Frequently asked questions
What you ask us, answered without hedging
Grouped by what people actually worry about: whether the agent will be good enough, what happens to the data, how much work it takes, and what happens when something goes wrong. If yours is missing, write to us and we will add it.
The agent
Will it be good enough for my customers?
Almost everyone’s underlying question, and the one best answered by trying it.
Can people tell it is not a person?
They can tell it is an automated assistant, and that is deliberate: the agent says so where appropriate and whenever asked. What they do not get is the usual friction of an answering machine or a touch-tone menu. You talk normally and the task is done in one call.
What if the caller rambles or goes off-topic?
The agent holds context and steers back without cutting in. It can take information that arrives out of order and return to what is still outstanding without making anyone repeat themselves — exactly what breaks a decision tree.
What about accents, background noise or older callers?
It is one of the things we tune most during the weeks of testing against real calls. When it does not understand it asks again rather than guessing, and slows down if it detects difficulty. If the call still gets hard, it hands over to a person.
Can it handle several languages?
Yes, and one agent can switch language based on the caller. We currently deploy in Spanish and English; for other languages, ask us before counting on it.
Can it make outbound calls, not just take them?
Yes. Confirmations, reminders, customer or patient reactivation, surveys and status updates. Cadence, permitted hours and attempt limits are defined, and a request not to be called again is honoured immediately and permanently.
Does this only make sense for large companies?
No, and size is not what decides it. What decides it is whether you have a phone process that repeats and a peak you cannot cover. A three-room clinic whose phone is swamped between nine and ten has that problem as clearly as a twenty-room one. What does not fit is very low volume: at thirty calls a month any automation costs more than it saves, and we will tell you so.
How many calls can it take at once?
As many as arrive. There is no queue and no concurrent channels to buy: it is the biggest practical difference against growing a team, because the peak stops being a staffing problem.
Data and privacy
What happens to the data
The part your data protection lead reviews. The full detail is on security and compliance.
Are calls recorded?
Only if your organisation enables it, and always with prior notice to the caller as the law requires. It is off by default. We publish the recording clause we apply and the processing is covered by the DPA.
Do you use our conversations to train your models?
No. Neither yours nor your customers’. If we ever wanted to, it would need your explicit, written and revocable authorisation.
Where is data processed?
In the European Union. The sub-processors involved and their locations are declared in the DPA, and any new addition is communicated before it takes effect.
Who can listen to or read a conversation?
Your team, under the permissions you define, and our staff assigned to your project when a piece of work requires it — with named, time-limited and logged access.
How do we handle a customer’s erasure request?
You pass us the request and we carry out the deletion within the agreed timescale, including transcripts and recordings where they exist, with a record of the operation.
Rollout
How much work is it for us
On most projects the real objection is not price — it is your people’s time.
How long until it is running?
A standard flow goes through three phases: script design, connecting your system, and testing against real calls before opening full volume. How long depends mostly on how open your software is, and we agree it with you before starting.
What do you need from our team?
Half an hour with whoever knows the process to set the goal, and an hour or two with whoever administers your diary or CRM for the integration. After that, a review every few weeks. Nobody needs to be assigned to maintaining the system.
Do we have to change software or migrate data?
No. Elop works on the systems you already run. If yours has no API we work with scheduled imports and exports, and we tell you in the technical session what that option costs you.
Can we start with just one thing?
It is what we recommend. One flow, the one costing you the most time, measured against an agreed metric. That data decides the next step without a debate of opinions.
Does it replace our team?
It replaces the repetitive part of their work. The customers we work with do not cut headcount: they stop needing to add it in order to grow, and reassign to in-person service the hours that used to go on the phone.
When things go wrong
What happens when something fails
The uncomfortable questions, which are the ones worth asking before signing.
What if the system goes down?
Calls fall back to your existing number. Automating must never mean losing your phone line. The failover is tested during the trial phase, not on the day it is needed.
What if the agent gets something wrong?
Every call records what it did and why, so the error is visible and correctable. Flows are designed not to improvise: if the agent cannot confirm something against your system, it does not confirm it — it takes the request and leaves it for your team.
What if a customer gets angry with the agent?
That is one of the cases we define with you up front. Faced with a complaint, an urgency or a distressed caller, the agent yields and hands the call to a person with the context already gathered, rather than pushing.
What if the result is not what was promised?
That is why the metric is agreed up front and why there is a limited-volume test phase. If production misses it, we tune; if the case never fitted, we say so rather than stretch it.
Can we leave if it does not work?
There is no lock-in on the pilot. For the service contract, exit conditions are agreed in writing at the start — not when you want to leave.
Get the call now (and be a little amazed)
We are here to take calls off your plate and to show you that a phone line can outwork a lot of people: it never gets flustered, never hangs up and never asks for time off. If you are curious, leave your number.
- The call arrives within seconds.
- Talk normally: interrupt, ask, change the subject.
- No cost, no commitment, and the conversation is not recorded.
Is your question missing?
Write to us and we will answer. If it is a question that keeps coming up, we will add it to this page.