How to set up an AI phone assistant: a step-by-step guide

Updated: 3 November 2026 · 6 min read · Xaly Editorial Team

An AI phone assistant is set up in five steps: decide which calls it will handle, prepare the knowledge base its answers will rely on, write the greeting, define the people it can transfer to and the rules for doing so, and finally test it with realistic scenarios before a controlled launch. Most of the effort should go into the knowledge base and testing, because those two determine the assistant’s quality.

What should you decide before setting it up?

The first decision is scope. Will the assistant answer every inbound call, only after-hours calls, or one specific line? Will it book appointments or only give information? Starting narrow and expanding as you see results is healthier than trying to hand over everything on day one.

The second decision is limits: what the assistant must never do. Price negotiation, complaint resolution, medical or legal opinions and taking payment details are usually left to people. The third is the phone line: will you use your existing number or need a new line? Who the line is registered to and how calls will reach the assistant should be settled before setup.

How do you prepare the knowledge base?

The assistant can only answer correctly from the information you give it. A knowledge base is the written version of the answers your team gives on the phone every day. The easiest way to start is to list the questions you get most often and write down the answer your team gives to each.

Keep the information short, current and consistent. The same service appearing with two different prices in two documents is a common reason for an assistant giving wrong information. Name an owner for the knowledge base, so it is clear who updates it when a price, address or opening hour changes.

Services and products: what you offer and what you do not
Prices: a current list if you want them quoted, or an explicit “no prices” rule
Opening hours, address, directions and parking
Frequent questions and your team’s standard answers
Off-limits topics and what to say about them
Which details to collect for an appointment or request

How should you write the greeting?

The greeting is the first thing callers hear and the sentence repeated most, so keep it short and clear. It should give the company name, say that the assistant is an AI and mention that the call is recorded if it is. Then one open question: “How can I help you?”

Example: “Hello, I am the AI assistant for [Company name]. This call is recorded for service quality; details are on our website. How can I help you?” Giving the assistant a real person’s name and presenting it as human can damage callers’ trust and create legal risk. Agree the wording of the recording notice and privacy information with your legal adviser.

How do you set transfer targets and rules?

Every assistant needs to hand over to a person at some point. First map which topics go to whom: sales questions to the sales team, invoice questions to accounts, urgent technical problems to the on-call technician. Name a backup person for every target.

Then write the time rules: when transfers happen, what happens at lunchtime and on public holidays, and whether the next person is tried or a note is taken and a callback scheduled when the target does not answer. Transferring without pushing back when a caller explicitly asks for a person, or becomes frustrated, should also be written down as a rule.

How should missed calls and callbacks work?

Even with an assistant, some calls end unfinished: the line drops, the transfer target does not answer or the customer says “call me later”. Each of these needs a callback rule. Decide in advance who calls back (the assistant or the team), the maximum number of attempts and the hours within which calls are made.

If the customer asked for a specific time, honour it and record the promise. Anyone who says they do not want to be called should be added to a list and not called again. Without this, requests the assistant collects get lost in the team and much of the benefit of the setup is wasted.

How do you test before going live?

Testing means a few people from your team calling like real customers and trying different scenarios. Read the recording and transcript of every test call, feed wrong or missing answers back into the knowledge base, and try the same scenario again.

Go live gradually too. Give the assistant only after-hours calls or a single line first, listen to calls regularly in the early days, then widen the scope.

Your five most common questions, asked in different words
A question not in the knowledge base: does it hand over instead of inventing an answer?
A frustrated caller who asks for a person
A call outside office hours and on a public holiday
Background noise, fast speech and interruptions
Whether names, phone numbers and dates are captured correctly

What does setup look like in Xaly?

In Xaly you can use your own line for the assistant, or the line is provided through our licensed carrier partner. After uploading your knowledge base and choosing the assistant’s tone, you enter transfer targets and working hours in the panel. The person receiving a transfer first hears a short summary and accepts or declines with a keypress; if nobody answers, the assistant takes a note and schedules a callback.

Retrying unanswered outbound calls at the time a person is most likely to pick up, calling web-form leads straight away and calling back at the time a customer asked for are managed from the same panel. You set the number of attempts and calling hours, and every attempt is logged on the customer record.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need programming skills to set up an AI phone assistant?

With most ready-made products, no; the real work is preparing the knowledge base, writing the rules and testing. That relies on the knowledge of the team that already talks to customers on the phone. Connecting to your own software may need technical help.

Can I keep my existing phone number?

Usually, yes; calls to your existing number can be routed to the assistant. In Xaly you can use your own line, or the line is provided through our licensed carrier partner.

What does the assistant do with a question it cannot answer?

A well-configured assistant does not invent answers; it says it does not know, takes a note or transfers the call to the right person. Test this behaviour specifically before launch.

Does the assistant connect to my Google or Outlook calendar?

That depends on the product. In Xaly, appointments are kept in the panel calendar and the customer receives a calendar invitation that opens in any calendar app; syncing with Google or Outlook calendars is not currently offered.

How do you improve the assistant after launch?

Read call recordings and transcripts regularly, add wrong or missing answers to the knowledge base and adjust transfer rules based on real calls. Setup is not a one-off job but a process that needs regular upkeep.