What is an auto attendant and how is it different from an IVR?

An auto attendant phone system acts as a virtual receptionist that answers calls, plays a greeting, and routes callers to the right department or employee. An IVR offers these capabilities plus advanced self-service features like payments, account lookups, and speech recognition. If you need professional call routing without a receptionist, an auto attendant service is the ideal choice. Businesses with complex workflows may benefit from a hosted IVR instead.