Top 10 Auto Attendant Phone Systems for Incoming Calls

An auto attendant is a virtual receptionist that answers incoming calls and directs callers to the appropriate department. It uses pre-recorded greetings and an IVR menu to route calls.

A modern auto attendant system automatically answers incoming calls and routes them appropriately. It reduces the need for staff to handle routine inquiries, freeing them up to focus on more important or complex tasks.

• Enhanced Professionalism: Consistently greet callers in a professional tone and provide efficient guidance, making a significantly stronger first impression.
• 24/7 Availability: Ensures your business is accessible at all hours, including after business hours, weekends, and holidays, reducing missed calls and opportunities.
• Resource Optimization: Automatically handles calls and routes them, reducing the need for multiple staff and allowing agents to focus on other high-priority tasks.
• Efficient Call Routing: The call is directly connected to the designated department, agent, or voicemail based on the keypad inputs on the phone menu.
• Personalized Customer Experience: Tailor voicemail messages and dynamic responses based on customer input and route them based on their needs or past interactions.

You might have been convinced that Auto-attendant and IVR operate similarly.

However, an auto-attendant mainly focuses on answering calls with greetings and basic keypad-based routing. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) offers complex menus that enable customers to resolve issues, check balances, or make payments without needing a live agent.

The best auto attendant phone systems include Calilio, Talkdesk, Vonage, and GoTo Connect. They automatically answer and route incoming calls to the appropriate department or individual without needing a live receptionist.

Calilio is one of the best auto attendant phone systems, offering an easy way for businesses to manage calls. It lets you set up custom greetings, route calls to the right departments, and create simple menus for callers to follow. With features like voicemail management and call forwarding, Calilio ensures your customers always get a professional experience, no matter the size of your business.What makes Calilio even better is its use of VoIP technology, which provides clear call quality and works well for businesses with teams in different locations. Since it’s a cloud-based system, you can manage it from anywhere, and it offers flexible pricing plans that grow with your business.

Features:

• Call routing
• Hold music
• Call queuing

Pricing:

RingCentral is a scalable auto-attendant system that handles high call volumes, from basic call routing to enterprise-ready interactive voice response. It is a unified platform offering unified calls, video conferencing, and team messaging.You can customize your virtual answering service, ensuring callers are never met with silence or unanswered rings. It also offers a multi-level IVR system that quickly guides customers to the specific service they require.

Features:

• Shared phone number
• Visual voicemail
• Real-time monitoring and analytics

Pricing:

Nextiva is an omnichannel platform that provides seamless voice, video, and messaging services across various applications, including Facebook and Instagram. Its AI-powered IVR directs calls to agents and AI bots, which helps to handle basic inquiries.Also, Nextiva is a multi-level auto attendant system that allows you to direct calls across PBX and submenus. In addition to the IVR system, intelligent call routing enables you to set your system to prioritize calls from your toll-free numbers before others.

Features:

• Intelligent call routing
• Call queuing
• call pop
• Free online faxing

Pricing:

Five9 is an intelligent CX platform with AI-powered solutions that understand natural language, reducing the need for a complex menu. Its intelligent virtual assistant allows callers to speak and say what they are calling about, eliminating the need to press numbers. Also, its AI-driven systems handle routine inquiries and route calls based on customer intent, past interactions, and agent skills.Features:

• Speech Recognition & Natural Language Processing
• CRM integration
• Skills-based routing

Pricing:

Talkdesk is a cloud contact center software with autopilot that uses conversational AI to understand and respond through voice and digital channels. It is multichannel and multilingual, enabling customers to interact with a virtual agent across channels in up to 59 languages.Additionally, Talkdesk processes human speech that easily understands customers’ slang, utterances, and idioms. It helps route calls based on spoken commands and intent rather than just keypad input.

Features:

• AI-powered call routing
• Omnichannel support
• Natural language IVR

Pricing:

Vonage is a multilevel auto-attendant phone system designed with a virtual receptionist that handles incoming calls 24/7. It enables admins to set up multiple menu options, allowing each caller to self-route their call to the relevant person or department.In Vonage, you can schedule breaks and holidays so the system routes calls to designated extensions or available agents.

Features:

• Call forwarding and voicemail
• Personalized greetings
• 24/7 availability with call queuing

Pricing:

Dialpad consists of a multi-level auto-attendant that allows you to set voice menus where callers can interact via keypad or voice commands. If the call goes unanswered, it will be routed to voicemails through transcription and email delivery.Dialpad also provides flexible call routing that directs calls to agents based on their skills or workload.

Features:

• Custom call routing
• Business hour routing
• Custom greetings

Pricing:

GoTo Connect is an auto-attendant phone system that allows businesses to customize greetings and messages. It offers multi-level IVR menus, guiding callers to reach specific departments, employees, or services through key inputs or voice prompts.Additionally, calls can be routed differently based on the time of day, business hours, or holidays, ensuring the right call flow during off-hours or weekends.

Features:

• Customizable call menus
• Automated call routing
• Custom greetings

Pricing:

Aircall is a business phone system that offers IVR menus with automated prompts to direct callers to the appropriate team via keypad or voice. Based on these selections, callers are automatically connected to the most suitable agent depending on their skills, availability, or history.Features:

• Smart call routing
• Call queuing
• IVR

Pricing:

CloudTalk is a cloud-based phone system that offers a virtual receptionist. It allows businesses to customize multi-level IVR menus with pre-recorded messages and efficiently routes callers to the appropriate department using keypad input or AI-powered voice recognition.In CloudTalk, you can create custom call flows to address emergencies, ensuring timely assistance. Whenever agents are unavailable, the auto attendant directs callers to voicemail boxes with clear messages.

Features:

• Call flow designer
• Business hour routing
• Voicemails

Pricing:

When selecting an auto attendant, first analyze your call volume and the required functionalities, then verify its scalability. Compare pricing for clarity, prioritize user-friendliness, and confirm effortless integration with existing platforms, such as VoIP and CRM.

• Assess Your Business Needs: Determine the daily number of inbound calls and select the routing features with IVR menus that suit your business needs.
• Consider Scalability: Select a system that adapts to increasing call volumes with your team and complex call flows as your business expands.
• Review Pricing: Compare pricing plans carefully to ensure the needed features are included without hidden costs and within budget.
• User-Friendly Interface: Select a system with a user-friendly dashboard that allows non-technical employees to set up and manage call settings efficiently.
• Check Integration Capabilities: Ensure the auto attendant system integrates seamlessly with your existing business systems for more efficient operations.

An auto attendant phone system automatically answers and routes calls to the appropriate person or department, reducing manual workload. You can pre-record the greeting, which the system uses to handle incoming calls professionally. Also, it offers IVR menus that enable users to choose options and reach the desired department without the help of live agents.
 

An auto attendant is an automated phone system feature that answers calls with a greeting and menu, routing callers to the correct agent or department based on their input, without human intervention.

The cost of an auto attendant varies widely depending on the features, users, cloud or on-premise system, and contact terms.