1. Home
  2. Features
  3. Auto Attendant
Auto Attendant

Automatically answer and direct incoming business calls.

MCC Auto Attendant answers inbound calls with a professional greeting, presents callers with menu options, and routes them to configured destinations — with no live receptionist needed.

What Is an Auto Attendant?

Automated answering for inbound business calls

An auto attendant is a system that answers incoming calls automatically, plays a greeting, and presents callers with options to reach the right destination — without requiring a human receptionist to answer first. When a caller dials your business number, the Auto Attendant responds immediately, regardless of time of day or staff availability.

MCC Auto Attendant is part of the Business Phone platform. You configure greetings, menu options, business-hours schedules, and routing destinations from the admin portal. During business hours, callers can select departments or dial by extension. Outside business hours, the Auto Attendant applies a separate after-hours routing configuration.

Auto Attendants and IVR systems are closely related and often treated as one combined feature in cloud phone platforms. An Auto Attendant focuses on answering and directing calls; IVR focuses on collecting caller input and navigating more structured menu flows. For AI-powered conversational call handling, see MCC AI Auto Attendant.

This page: Rules-based Auto Attendant

This page covers menu-based, rules-configured Auto Attendant — callers press keys to navigate options. For MCC's AI-based call handling offering, see MCC AI Auto Attendant.

How Auto Attendant handles a call

From the moment a call arrives to when it reaches its destination — every step managed automatically.

Key Capabilities

What MCC Auto Attendant includes

Custom greetings

Upload a recorded audio file or configure a prompt for each attendant. Different greetings can be set for business hours and after-hours routing.

Business hours scheduling

Configure business hours, after-hours, and holiday schedules. The Auto Attendant plays different menus and routes to different destinations based on the current time.

Extension dialing

Callers who know the extension they want can dial directly through the Auto Attendant without navigating the menu. Supported for Business Phone users.

Department and team routing

Menu selections route callers to configured teams or departments — Sales, Support, Billing — without requiring a live agent to transfer the call manually.

Voicemail routing

After-hours callers can be sent to a voicemail box rather than an empty queue. Each department can have its own voicemail destination.

Admin portal configuration

Configure greetings, schedules, menu options, and routing destinations from the MCC admin portal. No code required to set up or update the Auto Attendant.

Practical Use Cases

How businesses use Auto Attendant

Small business without a receptionist

Inbound calls are answered by the Auto Attendant even when no one is at the front desk. Callers hear a professional greeting and are routed to the right person or team.

After-hours handling

Outside configured business hours, the Auto Attendant plays an after-hours greeting and routes callers to voicemail — no calls dropped, no confusion.

Department routing via menu selection

Callers select Sales, Support, or Billing from the main menu and are routed to the appropriate team — no manual transfer required.

Direct extension access

Regular callers who know a team member's extension bypass the menu and dial directly — improving experience for frequent contacts.

Auto Attendant vs IVR

What is the difference between Auto Attendant and IVR?

Auto Attendant

Focuses on answering and directing calls — handling call reception, schedule logic, greeting playback, and routing callers to their destination without a human receptionist.

IVR

Focuses on collecting caller input and navigating more structured menu flows — presenting options, capturing selections, and determining the next step in a call flow.

→ IVR

In practice these concepts often overlap — many cloud phone systems treat Auto Attendant and IVR as one combined feature. For simple single-destination routing, Auto Attendant may be all you need. For complex call flows with multiple layers of navigation, IVR is the more precise term. Contact MCC to discuss how these apply to your setup.

Rules-Based vs AI

Auto Attendant vs AI Auto Attendant

Auto Attendant (this page)

Menu-based. Callers press keypad numbers to navigate options. Routing is configured by rules — departments, schedules, extensions, voicemail.

AI Auto Attendant

MCC's separate AI-focused offering. Callers speak naturally rather than pressing keys. For details on AI-based call handling, see the dedicated page.

→ AI Auto Attendant
Related

Explore the platform

Always Answered

Set up Auto Attendant for your business number.

Configure greetings, schedules, and routing destinations from the MCC admin portal. Contact MCC to get started.