Business phone glossary
Short, plain definitions of the words that come up when you set up a business phone line, a call center or an AI receptionist.
Calls and routing
Warm transfer
A transfer where the next person is briefed before the caller is put through.
Cold transfer
A transfer that passes the call along with no introduction, also called a blind transfer.
Conditional call forwarding
Forwarding that kicks in only when you're busy, don't answer or are unreachable, so your phone rings first.
Call overflow
The extra calls that arrive when every line is busy, and where your phone system sends them.
After-hours routing
The rules that send calls somewhere else when the business is closed.
Call queue
The line callers wait in, usually with hold music, until someone is free.
Inbound call
A call that a customer, or anyone else, places to your business.
Outbound call
A call your business places: reminders, follow-ups, callbacks, sales and surveys.
Answering service
An outside service that answers your calls when you can't: live operators or AI.
Call recording
Saving the audio of a call to check what was said, settle disputes and train staff.
Phone systems
IVR
The phone menu that asks callers to press a key or say a word, then routes them by their choice.
Auto attendant
The recorded greeting and menu that answers a business line and sends callers to an extension.
Ring group
Several phones that ring for one number, so whoever is free picks up.
SIP trunk
A virtual phone line that connects your phone system to the phone network over the internet.
VoIP
Phone calls carried over an internet connection instead of a traditional phone line.
Virtual phone number
A number that lives in the cloud and rings wherever you route it.
Cloud PBX
A business phone system run by a provider online, managed from a web dashboard.
AI and automation
AI receptionist
Software that answers your business phone, answers questions, books appointments and transfers calls.
Virtual receptionist
A receptionist who answers your calls remotely: usually a person, sometimes software.
AI voice agent
Software that talks with callers by voice and acts during the call: books, looks up, transfers.
Conversational AI
Technology that lets software understand and answer people in their own words, by text or voice.
Speech-to-text
Technology that turns spoken words into text: the first step of every AI phone call.
Text-to-speech
Technology that turns text into a spoken voice: how an AI agent talks back.
Call transcription
Turning a phone call's audio into searchable text, speaker by speaker.
Call flow
The planned path of a call: greeting, questions, branches and where each one ends.
Knowledge base
The organized information an AI agent answers from: hours, prices, policies and common questions.
Sentiment analysis
Automatically tagging each call as positive, neutral or negative, so unhappy callers stand out.
Call center metrics
First call resolution (FCR)
The share of calls resolved on the first contact, with no callback or repeat call.
Average handle time (AHT)
The average time one call takes from start to finish, including hold and wrap-up.
Call abandonment rate
The share of callers who hang up before anyone answers, usually while waiting on hold.
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