Home / Blog / Setup Time

What's the Setup Time for an AI Receptionist?

How quickly can you actually get it running?

Setup time is one of the more honestly comparable numbers between vendors, and it's worth asking directly rather than assuming based on the sales page.

What a fast setup actually looks like

  1. Sign up and connect or forward your phone number — a few minutes
  2. Enter your business hours, pricing, services, and common questions — the bulk of the time, faster if you have this written down beforehand
  3. Set your escalation preferences (transfer, message, callback) — a couple of minutes
  4. Test it by calling your own new AI receptionist before going fully live

For AION, this whole process is self-service and takes under 20 minutes — no developer, and no mandatory sales call standing between you and a working system.

What actually slows this down

Slows it downSpeeds it up
Not having hours/pricing/FAQs written down yetHaving this ready to paste in directly
Custom CRM or PMS integrations beyond standard connectionsUsing a platform's built-in calendar/scheduling connections
Vendors requiring a sales call before setup even startsFully self-service platforms you can start immediately
Practical tip: write down your hours, pricing, and top 10 caller questions before you start setup — that alone is usually the difference between a 15-minute setup and an hour-long one.

See the full step-by-step setup walkthrough for what to actually prepare beforehand.

📞 Try the live demo