops and your staff decide
Eligibility, benefits and cases
The AI explains published criteria and gathers details, but whether someone qualifies, a benefit, a fee waiver, a complaint or an appeal is always decided by your staff.
Emergencies, by your rule
A caller who describes an emergency hears the line you set with the emergency number, and is put through to the person on duty when your rule says so.
No answer, no guess
When your approved information holds no answer, the AI says so in your words and offers a person or a message; the question then waits for staff to answer it once.
Records requests and complaints
Sent by e-mail, they land on a desk where a clerk approves every reply, with Lisa's draft and summary waiting beside the thread.
Outbound calls with consent
AI Auto-Call phones only numbers residents gave you or a list you attest, inside the hours you set, and anyone who says stop calling me is never called again.
A person on request
A caller who asks for a person or says they are in distress is put through to the clerk or supervisor your rules name, or leaves a message with the number read back.
Ready in 2 minutes
Set up AI answering for your public line in 2 minutes
Give Lisa your website
Lisa reads your pages, from the frequently asked questions to the fee schedules, and asks which offices take calls, your hours and holiday closures, the languages residents speak and the emergency line callers must hear.
Forward the main number
Forward the number printed on bills and notices to your Front Office number; the AI answers the next call, and porting can wait until you decide.
Name what goes to staff
Tell Lisa which matters go to a person: eligibility, complaints, records requests, callers in distress. She shows each rule before and after and applies it on your yes.
Read the first week
Run it free for 7 days on your own line and read every call, chat, e-mail and form it answered, each with its transcript or text.
Public Service Lines in your trade
By industryLocal GovernmentGovernment AgenciesUtilitiesPublic SafetyHealth & Human ServicesK-12 SchoolsHigher EducationAssociationsNonprofitsSoftware & SaaSTravel AgenciesAerospace & Aviation
Questions & answers
AI answering for public service lines: what offices ask first
What is AI answering for a public service line?
It is an AI receptionist and an AI front office on the number, the website, the inboxes and the forms residents already use. Zanus AI answers common questions from the knowledge base your organization approves, opens a numbered request when something has to be done, books counter or inspection visits and routes each caller to the right department, in the caller's language.
What is a 311 system, and where does AI answering fit in it?
In local government, a 311 system is a city's single number and portal for non-emergency questions and service requests, so residents need not know which department handles what. AI answering works at its front door: the call, chat or form is answered from approved information, the request opens in the resident's own words with a number, and the office that owns it takes over.
Does the AI decide eligibility, benefits or the outcome of a case?
No. It explains how a program or process works from your published rules and gathers what the office needs, but it never says whether someone qualifies, never grants or refuses a benefit and never settles a complaint, an appeal or a case. Those questions reach a staff member with the conversation attached, or wait as a request for the office that decides.
What does a caller hear after describing an emergency?
The line your rule sets, with the emergency number to call, in the words you wrote into the knowledge. You also choose whether such a call is then put through to the person on duty, and the AI offers no safety advice of its own.
Which languages are residents answered in?
Their own. The phone answers each caller in the language they speak and can route by language to the clerk who speaks it; the website chat and the knowledge it draws on work in 40 languages, and a resident who writes in Portuguese gets the reply in Portuguese. The single bilingual clerk stops being the only route.
How does a resident follow up on a request already filed?
With its number. The confirmation e-mail carries it and says when the office will answer, counted from that office's working hours. When the resident calls or writes again about the same matter, the AI quotes the open request instead of opening a second one, and the reply lands on the request the office is already working.
How can a public line cut hold times and call volume?
By finishing routine calls on the first ring: the AI answers every call, 24/7, so the line's call center staff are not buried under the same questions. Hours, schedules, documents to bring and the open request quoted back are handled at once, with no queue and no phone menu, while staff take only the calls your call handling rules send them. Analytics then show calls by day, language and department, and the share the AI handled alone.
Will it replace our work-order, billing or case-management system?
No. It works in front of them: it answers, opens numbered requests, books visits and follows up, while accounts, case files and work orders stay in the systems your offices already run, and every conversation stays on the resident's front-office record.
How is residents' personal information handled?
With limits you can see. Personal data is never learned into the AI's knowledge by any automation, call recording stays off until you switch it on, each person reads only the departments their scope covers, and exports of contact data are open to managers alone, each one logged with its author.
How much does AI answering for a public line cost?
Zanus AI is priced per company, never per seat, so every clerk and office behind the line works under one subscription. You choose the modules the line needs, such as phone, chat and requests, the plans are on the pricing page, and the free trial runs 7 days on your own number with no credit card.
How long does it take to set up?
The main number can be answering in 2 minutes, with no new phone system to buy. You forward it to your Front Office number, tell Lisa your offices, hours, closures and the emergency line callers must hear, and the AI takes the next call; a port with your carrier or a new local number can follow, and each office's routing rules are added by talking.
Can clerks answer first and the AI take the overflow?
Yes. Each department picks AI only, AI first or staff first. During business hours your clerks pick up first and the AI answers when every line is busy; after hours it gives the service you chose for that time, on holidays the closure message you wrote, and a transfer always rings the clerk's computer, phone app or mobile.
How is AI used on public sector phone and web lines?
Mostly at the front door, where the same questions arrive all day. For a city, a utility or a school district, government AI tends to begin where the calls are, with voice AI on the main number and a chat on the website. AI for public sector lines answers routine questions from approved information, takes requests in the resident's words and books appointments, while every decision about a person stays with your staff.
Do callers have to press keys or follow a menu?
No. Callers just say what they need in natural language, in their own words, and the AI voice agent understands the request, answers it or puts them through. A transfer is announced to your clerk, who hears who is calling and why before the call connects, so nobody has to tell the story twice.
Award-winning AI
Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.
REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button.
Awards & trade shows ›
Give Lisa your website.
She sets up your business in 2 minutes.
Other software makes you learn it. Zanus AI learns your business.
Try it free on your own business — no credit card, per company, never per seat.
Ready to buy? See plans & pricing ›
Or call +1 (954) 736-3939 — the AI answers.