Connecting an AI operator to your own number: SIP, IP telephony and PBXs in plain words

What SIP and IP telephony are

On a classic phone line a call travels over a wire. In IP telephony the same call travels over the internet. SIP is the common language for such calls: any system that speaks it can receive calls to your number and call from it.

For a SIP connection your provider gives you three things: a login, a password and a server address. If your number is set up as IP telephony with a provider such as Sarkor or UTeL, it already works over SIP. Sado connects with those details.

Your number stays the same

• Customers call the same number as before; no need to change it in ads, on the website or on business cards.
• The operator makes outgoing calls from that number too: customers see a familiar number and can call it back.
• City and mobile numbers both work.
• If you have no number or need a separate line, a new number is connected.

How calls are routed

You decide which calls the operator answers: all of them around the clock, or only after hours and at weekends. During a call, by your rule, the operator can transfer the caller to a staff member’s phone, for example when they are ready to buy or want a person.

One thing to know: Sado handles more than ten conversations at once, but how many calls can come through one number at the same time also depends on the number of lines (channels) your provider gives you. If you expect many calls, ask your provider for more channels.

How many channels you need: a simple estimate

Take your busiest hour and work out: calls in that hour × average length (minutes) ÷ 60. That is the average number of calls running at the same time in that hour. Calls don’t arrive evenly, so add headroom.

For example, if an ad brings 40 calls in an hour at 3 minutes each: 40 × 3 ÷ 60 = 2. On average two calls run at once, but in some minutes four or five overlap. So a line like that should have 4–6 channels. Outgoing calls use the same channels.

What to prepare

1. 1Your provider and number: which company, city or mobile.
2. 2The SIP connection details for the number: login, password, server. Your provider issues them. If you’re not sure how to ask, message us and we’ll tell you what to request.
3. 3Rules: the hours the operator answers, when it transfers to staff, and the staff phone numbers.
4. 4Information for the operator: services and prices, address, hours, common customer questions and their answers.

After that the Sado team connects and sets everything up; you don’t need a developer. How the operator is set up: AI call center for incoming calls.

How connecting goes

1. 1We connect the line and check that it works.
2. 2We set up the operator with you: name, voice, greeting, company information and rules.
3. 3Test calls: you call your own number, listen to the operator and we adjust the wording if needed.
4. 4Go live: you can start with evening and weekend calls only, and widen it later.

In the first days, read the call transcripts. If there were questions the operator couldn’t answer, add the answers to its information; you can also ask Yordamchi in the portal “Which questions couldn’t it answer?”. If the voice mispronounces your company or product name, write the right pronunciation in the Pronunciation line of the operator settings.

If your office has a PBX

Many offices have desk phones with extensions and a PBX: a call reaches the PBX first and then the right person. In that case we agree together which calls go to the operator and to whom it transfers, and we work out the connection with your provider and your PBX.

Security and control

• Your SIP password is stored encrypted.
• The operator’s hours, the daily limit for outgoing calls and the stop button are in your hands.
• If you want, the operator says at the start that the call is recorded.
• Data is kept for a limited time, and you can ask for it to be deleted.

The price

Sado charges only for talked minutes: 800 so‘m a minute. There is no setup fee and no monthly fee. More: pricing. Other questions about connecting: Sado FAQ.

Questions