After-Hours Answering AI Assistant
Planned — not yet availableRingMind After-Hours Answering Assistant Brain · on the roadmap
For businesses that close at night and on weekends but still get calls. It is meant to cover those hours with the business's after-hours rules, separating genuine emergencies from calls that can wait until morning.
Available to use today
General Business AI Receptionist
Use the General Business Receptionist with your hours and after-hours emergency rules in its instructions and your on-call person as a transfer target; set business hours on the number so your team's phones ring while you're open and the assistant answers after hours.
What it's planned to handle
Covers calls when you're closed.
- Answers only outside business hours, switching on automatically when the business closes
- Explains when the business reopens and answers common questions
- Follows the business's after-hours emergency rules and transfers true emergencies to the on-call person
- Takes messages with urgency marked so the team knows what to handle first in the morning
What you'd fill in
- Your business hours
- What counts as an after-hours emergency
- On-call contacts for emergencies
- Common questions callers ask when you're closed
Questions it's meant for
How assistants are released
Each RingMind assistant ships with its own instructions, safety rules and a test suite, and is offered only once every test passes. Join early access to hear when this one is ready.
Tools it would work with
Calls don't stop when you close
Evening and weekend calls are a mix of real emergencies and questions that can wait. Without someone to tell them apart, either the on-call person gets woken up for routine questions or a genuine emergency sits in voicemail until morning.
How the planned After-Hours Answering Assistant is meant to work
The planned assistant would switch on automatically when you close, explain when you reopen, answer common questions, follow your after-hours emergency rules to transfer true emergencies to the on-call person, and take messages with urgency marked so the team knows what to handle first in the morning. This assistant is planned and not available yet.
Use RingMind for this today
You can use the General Business Receptionist for after-hours coverage today. Set business hours on its number so your team's phones ring while you're open and the assistant answers once you close, using the time zone in your workspace settings.
- Business details: add your hours so it can tell callers when you reopen.
- Additional instructions: describe exactly what counts as an emergency for your business and what to do otherwise.
- Transfer list: add your on-call person, and anyone else who should take urgent calls (transfers).
- Knowledge base: add the questions people ask when you're closed.
- Connected tools: connect Microsoft Teams to post urgent calls to a channel; urgent messages also show up in your notifications.
You can publish the RingMind number as your main line, or move your existing US number to RingMind, which usually takes one to three weeks. See after-hours answering and AI receptionist vs voicemail.
After-Hours Answering AI Assistant: questions
Is it available now?
No. The After-Hours Answering Assistant is planned and not available yet. You can use the General Business Receptionist today, and you can join early access to hear when the After-Hours Answering Assistant is ready.
Can it answer only when we're closed?
Yes. Choose Depends on business hours in the number's call handling, ring your team during business hours and let the assistant answer outside them.
Can I forward my office line to it at night?
The assistant answers a RingMind number for the US or Canada. You can move an existing US office number to RingMind, usually in one to three weeks, and then set business hours on it.
How does it handle emergencies?
You describe what counts as an emergency in its instructions, and it transfers to your on-call person or takes an urgent message.
Does it take voicemail?
The assistant takes messages in conversation, and its calls have a transcript and a short AI-written summary. You can also send after-hours calls to voicemail with your own greeting; voicemails are transcribed and summarized.
How will I see the messages in the morning?
Messages appear in Calls & Messages with urgency marked, and urgent ones can be emailed to your team.