- Does an AI receptionist have to say it is AI?
- Increasingly, yes by law. Always, in our view, by decency. Every living front office opens with the whole truth before anyone asks: it tells you what it is and who is reading. The AI label sits on the assistant's face, on screen, permanently.
- What is the difference between an AI receptionist and a living front office?
- An AI receptionist is a chat widget. A living front office is a member of staff on the owner's own website, working with the judgement and accountability a good employee should have, to rules the owner sets. It tells you what it is, keeps every conversation warm until it is finished, still works when systems go down, and asks before it tells. And because it is living, it adapts to any business and any service, exactly as far as its owner directs.
- Will it quote prices or diagnose?
- That is entirely your call, because the desk runs on your rules. Its careful default is never to invent a diagnosis or a price on its own authority, because a number you never approved is a number somebody has to walk back. But living means adaptable. Hand it your price framework and it estimates. Give it your service rules and it advises. Whatever your business is, and whatever you authorise, that is what it does. The only limit is the one you set.
- What happens after hours?
- Every conversation ends with a next step, and wherever possible that next step is booked. If the business owner does not respond, the assistant chases the owner. If that fails, it comes back to you and tells you the truth about where things stand. Communication ends when you end it, not when we get busy.
- Does it work with the website I already have?
- We install the front office into the website you have, connect the diary, and define what it may and may not say. When the current site cannot support the experience, we rebuild the front of the business around the desk.
- Can you build the whole website as well, or just the desk?
- Both, and you choose the door. Most owners start with the desk installed on the website they already have, working within days. When you want more, we rebuild the whole front of the business around it: design, pages, and the desk at the centre, one system. Same member of staff either way; the only difference is how much of the room we build around them.
- What happens if the AI fails?
- If the intelligence behind the door goes offline, the door still opens and your message still reaches a human. A degraded front office is still a front office. It is never an empty page.