Winner CES 2026 · ISE 2026 · TMCnet 2026

AI Phone for Reception and Switchboard. A virtual switchboard where callers just say who they need

AI Phone is a virtual switchboard that answers your main number on the first ring, asks each caller who or what they need and puts them through to the right person or department. Your colleague hears who is calling and why before the call connects; when nobody can take it, the AI answers the question itself or takes the message.

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7 days free · per company, never per seat · nothing to install

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Zanus AI · AI Phone · Forwarded

Virtual switchboard: calls handed to your team, caller and reason announced, pickup time kept, real Zanus AI screen

Forwarded

Each call the AI put through to a colleague, with who called, why, and how long your person took to pick it up.

Easy setupSet up everything just by talking to Lisa AISee how ›

You“Calls about invoices go to accounts payable; if nobody is free, take a message.”

Lisa“Calls about invoices now ring accounts payable first, and the AI takes a message when nobody there is free. Apply?”

You talk. Lisa sets it up. Applied only on your yes.

How Reception and Switchboard use it

A supplier asks for accounts payable about an unpaid invoice; the AI puts him through and tells the clerk which invoice first.

A caller says she would rather speak Spanish about a delivery; the AI routes her by language to the colleague who does.

The sales manager is in a meeting; the AI tells the caller when he will be back and files the message with the number.

REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button.

What’s included

Keep your number: forward your existing line to your Front Office line and the AI answers immediately, no porting needed. Port the number in when you decide; we handle it with the carrier
A local number in your area, or your own number ported in
Answers on the first ring, 24/7, 365; your business hours only decide when people are reachable
Human-like voice: you choose the voice and the persona per function, greeting, sales, support, booking, callbacks
Receptionist style, no phone menu: the caller just talks in any of 40 languages; the AI detects the language on the first sentence and switches the whole call
Departments you define, sales, support, booking, billing, technical…, each with its own policy: AI first, operator first, or AI only; each with its own AI specialist when no human is free
Directory of your operators with per-day working hours, languages, the nicknames callers use, vacations and temp-worker expiry
Transfers announce the caller and the reason; your person accepts before the call is connected; the call is pulled back before a mobile voicemail can swallow it
Language routing: a Spanish-speaking caller reaches your Spanish-speaking operator first
Hold music with spoken updates; when a person is unavailable the AI says the honest line you wrote for that time of day
Takes messages with the callback number read back and confirmed, delivered to that person's own inbox
Books appointments live from your calendar during the call; captures the e-mail letter by letter; saves the lead
Every fact from your approved knowledge, prices only from your catalog; with no source it says so and offers a person
Robocalls and telemarketers get one polite goodbye and stay away from your team
Off hours your way: full AI service, take-a-message only, or voicemail; holidays and special closures with the message you write
Every call transcribed into the customer's record with a summary; call log with transcripts, exportable; the morning briefing reads it for you

Available on its own or inside a solution · See pricing › · Per company, never per seat.

Everything AI Phone does, for every business ›

Works withAI Booking AI Calls Teleprompter AI Calls Transcripts AI Quoting AI Tickets AI Returns & Warranty AI CRM Lisa, your AI assistant

The switchboard's job

What a virtual switchboard does on every call

First ring, your greeting

Every caller hears your organization's name on the first ring, in their own language, and is asked what they need instead of being read a list of options.

Routed by reason and language

AI call routing matches what the caller says to the department or colleague who handles it, and sends a Spanish or French speaker to the person who speaks it.

The reason told first

Before a transferred call connects, your colleague hears who is calling and why, so the conversation starts on the subject instead of with the story told twice.

Answers without a transfer

Hours, the address, parking, where invoices go: the AI answers these itself from your approved knowledge, so your people are rung only for the calls that need them.

A message instead of a dead line

When a colleague cannot take the call, the AI files a message for that person with the callback number read back, and a message dictated as the caller hangs up is still written.

Every leg on the record

The AI's part of each call is saved with its transcript, summary and outcome, and with AI Calls Transcripts the part your colleague takes joins the same record.

Moments it handles

AI switchboard moments at the main number

A caller without an extension

Someone rings for the person who handles returns at the warehouse. The AI asks one question about the reason, finds the department and connects the call with the reason announced.

The director on Do Not Disturb

A caller asks for the director, who has switched on Do Not Disturb. The AI says when she will be back and takes a message, so the meeting goes on undisturbed.

Monday morning, every line at once

The building opens and the phone rings on every line. Each caller is answered straight away, three are put through, two get the parking answer, and nobody sits in a hold queue.

Compare

Auto attendant phone system or AI call routing: the difference

What the caller and your colleague get from each way of running the switchboard.

What you need	An operator at the console	A menu auto attendant	AI Phone
Reaching the right department	Asked to hold while the operator checks	Listen to every option, then choose	Say it in your own words: and the call is put through
A caller who speaks another language	Depends on who is on duty	Options in one or two languages	Answered in the caller's language: and routed to a colleague who speaks it
Several calls at the same time	One at a time, the others wait	Each caller hears the whole menu	Every call answered at once: on the first ring, with no hold queue
Your colleague's first words	Who is it, and what about?	No idea who is on the line	Caller and reason announced: before the call connects
Nobody free to take it	A slip of paper	A voicemail box	A message filed for the right person: with the callback number read back

Where it rings

AI call routing that rings your people where they are

At the desk

My phone in the browser rings for a transfer at reception or in an office, and the CALLER card keeps who is calling, what for and the language.

In the phone app

A colleague walking between buildings gets the transfer in the phone app on a smartphone, which rings as its own leg beside the desk.

On a mobile number

A colleague out of the building is rung on the mobile in the order they chose, and hears the caller and the reason before taking the call.

Managers on live calls

A manager can listen to, whisper on or join a live call, then read the written call with its summary once it ends, from the register the front desk uses.

Ready in 2 minutes

Set up a virtual auto attendant in 2 minutes

Lisa reads your website

She reads your pages, asks your opening hours, your departments and the languages your callers speak, and proposes the greeting your switchboard will use.

Forward the main line

Forward the number you already publish to your Front Office number; the AI answers from the next call, with no new phone system to buy.

Tell her who takes what

Purchasing, accounts, deliveries, press: name who handles each and when they can be reached. Lisa shows each change before and after, and applies it when you say yes.

Call it yourself

Ring your own main number, ask for a department in your own words and hear the transfer, then run it free for 7 days before you decide.

AI Phone for Reception and Switchboard, trade by trade

By industryLaw Firms Small Business Healthcare Accounting & Tax Firms Consulting Firms Real Estate Enterprise Groups Associations Media Companies Software & SaaS Travel Agencies Hardware & Electronics

Questions & answers

Virtual switchboard questions, answered

What is a virtual switchboard?

A virtual switchboard answers a company's main number and connects each caller to the right person or department without an operator's console or hardware. In AI Phone the switchboard is an AI: callers say who or what they need, and the call is put through with the reason told to your colleague first.

Is an AI switchboard the same as an auto attendant phone system?

It does the same job without the menu. A classic auto attendant phone system reads out options and waits for a choice; an AI switchboard listens to what the caller says, in their own words and language, and routes the call by its reason. Nobody has to remember an extension or sit through a list.

Is an AI auto attendant the same as IVR?

No. An IVR plays recorded options and waits for the caller to pick one. An AI auto attendant listens instead: the caller says what they need, and AI Phone answers the question or routes the call by its reason, with no list of options to sit through first.

How does AI call routing decide where a call goes?

By the caller's reason and language, matched to the departments and colleagues you told Lisa about. Each department runs AI only, AI first or your people first, and each person keeps their own hours, so a call is offered only to someone who can take it at that moment.

What does my colleague hear before a transferred call connects?

Who is calling and why. On the computer, the phone app or a mobile, your colleague hears the caller announced with the reason, then takes the call, and the pickup time is kept under Forwarded. From the computer, a colleague passing the call on can pick Conference, Transfer or Cancel.

Where do transferred calls ring?

Wherever the colleague is: on the computer at their desk, in the phone app on their smartphone or on their mobile number, in the order each person chooses. A colleague signs the phone app in once with a code shown on the computer, no password, and it stays ready for transfers until they sign it out.

What happens when the person asked for is in a meeting?

The line is not left to ring out. The AI tells the caller when that colleague will be back, or writes the message with the callback number read back digit by digit, filed for that colleague together with the call's transcript.

Does a virtual auto attendant work after hours and on holidays?

Yes. The AI never closes, and your hours only decide when a person can be reached. After the switchboard's hours you choose full AI service, take-a-message only or voicemail, and on a holiday or a special closure every caller to the main number hears the message you wrote for that day.

Can the switchboard answer general questions without a transfer?

Yes. Hours, the address, parking, how to reach a department: the AI answers from your approved knowledge, searched by meaning rather than keyword. When nothing in it holds the answer, it says so and offers a colleague or a message instead of guessing.

Do we need new phone hardware for an AI switchboard?

No. Forward the main number you already have to your Front Office number and the AI picks up from the next call, with no porting. Should the main number move in later, the port is arranged with your carrier; a new local number for the switchboard is the other option.

How much does a virtual switchboard cost?

AI Phone is priced per company, never per seat, per line or per receptionist, so every department shares one subscription. The plans are on the pricing page, and you can run the switchboard free for 7 days on your own number, with no credit card.

Keep exploring

Where next?

Start with the one thing you need. Add more anytime by asking Lisa.
AI Front Office for Reception and Switchboard ›

Award-winning AI

Winner at CES 2026, ISE 2026 and TMCnet Enterprise AI Product of the Year.