AI voice agent for Australian businesses
An AI voice agent is software that talks on the phone for your business. Vereo's answers every call in under a second, 24/7, books the job into your calendar, transfers the calls that need a person and sends you a summary, from $79+GST a month.
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What is an AI voice agent?
An AI voice agent is software that answers or makes phone calls and holds a spoken conversation. It listens to the caller, decides what to say from the information you have given it, replies in a natural voice and completes tasks during the call, such as booking an appointment, taking a message or transferring to a person.
On each call, four parts work together:
- Telephony connects the call. Your existing number forwards to the agent.
- Speech recognition turns the caller's words into text as they speak.
- A language model reads that text with your business information (services, prices, hours, booking rules) and decides the next step.
- Text-to-speech replies in a chosen voice, while connected tools book the appointment, update your CRM or send an SMS.
What is the difference between an AI voice agent and an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is a type of AI voice agent. "Voice agent" covers any AI that talks on the phone, inbound or outbound, for any task. An AI receptionist is a voice agent set up for the front desk: answering your business line, handling enquiries, booking appointments and passing calls to your team.
| AI voice agent | AI receptionist | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Any AI that holds a spoken conversation over the phone | A voice agent set up to do the front-desk job on your business line |
| Calls | Inbound, outbound or both | Mostly inbound: the calls customers make to you |
| Typical jobs | Answering, booking, surveys, follow-ups, order status, internal help lines | Greeting callers, answering questions, booking, taking messages, transferring calls |
| How you get one | Build it on a developer platform, or buy a managed service | Usually a managed service, configured for your business |
You can build your own voice agent on a developer platform, but then you handle the prompts, phone connection, integrations and testing yourself. Vereo is a managed service: we configure and test the agent for your business, and you get a working line in days. For the receptionist view, read the AI receptionist Australia guide.
What does Vereo's AI voice agent do?
Vereo's AI voice agent answers calls in under a second, day or night, and takes up to 20 calls at once. It knows your services, prices and hours, books into Google Calendar, Microsoft 365 or your booking system, warm-transfers calls that need a person, and sends a transcript and summary after every call.
- Answers instantly, 24/7. No engaged tone and no voicemail, even during a rush.
- Books during the call. Checks availability and confirms the appointment in your calendar or booking system. See the integrations.
- Trained on your business. Your services, pricing, hours and FAQs, in a knowledge base we set up with you.
- Warm transfer with context. Your team hears a short summary before the caller is connected.
- Summaries after every call. Transcript, plain-English summary, sentiment and outcome by email, SMS, Teams or Slack, and into your CRM.
- Local voices, 30-plus languages. Understands Australian suburbs, slang and trade jargon.
- Natural turn-taking. Handles interruptions and pauses without talking over callers.
- Spam screening and branded caller ID. Junk calls are filtered out, and your outbound calls show your business name.
What can an AI voice agent do for your industry?
Most businesses use an AI voice agent for the calls they miss: bookings, enquiries, quote requests and after-hours calls. The details change by industry. A plumber needs emergency routing, a clinic needs triage rules that send urgent calls to a person, and a real estate agency needs open home bookings and buyer questions.
Trades and home services
Quote follow-ups, job booking and after-hours emergencies.Dental and medical
Patient booking, reminders and after-hours triage routing.Real estate
Listing enquiries, open home booking and buyer qualifying.Professional services
Client intake, consult booking and lead qualification.Hospitality
Reservations, function enquiries and guests who speak other languages.Will callers know they are talking to an AI?
Some will, and most won't mind if the call gets them what they need. Vereo uses natural voices with sub-second responses, so the conversation flows. We recommend saying in the greeting that callers are speaking with an AI assistant, so they know what to expect and can ask for a person straight away.
Where does Vereo store and process call data?
All Vereo data storage and processing happens in Australia. That covers call recordings, transcripts and summaries. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and Vereo plays a recording notice at the start of each call that you can set for your state or territory. The security page has the detail.
Recording rules differ between states. Our guide to call recording laws in Australia explains them.
How much does an AI voice agent cost?
Vereo's Starter plan is $79+GST a month and includes 100 inbound minutes, then $0.35+GST/min. Most setups have a $295+GST one-off setup fee. Outbound calls are $0.15+GST/min plus carrier termination. There's no lock-in contract, and you can be live in days.
For other providers' prices and a minutes-to-calls table, see what an AI receptionist costs in Australia.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI voice agent?
An AI voice agent is software that answers or makes phone calls and holds a natural spoken conversation. It listens, works out what the caller wants from the information you give it, replies in a human-sounding voice and completes tasks such as booking an appointment or transferring the call.
Is an AI voice agent the same as an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is one kind of AI voice agent: one set up to answer your business line and do front-desk work. Voice agent is the broader term, and also covers outbound calls and other phone jobs such as follow-ups and order status.
How much does Vereo's AI voice agent cost?
The Starter plan is $79+GST a month including 100 inbound minutes, then $0.35+GST/min. Most setups have a $295+GST one-off setup fee, and outbound calls are $0.15+GST/min plus carrier termination. It's month to month, with no lock-in.
Can I keep my business phone number?
Yes. You forward calls from your current number to Vereo, either all calls or only the ones you miss. Your provider may charge for forwarded calls. Our call forwarding guide covers Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and TPG.
Where is call data stored and processed?
All Vereo data storage and processing happens in Australia, including call recordings, transcripts and summaries. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit.
What happens when a caller needs a person?
Vereo warm-transfers the call to your team with a short summary, so the person who picks up knows who is calling and why. You decide which calls transfer and what happens if nobody answers.