Books into your calendar
Proposes open slots, confirms the booking on the channel the customer used. Calendar connections are scoped during planning.
AI across the platform
AI-driven business communications, with a person always one step away.
3CTel puts AI to work on the conversations you already have: answering calls, replying to chat and SMS, booking meetings, writing summaries and completing tasks in your CRM. Each capability runs under rules you approve, and every path leads to a person on request.
- Voice, chat and SMS agents that book meetings
- CRM tasks completed under approval rules
- Approved knowledge only, with a standing hand-off to people
Example
AI receptionist
Intent: booking · Confidence high
AI receptionistThanks for calling. How can I help today?
Inbound callerHi, I’d like to book a cleaning for next week, ideally Tuesday morning.
AI receptionistTuesday at 9:30 or 11:00 are open. Which works better?
Inbound caller9:30, please.
AI receptionistBooked. You’ll get a text confirmation. Anything else?
Appointment created in calendar
Transcript sent to front desk
Escalation rule: billing questions → office manager
3CTel is an AI-driven business communications provider. AI agents answer calls, web chat and SMS, book meetings into calendars and, once connected to your CRM, create contacts, log calls, open tickets and schedule callbacks under approval rules with an audit trail. AI also drafts replies, translates between English and French, summarizes conversations and answers questions from approved knowledge. Connections are delivered via API, webhooks or an automation platform, scoped during planning and confirmed before activation.
AI agents on voice
The AI Receptionist answers the main number in English or French, handles routine questions, takes messages with a transcript, books appointments where a calendar is connected, and transfers to a person when the caller asks. It can take every call, only overflow, or only after hours.
AI voice agents work the other direction. An outbound agent places reminders and confirmations. A callback agent returns missed calls. A status agent answers 'where is my order' by querying your systems through the API. Each has hand-off rules you set, and each transfer arrives with a summary.
AI Receptionist
Answers, understands and books — in English and French.
Learn more: AI ReceptionistAI Voice Agents
Purpose-built AI callers for reminders, callbacks, order status and after-hours triage — with hand-off to people and firm guardrails.
Learn more: AI Voice AgentsAfter-hours calls
A plan for every call that arrives after closing, on a weekend or on a holiday.
Learn more: After-hours callsAI chat and messaging agent
The same agent runs on your website chat and your business SMS number. A visitor asks about availability, the agent answers from approved knowledge, proposes times from the connected calendar and books the meeting. A customer texts to reschedule and the agent moves the appointment.
One agent, web chat and SMS
Knowledge, tone and hand-off rules are shared, so the answer is the same on your site or by text.
A person on request
Any message that says 'talk to someone' routes to a queue, ring group or named person, with the transcript attached.
AI Chat & Messaging Agent
One AI agent across website chat and business SMS that answers from your approved knowledge, books appointments and hands off to people by rules.
Learn more: AI Chat & Messaging AgentBusiness SMS
Text from the number customers already call — as a team, not from a personal phone.
Learn more: Business SMSAppointment booking
Bookings taken by phone, confirmed by text, and handed to a person when needed.
Learn more: Appointment bookingAI inside messaging
For conversations a person is handling, AI works in the background. Smart replies suggest a response so the agent edits rather than types. Translation lets English-speaking staff answer a French customer in French, and the reverse. Summaries condense a long thread into a few lines. Intent tags mark each conversation as a booking, complaint, billing question or sales enquiry so it can be routed and reported on.
Omnichannel Contact Centre
Calls, texts, web chat and email in one queue, one agent desktop and one set of reports.
Learn more: Omnichannel Contact CentreBusiness SMS
Text from the number customers already call — as a team, not from a personal phone.
Learn more: Business SMSCustomer service
The phone workflow behind a support desk that answers, follows up and improves.
Learn more: Customer serviceAI workflows: tasks in your CRM after every conversation
Most of the value of a conversation is lost in the minutes after it ends, when nobody logs it. Once 3CTel is connected to your CRM, helpdesk or practice system, an AI agent completes the routine tasks that follow a call or message.
Every action is written to an audit trail with the conversation, the rule that fired and who approved it. Connections are delivered via API, webhooks or an automation platform, scoped during planning and confirmed before activation.
| Task | Trigger | Approval mode |
|---|---|---|
| Create or update a contact | Caller not found in the CRM | Auto for new records; approval for existing fields |
| Log the call or message with a summary | Every completed conversation | Auto |
| Open a ticket or case | Intent tag is 'support' or 'complaint' | Auto; a person sets priority |
| Schedule a callback | Caller asks, or a queue times out | Auto in business hours; approval outside |
| Draft a follow-up email or SMS | A promised action | Approval before sending |
| Update a deal or file stage | Outcome recorded by the agent | Approval |
AI Workflows
After-call and after-message automation: AI reads the conversation, then does the CRM, helpdesk and calendar work — with approval rules you set.
Learn more: AI WorkflowsAPIs, Webhooks & Automations
Connect calls, texts and voicemail to the software you already run — by webhook, API or an automation platform.
Learn more: APIs, Webhooks & AutomationsAI answers for customers and staff
AI answers draw on a knowledge base you approve: Help Centre articles, policies, price lists and internal procedures. Customers get answers on chat, SMS and voice. Staff get the same answers inside the app, so a new hire gets the current refund policy rather than a colleague's memory of it. Anything outside the approved knowledge gets 'I will connect you with someone', not a guess.
AI Chat & Messaging Agent
One AI agent across website chat and business SMS that answers from your approved knowledge, books appointments and hands off to people by rules.
Learn more: AI Chat & Messaging AgentCustomer service
The phone workflow behind a support desk that answers, follows up and improves.
Learn more: Customer serviceAI communication optimization
With enough conversations recorded, AI can recommend changes to how they are handled. Recommendations arrive as a review you accept or decline. Nothing changes in your routing without a person approving it.
Routing
Menu options to merge, queues to split, overflow paths that are never used.
Staffing
Hours and days where queues wait longest relative to the people logged in.
Cost and quality
Trunks, numbers and plans carrying avoidable cost, and conversations where quality flags cluster.
AI Communication Optimization
Continuous AI review of your calls, queues, messages and line costs, with recommended changes applied only with your approval and reviewed monthly with a specialist.
Learn more: AI Communication OptimizationCall Analytics
See what your phone traffic is actually doing — and staff for it.
Learn more: Call AnalyticsHigh Call Volume Teams
Queues, callbacks and analytics for teams that are always busy.
Learn more: High Call Volume TeamsConversation intelligence
Every recorded call and message thread can be transcribed, summarized and tagged. Keyword and sentiment flags mark calls worth reviewing. Next steps are extracted and, with AI workflows, pushed to your CRM. Canadian law generally requires that callers be informed that a call is recorded; 3CTel configures the announcement and access roles with you.
Conversation Intelligence
Every call summarized, searchable and turned into next steps — without anyone typing notes.
Learn more: Conversation IntelligenceCall recording
When recording helps, how callers and staff are informed, and how access and retention are set.
Learn more: Call recordingCall recording
Capturing and storing business calls for training, quality review and record-keeping.
Learn more: Call recordingCustom deployments and sync to any system
Custom deployments cover hybrid setups with an existing PBX, bespoke agent behaviours, multi-site rollouts and regulated-industry requirements handled with you. Sync to any system keeps conversation data aligned with whatever CRM, helpdesk, practice or broker system you run, through the API and webhooks, an automation platform, scheduled exports or a custom connector built during planning.
Custom deployments
Hybrid, private, multi-site or regulated: a phone system designed around your constraints, not a plan.
Learn more: Custom deploymentsSync to any system
Calls, messages, transcripts, summaries and contacts kept in step with whatever software your business runs.
Learn more: Sync to any systemAPIs, Webhooks & Automations
Connect calls, texts and voicemail to the software you already run — by webhook, API or an automation platform.
Learn more: APIs, Webhooks & AutomationsHow the pieces connect
| Conversation | What AI does | What your systems receive |
|---|---|---|
| Inbound call | AI Receptionist answers, books or takes a message | Contact, call log with summary, calendar booking |
| Missed call | Callback agent returns the call | Callback scheduled, outcome logged |
| Web chat or SMS enquiry | Chat agent answers and books a meeting | Contact, meeting, intent tag, transcript |
| Call handled by a person | Transcript, summary, flags, drafted follow-up | Call log, ticket if support intent, draft for approval |
| A month of conversations | Optimization review | Recommendations to accept or decline |
Omnichannel Contact Centre
Calls, texts, web chat and email in one queue, one agent desktop and one set of reports.
Learn more: Omnichannel Contact CentreAI Workflows
After-call and after-message automation: AI reads the conversation, then does the CRM, helpdesk and calendar work — with approval rules you set.
Learn more: AI WorkflowsConversation Intelligence
Every call summarized, searchable and turned into next steps — without anyone typing notes.
Learn more: Conversation IntelligenceGuardrails
- Approved knowledge only. Anything else is handed to a person.
- A standing speak-to-someone path on every channel, with the conversation carried across.
- Agents never ask for payment card details.
- Transcripts and actions are reviewable, with the rule that allowed each task.
- Consent and recording notices are configured with you before activation.
- Conversation data is handled as described on the privacy page, with access roles set during planning.
Privacy of call data
What the phone service processes, who can see it, and how retention and deletion are handled.
Learn more: Privacy of call dataCall recording
When recording helps, how callers and staff are informed, and how access and retention are set.
Learn more: Call recordingTrust Centre
What 3CTel commits to on 9-1-1, privacy, recording, porting and continuity, and what to ask any provider.
Learn more: Trust CentreGetting started
Discover
A specialist reviews what callers ask for most, where conversations are lost, and which systems hold your customer data.
Connect systems
Calendar, CRM and helpdesk connections are scoped, delivered via API, webhooks or an automation platform, and confirmed before activation.
Approve rules
You sign off the knowledge base, hand-off rules and approval mode for each task.
Pilot on one queue or number
Agents run on a temporary number or one queue. You read transcripts and adjust before anything touches your main line.
Expand
Widen to more numbers, channels and tasks. Nothing is billed before activation.
Common questions about AI at 3CTel
What does it mean that 3CTel is AI-driven?
AI is applied across the platform rather than bolted onto one feature. Agents answer voice, chat and SMS and book meetings; AI drafts, translates and summarizes messages; workflows complete CRM tasks after conversations; answers come from approved knowledge; optimization reviews routing, staffing, cost and quality. A person remains reachable on every channel.
Can the AI agents actually do things in my CRM?
Yes, once a connection is scoped and confirmed. Agents create or update contacts, log calls with summaries, open tickets, schedule callbacks, draft follow-ups and update stages. Each task has an approval mode, from automatic to approval-required, and every action is written to an audit trail with its conversation.
Which channels do the AI agents cover?
Voice through the AI Receptionist and voice agents, web chat on your site, and SMS on your business number. The chat and messaging agent shares one knowledge base and one set of hand-off rules, so answers and bookings are consistent wherever the customer starts.
How is the AI stopped from saying the wrong thing?
Agents answer only from knowledge you approve; questions outside it are handed to a person rather than guessed. Agents never request payment card details. Transcripts are reviewable, rules are visible, and a pilot on a temporary number lets you hear real behaviour before it reaches your main line.
Do I need every AI capability to start?
No. Most businesses start with the AI Receptionist after hours or a chat agent that books meetings, then add workflows once a CRM is connected. Each capability is scoped separately, and the same guardrails and hand-off rules apply as AI takes on more.
AI Receptionist
Answers, understands and books — in English and French.
Learn more: AI ReceptionistAI Chat & Messaging Agent
One AI agent across website chat and business SMS that answers from your approved knowledge, books appointments and hands off to people by rules.
Learn more: AI Chat & Messaging AgentAI Workflows
After-call and after-message automation: AI reads the conversation, then does the CRM, helpdesk and calendar work — with approval rules you set.
Learn more: AI WorkflowsUpdates
How AI is solving real communication problems
Dated field notes from the kinds of deployments 3CTel runs: the problem a team had, what the AI agent or workflow did about it, and what changed. Anonymized and representative — no client is named and nothing is quantified.
Contract-tier routing on a Calgary data centre support line
- Problem
- Every customer, from a single rack to a full suite, called the same support number and waited in the same queue. Customers with a critical-response contract had no faster path when something failed at night.
- What the AI did
- Call routing identifies the caller's account by number and places critical-response customers in a priority queue that rings the operations desk and the on-call engineer together. An emergency option is available to every caller and always reaches a person. Other calls follow business-hours rules and land in the standard queue with callback.
- What changed
- Critical-response customers reach an engineer without explaining who they are, and the operations desk sees the standard queue in one place.
Callback agent for a Surrey dealership's service line
- Problem
- Service advisors were on the phone or with customers at the counter all morning. Callers who wanted to book maintenance waited in queue, gave up, and often booked at a nearby independent shop instead.
- What the AI did
- When the queue is long, an AI voice agent offers a callback, collects the vehicle, the service needed and a preferred time, and books directly into the shop schedule for routine work. Anything involving a warning light or a safety concern is placed at the front of the advisor queue with a written summary.
- What changed
- Routine bookings no longer depend on an advisor being free, and advisors pick up safety-related calls with the details already in front of them.
Permit-request intake for a Saskatchewan municipality
- Problem
- Residents phoned the town office about building, burn and event permits, and clerks wrote each request on paper before entering it into the permitting system. Details were missed and residents called back to ask about progress.
- What the AI did
- An AI workflow takes the transcript of each permit call and drafts a structured intake record with the permit type, property, dates and the resident's contact details. It runs in suggest-only mode: the clerk checks the draft against the call before submitting it, and residents always reach a clerk on the main line.
- What changed
- Clerks now review a complete draft instead of deciphering handwritten notes, and fewer residents need to call back to fill in missing details.
French-first intake for a Quebec City law office
- Problem
- A small litigation practice had no receptionist. Lawyers answered their own lines between meetings, so new client enquiries were often cut short, and callers could not always reach someone who spoke French comfortably.
- What the AI did
- The AI Receptionist greets in French and switches to English on request. It captures the nature of the matter, the caller's contact details and the urgency, then sends a written summary to the lawyer on intake duty. Anything described as urgent, or any request for a person, is transferred live.
- What changed
- Lawyers now open each new file with a written summary in hand, and callers are greeted in the language they started in.
Order-status agent for a Kitchener parts manufacturer
- Problem
- Distributors called the customer service desk several times a day asking whether an order had shipped. Each answer meant a lookup in the ERP, and the two coordinators had little time left for order changes and quotes.
- What the AI did
- An AI voice agent verifies the caller against the account on file, reads the order status and ship date from the ERP through an API connection scoped during planning, and sends a confirmation text to distributors who opted in. Order changes, pricing and anything the agent cannot verify go to a coordinator.
- What changed
- Coordinators now spend their day on order changes and quotes, and distributors get a status answer without waiting for someone to be free.
Staffing-by-hour recommendations for a credit union call centre
- Problem
- The member services manager built the weekly schedule from instinct. Some mornings members waited a long time in queue while other afternoons agents sat idle, and nobody had time to study the call reports.
- What the AI did
- AI Optimization reads the Contact Centre's queue history and proposes a staffing pattern by hour and weekday, explaining each suggestion in plain language. It runs in suggest-only mode: the manager reviews the recommendation each week and decides what to change. No schedule is altered without her decision.
- What changed
- The manager now schedules from a weekly recommendation she can read in minutes, and the pattern of long morning waits has eased.
All updates New entries post Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Related pages.
AI Receptionist
Answers, understands and books — in English and French.
Learn more: AI ReceptionistAI Voice Agents
Purpose-built AI callers for reminders, callbacks, order status and after-hours triage — with hand-off to people and firm guardrails.
Learn more: AI Voice AgentsAI Chat & Messaging Agent
One AI agent across website chat and business SMS that answers from your approved knowledge, books appointments and hands off to people by rules.
Learn more: AI Chat & Messaging AgentAI Workflows
After-call and after-message automation: AI reads the conversation, then does the CRM, helpdesk and calendar work — with approval rules you set.
Learn more: AI WorkflowsAI Communication Optimization
Continuous AI review of your calls, queues, messages and line costs, with recommended changes applied only with your approval and reviewed monthly with a specialist.
Learn more: AI Communication OptimizationConversation Intelligence
Every call summarized, searchable and turned into next steps — without anyone typing notes.
Learn more: Conversation IntelligenceAPIs, Webhooks & Automations
Connect calls, texts and voicemail to the software you already run — by webhook, API or an automation platform.
Learn more: APIs, Webhooks & AutomationsAI receptionist vs answering service
Three ways to handle calls nobody can pick up, compared without a sales pitch.
Learn more: AI receptionist vs answering serviceFrequently asked questions.
Yes. Voice, chat and SMS agents answer in English and French, and translation inside messaging lets staff reply in the customer's language. French callers who ask for a person are routed to French-speaking staff where that routing is set up during planning.
Via API, webhooks or an automation platform, scoped during planning and confirmed before activation. The systems, fields and directions are documented before anything is switched on, and the approval mode for each workflow task is agreed at the same time.
It says so and offers a person. On voice that is a transfer to a queue, ring group or on-call number with a summary. On chat and SMS it is a hand-off to the team inbox with the thread attached. After hours it takes a message and schedules a callback.
Yes. Transcripts of agent conversations are available to authorized users, and every workflow action appears in an audit trail with the conversation, the rule that fired and any approval. Access roles for transcripts and recordings are set with you during planning.
Recording is optional and configured with you per queue or number. Canadian law generally requires that callers be informed that a call is recorded, and 3CTel configures the announcement with you before activation. Transcription and summaries follow the same access roles and retention as the recordings they come from.
A discovery call, connection scoping and rule approval come first, then a pilot on a temporary number or single queue. The pilot runs until you are satisfied with the transcripts and hand-offs. Pricing is quoted in advance and nothing is billed before activation.
Decide where AI should answer first.
Tell us which conversations you lose today, which systems hold your customer data, and what must always reach a person. A specialist will plan the agents, rules and connections, and quote it.