Emergencies
Burst pipes, no heating in winter, lock-outs, and live faults follow your rules — safe shut-off advice, location and urgency captured, then transfer to on-call or an immediate SMS/WhatsApp to duty staff.
Issue 01 · Missed calls cost money
On a job? Secra answers the phone.
If you miss 10 calls a week and only two were high-value enquiries — what does that cost?
Hear Secra handle a no-heating call — location, urgency, and appointment time captured — then see the exact job brief your team receives on WhatsApp.
Free for 30 days · No credit card · We set up your line in 48 hours
- Availability
- 24/7
- 30-day pilot
- 30 days
- Credit card
- Not required
What do missed calls actually cost?
If you miss 10 calls a week and only 20% were high-value enquiries for UK trades and service businesses, what does that cost?
Illustrative only — adjust to match your business.
Estimated lost revenue
£700 / week
£36,400 / year
Based on 2 high-value missed calls per week at £350 each.
Demo
A real, short call
Caller reports no heating. Secra checks location, urgency, and preferred appointment time.
Outcome
The exact brief your team receives
WhatsApp, SMS, email, and in-app — structured job data instead of a vague voicemail.
Trust
Clear escalation rules
Uncertain answers
If Secra is not confident from your knowledge — pricing that needs surveying, availability it cannot see, or a policy you have not uploaded — it says so, captures details, and schedules a human callback. It does not invent quotes.
Human hand-off
Callers can ask for a person at any time. Secra summarises what they need and transfers to the right mobile or office line — with the full conversation attached so your team picks up in context.
Chapter 02
What is AI call handling?
AI call handling means an artificial intelligence agent answers your business phone line in natural spoken language — understanding questions, responding with accurate information, and documenting the conversation for your staff.
Unlike voicemail, callers get a two-way dialogue. Unlike traditional IVR, they do not press buttons through a menu tree. And unlike a generic voice bot, SecraAI is grounded in knowledge you provide — price lists, policies, FAQs, and web pages you approve — so answers reflect how your business actually operates.
For UK small and mid-sized businesses, that translates into fewer missed enquiries, faster callbacks with full context, and after-hours coverage without hiring weekend reception cover.
Chapter 03
Missed calls are silent churn
Most customers will not leave a voicemail. They call the next name on Google. The cost is not abstract — it is the enquiry, quote, or viewing you never knew you lost.
Chapter 04
How SecraAI works
Four steps from sign-up to answered calls. No hardware. No call-centre contract. Forward your line and teach the agent your business.
Forward your existing number
Keep the number customers already dial. SecraAI provisions a UK line and you forward unanswered calls — no porting drama, no new van signage.
Teach it your business
Upload price lists, service areas, FAQs, or crawl your website. The AI answers from your material, not generic small-talk.
Set the voice and guardrails
Choose a multilingual voice, define greetings, opening hours logic, and what the agent should never promise without a human.
Review every conversation
Transcripts, summaries, duration, and live status land in one dashboard — so your crew picks up context before they ring back.
Chapter 05
Who uses AI phone answering?
Any business where the phone is still the highest-intent channel — and the team is often too busy to pick up.
Plumbers
Emergency calls answered while you are on site
Capture postcode, job type, and urgency when your engineers are under a floorboard. Route true emergencies to your on-call line with a full transcript.
View plumbers pageElectricians
Quote requests that do not go cold
When the team is on a job, calls still get answered. Log the scope, property type, and callback window — then follow up with full context.
View electricians pageHeating & gas engineers
Boiler breakdowns answered in heating season
No-heating emergencies, annual service bookings, and Gas Safe enquiries — captured with urgency triage while engineers are on the road.
View heating & gas engineers pageDental & medical practices
Stop losing patient enquiries to voicemail
Patients call when reception is busy. SecraAI captures intent, answers common questions from your practice knowledge, and leaves a structured summary for callback.
Read the guideLegal & professional services
First impressions without billable hours
Screen enquiry types, explain your process in plain English, and document caller details so partners return calls with full context.
Read the guideProperty & lettings
Viewing requests around the clock
Capture property references, tenant criteria, and callback windows. Reduce duplicate calls from portals without hiring weekend cover.
Read the guideHospitality & venues
Table enquiries while service is in full swing
Answer capacity, menu, and opening-hours questions from your uploaded guides. Summarise party size and preferred times for the host stand.
Read the guideChapter 06
Everything on one inbound line
Voice AI, knowledge, telephony, operations, and billing — designed as one product, not five integrations held together with spreadsheets.
Voice
Realtime conversational AI
Low-latency voice built on OpenAI Realtime — natural turn-taking, not robotic IVR trees. Callers speak; SecraAI listens and responds with a multilingual voice.
Knowledge
Answers tied to your documents
Upload PDFs, text, or crawl selected URLs. Every reply is grounded in material you control and can update without retraining a model.
Telephony
UK numbers and call forwarding
Provision a GB number per tenant, verify forwarding from your main line, and route inbound Media Streams through a dedicated realtime pipeline.
Operations
Live calls and transcripts
Watch active conversations, read full transcripts after hang-up, and see meaningful status labels — not opaque numeric codes.
Billing
Stripe subscriptions and usage
Pick a plan, pay through Stripe Checkout, and meter call usage automatically. No surprise invoices buried in a telephony contract.
Control
Tenant-isolated configuration
Each business gets its own AI settings, knowledge base, phone config, and billing — multi-tenant by design, not bolted on later.
Chapter 07
SecraAI vs the usual options
A direct comparison for teams evaluating AI phone answering against what they already have.
ApproachTypical limitationWith SecraAI
VoicemailCallers hang up; you replay messages manually with no structure.Two-way conversation with instant answers and a written summary.
Traditional IVRPress-one mazes frustrate callers and rarely handle edge cases.Natural language — callers describe the problem in their own words.
Outsourced call centreHigh monthly minimums and agents who do not know your policies.Always trained on your knowledge, billed per usage, no shift rota.
Human receptionist onlyExcellent when available — expensive for evenings, weekends, and peaks.Covers overflow and after-hours; humans focus on complex cases.
Chapter 08
Why UK businesses are moving to AI reception
The UK small business landscape still runs on phone enquiries. A homeowner with a leaking pipe calls — they do not fill in a contact form and wait. A patient with toothache calls the practice nearest to them. A tenant viewing a listing calls before they book on the portal. Speed and tone on that first conversation shape whether you win the work.
Hiring dedicated reception cover for every hour you are open is expensive. Outsourcing to a generic call centre introduces scripts that do not match your policies. Voicemail and IVR feel dated — and callers notice. AI call handling sits in a practical middle ground: always available, trained on your material, and accountable through transcripts.
SecraAI is built for operators, not experimenters. Live call visibility, meaningful status labels, forwarding verification, and usage-based billing through Stripe mean you can run inbound voice as a measured channel — not a demo that never reaches production.
Whether you are a single-site clinic, a growing trades firm, or a SaaS team adding a voice channel to support — the workflow is the same: forward your number, upload what the agent should know, review what callers asked. Your team stays human where it matters; the line stays answered where you used to miss.
Chapter 09
Guides and playbooks
Learn how UK businesses implement voice AI, estimate the cost of missed calls, and compare coverage options.
What is an AI receptionist?
A plain-English definition of AI reception, how it differs from chatbots and IVR, and what UK operators should expect.
Read the explainerHow much does AI call handling cost?
UK pricing models explained: platform fees, AI minutes, phone minutes, and how SecraAI compares to human cover.
Read the guideIs AI phone answering GDPR-compliant?
Recording disclosure, transcripts, lawful basis, and practical steps UK businesses should take with voice AI.
Read the guideYour setup
We'll configure it around your business and common call types.
Try SecraAI on your own number for 30 days — free, no credit card. We map your call flow and go live within 48 hours. Keep it only if it handles your calls properly.
- Create your workspace — no credit card required.
- We map emergencies, quotes, and handoffs with you.
- Go live on your line within 48 hours.
- Keep it only if it handles your calls properly.
Start your 30-day pilot
Free for 30 days · No credit card · We set up your line in 48 hours
Chapter 10
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers for buyers, office managers, and technical evaluators researching AI phone answering for UK businesses.
What is SecraAI?
SecraAI is an AI phone secretary for UK trades and service businesses. It answers inbound calls with a natural multilingual voice, uses your uploaded knowledge to respond accurately, and delivers transcripts and summaries to your team dashboard.
How does AI call handling work?
When a call reaches your forwarded number, SecraAI connects the audio stream to a realtime voice AI. The agent greets the caller, understands spoken questions, searches your knowledge base, and responds conversationally. After the call, you receive a transcript, summary, and duration in your dashboard.
Do I need to change my business phone number?
No. Most customers keep their existing number and forward unanswered or busy calls to the SecraAI UK line. You can provision a dedicated number inside the app when you are ready.
Is SecraAI suitable for small businesses?
Yes. It is built for service-led SMEs — trades, field services, dental practices, lettings agents, and professional firms — that miss revenue when nobody can answer the phone but cannot justify a full-time receptionist or call centre contract.
What languages and accents does SecraAI use?
SecraAI supports multilingual voice experiences and defaults to English with a British accent for UK callers. Language, voice, and greeting copy are configurable for each business from the dashboard.
Can the AI answer questions about my specific prices and policies?
Yes, when you add that information to your knowledge base. Upload documents or point SecraAI at approved web pages. The AI is instructed to stay within that material rather than invent answers.
Will I get a transcript of every call?
Yes. Completed calls include a full transcript, an AI-generated summary, call duration, and status — so your team can follow up without listening to recordings.
How is SecraAI billed?
Subscriptions are handled through Stripe. You choose a plan at registration, manage billing in the app, and usage is metered against your subscription. See the pricing page for current tiers.
How does the 30-day pilot work?
Start your pilot at no cost and with no credit card. We map your call flow and set up your AI receptionist on your line within 48 hours. You then have 30 days to evaluate it on real calls before choosing a paid plan.
Is call audio recorded?
SecraAI focuses on realtime conversation and transcript generation. Callers hear a standard disclosure that the call may be recorded or transcribed for service quality — configure messaging to match your compliance needs.
Can I monitor calls while they are live?
Yes. The live calls view shows active conversations and updates when calls complete, so operators know what is happening on the line without picking up the handset.
We'll configure it around your business and common call types.
Try SecraAI on your own number for 30 days — free, no credit card. We map your call flow and go live within 48 hours. Keep it only if it handles your calls properly.