Webconnex AI is an Australian AI receptionist and call triage service that answers your phones 24/7, identifies what each caller needs, and routes the call, takes a detailed message, or escalates an after-hours job to your on-call engineer — all without making callers press menu options. It plugs into your existing phone system (OpenScape Voice, OpenScape Business, or any SIP-compliant PBX) or connects via a Twilio Elastic SIP cloud trunk, so you keep the numbers and infrastructure you already have.
End-users hear her as “Astrid” — a natural conversational voice powered by your choice of OpenAI GPT Realtime, the cost-optimised GPT Realtime Mini, or Google Gemini Live. You can swap providers per tenant without re-architecting the call flow.
When call volume is bigger than your reception desk
If your team is short-handed, your receptionist is at lunch, the phones are ringing during a marketing campaign, or after-hours calls are going to voicemail — every missed call is a lost customer, a delayed service ticket, or an emergency that should have been escalated.
Webconnex AI gives you elastic, on-demand call triage capacity. It handles unlimited concurrent calls, never gets sick, never goes home, and consistently delivers the same professional first impression. It can take the entire call, or it can do the front-line triage and hand qualified calls to the right human in seconds.
What Webconnex AI does on every call
- Answers in your business voice. Configurable accent, persona, and greetings for business hours, after-hours, and public holidays.
- Identifies the caller. Looks up incoming Caller ID against your LDAP directory and greets known contacts by name and in their preferred language.
- Triages intent in natural conversation. No “press 1 for sales” — Astrid asks what the caller needs and decides the right next step.
- Checks presence before transferring. Reads real-time OpenScape UC status so it never transfers to someone who is in DND or on another call.
- Screens calls for senior staff. Astrid calls the contact first, announces who is calling and why, and only bridges if they accept.
- Takes detailed messages. Captures caller name, number, email, message and urgency, then delivers via email, SMS, or OpenScape UC instant message — matching each contact’s preferred channel.
- Looks up live data. Reads Google Sheets in real time to answer questions about stock, rosters, property managers, or pricing — your spreadsheet is the source of truth.
- Speaks multiple languages. Detects the caller’s language and switches automatically.
- Recognises forwarded calls. Reads SIP diversion headers, so a call forwarded from a staff mobile is correctly attributed to that person.
- Keeps a full call record. Transcripts, outcomes, and per-action billing rows — auditable for QA and compliance.
After-hours engineer callout — for service businesses with on-call rosters
If you run IT support, property maintenance, trades, or any business with an on-call roster, Webconnex AI does more than take a message after hours. The caller is held with music while Astrid works through your per-tenant roster (maintained by you in a shared Google Sheet, in priority order):
- Each on-call engineer receives an SMS and an outbound voice call with a spoken brief: who is calling, what the problem is, and the callback number.
- The first engineer to verbally accept is bridged directly to the customer.
- If nobody answers, Astrid falls back to taking a detailed message and emails/SMSs it to the duty list.
Conference assistant for OpenScape meetings
Astrid can join an OpenScape conference as a silent participant. Say “hey Astrid” at any time to ask who’s on the call, summarise the discussion, or capture an action item. When the conference ends she emails structured minutes — decisions, action items, attendee list — to every participant.
Who Webconnex AI is built for
- Property management companies — high tenant call volume, route to the correct strata manager, take maintenance requests, handle after-hours emergencies.
- IT and managed service providers — after-hours engineer callout, ticket triage, reseller stock enquiries.
- Medical and dental practices — appointment enquiries, urgency classification, multi-language patient support.
- Professional services — law, accounting and consulting firms screening calls for partners and capturing detailed messages.
- Trades and field services — emergency plumbing, electrical, HVAC and locksmith businesses that need 24/7 dispatch.
- Small to medium businesses — replace or augment an expensive receptionist, never miss a customer call.
Webconnex AI vs. the alternatives
| Human receptionist | Traditional auto-attendant / IVR | Webconnex AI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hours of operation | 8 hours/day | 24/7 | 24/7/365 |
| Concurrent calls | 1 at a time | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Caller experience | Natural | Press 1, press 2, press 0 | Natural conversation |
| Speaks the caller’s language | One or two | Pre-recorded only | Auto-detects and switches |
| Checks staff availability | Maybe | No | Yes — reads UC presence |
| Looks up live data | If they have time | No | Yes — Google Sheets in real time |
| After-hours engineer callout | No | No | Yes — SMS + voice brief, bridges first to accept |
| Cost | $50,000–$70,000/yr | Low but rigid | Per-DID subscription + fair per-use AI billing |
How it fits with your existing phone system
Webconnex AI is a sideband SIP gateway — it accepts SIP INVITEs, answers via webhook, and steers calls dynamically. You keep your trunks, your DIDs, and your PBX. No phones are replaced and no extensions are renumbered.
- Ingress: direct SIP trunk from OpenScape Voice (V10/V11), OpenScape Business (OSBiz), or any SIP-compliant PBX — or cloud trunks via Twilio Elastic SIP, all terminated over TLS.
- Media: SRTP-secured with codec transcoding across OPUS, G.722, PCMA and PCMU.
- Resilience: redundant gateway instances, presence-aware routing, active failover, and zero-drop maintenance restarts that drain calls cleanly during software upgrades.
- Fair billing: if a caller hangs up before the AI engages, the call is not charged.
How quickly can it be live?
A first tenant — greetings, contact directory, screened transfers, and message delivery — can be live in under a day. Add-ons such as Google Sheets data lookup, LDAP caller identification, OpenScape UC presence, and the after-hours engineer callout roster are configured on top.
Frequently asked questions
What is Webconnex AI?
Webconnex AI is an AI receptionist and call triage gateway, branded “Astrid” to callers. It answers inbound calls 24/7 using OpenAI GPT Realtime or Google Gemini Live, identifies caller intent in natural conversation, and either transfers the call, takes a structured message, or escalates an after-hours job to your on-call engineer roster.
How does Webconnex AI triage incoming calls?
It greets the caller, asks what they need, and uses real-time intent analysis to decide the right next action: transfer (after a presence check and optional screening announcement), take a detailed message, look up live data from your Google Sheets, or — outside business hours — actively dial your on-call engineer roster until somebody accepts.
Will my callers know they are talking to AI?
The voice is conversational and most callers do not realise. Astrid never refuses to disclose she is an AI assistant when asked, and she always offers to take a message or transfer to a human.
Does Webconnex AI work with my existing phone system?
Yes. It connects via a standard SIP trunk and works alongside your existing PBX — including OpenScape Voice, OpenScape Business, and any SIP-compliant phone system. Cloud-only customers can ingress via Twilio Elastic SIP. No phone hardware changes are required.
Can Webconnex AI handle calls in multiple languages?
Yes. Astrid detects the caller’s language automatically and responds in it. Known contacts can also be tagged with a preferred language in the customer directory.
What happens after hours?
Webconnex AI follows your per-tenant business-hours and holiday calendar. After hours it plays a different greeting, takes urgent messages with urgency classification, and — for service businesses — works through your on-call engineer roster, sending each engineer an SMS and an outbound voice brief, and bridges the first who verbally accepts.
Is it secure?
Calls are encrypted end-to-end with TLS signalling and SRTP media. Per-tenant policies, consent gating, and recording controls keep sessions auditable and compliant. The platform runs in a controlled environment with full call records, transcripts, and per-action billing for QA.
How is Webconnex AI priced?
Pricing is a per-DID monthly subscription plus usage-based AI processing — the rate depends on the provider tier you choose (GPT Realtime, GPT Realtime Mini, or Gemini Live). Calls where the caller hangs up before the AI engages are not charged. Volume discounts apply for multiple DIDs.
How long does setup take?
A basic tenant — greetings, contact directory, screened transfers and message delivery — can be configured and live in under a day. Optional integrations (Google Sheets, LDAP, OpenScape UC presence, after-hours callout) are configured on top.
Talk to On-Line Communications about a pilot
If your phones are busier than your team can handle, or if after-hours calls are slipping through, get in touch and we will scope a Webconnex AI pilot for your business. Contact us or request a call back.