Cloud PBX

Auto attendant & virtual receptionist

An auto attendant answers every incoming call and sends it to the right person, a virtual receptionist that greets callers, offers a menu, and routes by department, hours, or name. Included with Dialerportal Cloud PBX.

Get a free quoteSee pricing
  • Same-day setup
  • ·
  • US-based support
  • ·
  • No contracts
Features

Everything a front desk does, automatically

Greet, route, and capture every call without a receptionist tied to the phone. Set it up once and it runs day and night.

Professional greeting

Callers hear a clear, branded welcome message every time, no more ringing phones or an overwhelmed front desk. Upload your own recording or type the script and we voice it for you.

Multi-level menus

Build menus that branch as deep as you need. Press 1 for sales, then 1 again for new orders, nest options so callers reach the exact team without a single transfer.

Route by department or extension

Send each menu choice to a person, a ring group, a queue, or a direct extension. Add a fallback so an unanswered option rolls to a backup instead of a dead end.

Business-hours & holiday routing

Set open hours once and let calls follow them automatically. After 6pm and on holidays, callers hear a different greeting and route to voicemail or an on-call phone.

Voicemail-to-email

Missed messages land in your inbox as an audio file with a text transcript, so anyone on the team can read, reply, or forward them without dialing in to check.

Dial-by-name directory

Give callers a directory that finds staff by first or last name. New hires are added in the portal in seconds, no re-recording the whole menu.
How it works

How an auto attendant works

Three steps from a ringing phone to a caller who lands exactly where they meant to.

01

Record the greeting & build the menu

Write your welcome script and map each keypress, 1 for sales, 2 for support, 3 for billing. We set it up with you on day one, or you edit it yourself in the portal anytime.

02

Point each option to the right people

Attach every menu choice to a team, extension, ring group, or queue. Layer on business hours so open, after-hours, and holiday calls each follow their own path.

03

Every caller reaches the right person

Callers self-route in seconds and your team stops fielding misdirected calls. Anything unanswered falls back to voicemail-to-email so nothing slips through.

Auto attendant vs. IVR

Auto attendant or IVR, which do you need?

The terms get used interchangeably, but they solve slightly different problems. Here's the plain-English difference.

Auto attendant

A menu that greets callers and transfers them to the right team, extension, or voicemail. Simple to set up, and enough for most small businesses that just want calls answered and routed correctly.

IVR

Everything an auto attendant does, plus interactive self-service, collecting input, checking an order status, or handling longer flows before routing. Use it when you need callers to get answers, not just transfers. The same system scales up when you do.

The auto attendant ships inside our Cloud PBX, works out of the box for a small business phone system, and if a term here is new, the glossary explains the jargon.

FAQ

Auto attendant questions, answered

What it is, how it differs from an IVR, and what's included with your plan.

An auto attendant is an automated voice menu that answers incoming calls and routes each caller to the right person or department based on the option they choose, like 'Press 1 for sales, 2 for support.' It works like a virtual receptionist, greeting every caller professionally and directing them 24/7 without a live operator picking up the phone.

Never miss a call again

Turn on a virtual receptionist that greets and routes every caller, set up the same day, month-to-month, no contracts.