Your AI Agent Just Became an Intelligent Switchboard

Product Update · April 2026

Introducing Smart Call Forwarding — route any call to the right human, on any condition, in under 2 minutes of setup.

AI phone agents are great at handling the expected. But every business knows that calls don't always follow a script — and when they don't, the stakes can be high. A frustrated caller, a complex legal question, a buyer who's ready to sign: these are moments where the right human needs to pick up.

Until now, call forwarding in Vocadesk let you send a call to one number. Today, we're changing that. With Smart Call Forwarding, your agent can now route each call to a different destination based on what the caller actually needs.

One AI agent. Every department.

Think of Smart Call Forwarding as giving your AI agent a live directory of your entire team — and the intelligence to use it. Instead of a single "escalate to human" option, you now define precise conditions in plain language. The agent reads the conversation in real time and knows exactly who should handle what.

A real estate firm might route property viewing requests to the sales team, financing questions to their mortgage broker partner, and legal matters to their conveyancing solicitor — all from one AI-powered phone number. What used to require a full reception desk now runs on a single agent.

"It's not just escalation — it's intelligent triage. The AI handles what it can, and seamlessly hands off everything else to precisely the right person."

The hybrid model that actually works

The most successful deployments of AI voice agents aren't the ones that try to replace humans entirely. They're the ones that combine AI availability and speed with human depth and judgment.

Smart Call Forwarding makes this combination effortless. Your AI handles the volume — FAQs, availability, pricing, general information — instantly, 24/7, without consuming staff time. And when a call reaches a moment that genuinely benefits from a human, it goes directly to the right one.

This also works as a built-in safety net. If the agent isn't performing well on a particular call — if the caller is frustrated, if the conversation is going in circles — a forwarding rule catches it before the experience breaks down. You stay in control without having to monitor every call.

For call answering services: a new tier of capability

If you operate a call answering or virtual receptionist service, Smart Call Forwarding unlocks a fundamentally different offering for your clients.

Your AI agent becomes the intelligent front line — greeting callers, understanding their needs, and routing them to a human operator only when that's genuinely the right outcome. Your team handles fewer calls but better ones. Operators focus on conversations that benefit from a real person. The AI absorbs everything else.

The result is higher capacity, a lower cost per call, and a better experience for the end caller. And because forwarding rules are configured per agent, you can tailor the logic precisely to each client's needs — their team structure, their call types, their hours.

Set it up in under 2 minutes

What this looks like in practice

A property agency uses one Vocadesk number across all their listings. The AI answers every inquiry, sends information packs, and books viewings. The sales team only gets a call when someone is explicitly ready to move forward.

A medical practice routes all appointment and general queries through the agent. Prescription-related calls forward directly to the pharmacist. Anything flagged as urgent routes to the on-call clinician.

A virtual receptionist provider deploys Vocadesk across their client portfolio. Each client has their own forwarding logic. Operators handle only the calls the AI can't resolve — and the operation runs at twice the capacity without adding headcount.

Smart Call Forwarding is available to all Vocadesk users today. If you're already using call forwarding, you'll find the updated multi-rule interface waiting for you in your agent settings.

We think this is one of the most practically useful things we've shipped. We can't wait to hear how you use it.

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