IVR / auto-attendant

IVR stands for interactive voice response. It is the automated greeting that says "Press 1 for sales, press 2 for support" and then sends the caller on. An auto-attendant does the same job. A small business can use one to direct callers to the right team and play different greetings outside opening hours. Aircall, Freshcaller, Quo and RingCentral are examples of tools that offer it.

Without a menu, every call lands on the same person, who must work out where it goes. A menu saves time for callers and staff and makes a small team sound organised. You need it when several people or teams take calls or when opening hours matter. If one person answers every call, a menu can feel like an obstacle to callers.

• Ask how many menu levels you can build and whether options can depend on the time of day.
• Check whether you can record your own greetings or whether only text-to-speech is available.
• Test what happens if nobody answers and where the call ends up.
• Find out whether the menu can be edited by a non-technical person without a support request.