A good receptionist is worth their weight in gold — but a full-time hire costs serious money, works business hours, and can only take one call at a time. Here's an honest look at where an AI receptionist wins, where a human wins, and why many businesses end up using both.
If you need someone physically at a front desk, hire a person — no AI greets a walk-in customer. But if your problem is missed calls, after-hours enquiries and admin that eats your day, an AI receptionist does that job for a fraction of a salary. Plenty of AIssie customers keep their receptionist and use AIssie for overflow, after-hours and invoice chasing — the human does the high-value work, the AI makes sure nothing slips.
AIssie speaks natural Australian English and introduces itself honestly. Most callers simply get on with their enquiry — what they notice is that the phone got answered straight away. Call (08) 6800 4000 to hear it yourself.
Yes. You set the rules — urgent calls or anything it should not handle get transferred to you or your team, with the details sent by SMS or email.
Very. It covers lunch breaks, sick days, after-hours and overflow when the line is busy — and takes on the jobs nobody enjoys, like chasing overdue invoices.
Voice plans run $199–$670 per month depending on call volume — $2,400 to $8,000 a year versus $55,000+ for a full-time hire. There are no setup fees and no lock-in contract.