What does each AI term mean for your business⁠?

What is an AI agent?

An AI agent is software that understands what someone asks for in everyday language, decides what needs doing and then does it using tools: checking a diary, booking an appointment, sending a payment link or alerting a member of staff. Unlike a search box or a web form, it holds a conversation and finishes the job.

How AkkaSignal does it: The AkkaSignal agent looks after your customers, books appointments into your calendar and takes the deposit in the chat. You set it up in minutes with the Assistant, using your website and Google Business Profile. See features

What is an AI hallucination?

An AI hallucination is a reply that sounds confident but is false or made up: a price that does not exist, wrong opening hours or a policy the business never had. You reduce it by limiting the agent to the business's information, asking it to admit what it does not know and handing doubtful cases to a person.

How AkkaSignal does it: The AkkaSignal agent answers using the information you give it and, when it does not know something, passes it to your team rather than improvising. See features

What is an AI virtual receptionist?

An AI virtual receptionist is an AI agent that covers a business's front desk: it picks up the calls and messages the team cannot get to, gives opening hours and prices, books and changes appointments and flags anything urgent. Unlike an answering machine, it holds a real conversation, solves problems and works around the clock.

How AkkaSignal does it: With AkkaSignal, the same receptionist handles Voice, WhatsApp, Instagram and Email from €49/month. See pricing

What is an AI voice agent?

An AI voice agent answers phone calls, talking much as a person would: it listens, transcribes what the caller says, works out a reply and speaks it with a synthetic voice. It can answer questions, book or move appointments and transfer the call to someone on the team when the situation calls for it.

How AkkaSignal does it: The AkkaSignal voice agent answers 24/7 in your cloned voice, replies in under a second and sends you a summary of every call on WhatsApp. It is included from Starter; call usage may cost extra depending on use. AI voice agent

What is a booking deposit?

A booking deposit is an amount the customer pays upfront to confirm an appointment or reservation, usually deducted from the final bill. It encourages commitment and cuts down on no-shows. Before taking payment, it is worth explaining how much is charged, whether it is refunded on cancellation and how much notice is needed to get it back.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal sends a Stripe, PayPal or Redsys payment link in the chat for the amount you set; once the customer pays, the appointment is confirmed. AI agent for WhatsApp

What is the difference between a chatbot and an AI agent?

A traditional chatbot follows a script of buttons or keywords and can only answer the questions it was built for. An AI agent understands free-form messages, remembers the context of the conversation and takes action: it checks availability, books, takes payment or passes the customer to a person. A chatbot informs; an agent gets things done.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal books appointments, takes deposits, sends reminders and hands your team anything that needs a person. See how it works

What is a cloned voice?

A cloned voice is a synthetic voice built from recordings of a real person, so the system can read out any text with their tone and way of speaking. Used with that person's explicit consent, it means a business's phone line sounds like someone from the team rather than a generic robot reading a script.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal only clones a voice with the explicit consent of its owner and uses it solely for their business; a few minutes of recording is enough. AI voice agent

What is a CRM?

A CRM, short for customer relationship management, is the software where a business stores and organises everything it knows about its customers: contact details, conversations, appointments, purchases and outstanding tasks. It helps you avoid losing opportunities, follow up on time and know exactly where each customer stands at any given moment.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal isn't a full CRM: it includes a simple customer pipeline, with a profile, stage and tasks for each contact, and connects to your CRM through its API and webhooks. See the customer pipeline

What does GDPR mean for calls handled by AI?

GDPR applies whenever an AI agent processes personal data during a call, such as the caller's voice, phone number or what they say. Among other things, it requires telling people who processes their data and why, having a lawful basis, keeping only what is necessary and signing a data processing agreement with the provider. This is not legal advice.

How AkkaSignal does it: Akkaia Consulting, the Spanish company behind AkkaSignal, processes recordings and transcripts in line with GDPR, with data stored in Europe. Privacy policy

What is a human handoff?

A human handoff is the moment an AI agent passes a conversation to a member of staff, because the customer asks for it, because the matter is sensitive or because the agent does not have the answer. A good handoff includes the context, so whoever picks it up does not have to ask the same questions all over again.

How AkkaSignal does it: In AkkaSignal you decide which cases always go to a person: the agent alerts you and leaves the conversation in your inbox and, on the phone, it can transfer the call. AI voice agent

What is a knowledge base with RAG?

A knowledge base is a business's own information, such as services, prices, opening hours and policies, which an AI agent checks before it replies. With RAG, short for retrieval-augmented generation, the system finds the relevant pieces of that information and uses them to write its answer, instead of relying only on what the model knows in general.

How AkkaSignal does it: In AkkaSignal, the Assistant builds the agent's knowledge from your website and Google Business Profile, and you review and complete it before switching it on. See features

What is a multichannel AI agent?

A multichannel AI agent is a single AI agent that answers a business's customers across several channels at once, such as phone calls, WhatsApp, Instagram and email, using the same knowledge and the same rules. Every conversation is added to one shared history per customer, so nobody has to repeat themselves when switching channel.

How AkkaSignal does it: That is exactly what AkkaSignal does: one agent for Voice, WhatsApp, Instagram and Email, with a single history per customer, from €49/month. See pricing

What is n8n automation?

n8n is an automation tool that connects apps through visual workflows made of blocks: when something happens in one app, it does something in another. It is an alternative to Make or Zapier with one distinctive feature: you can host it on your own server, which appeals to agencies and technical teams wanting control over where their data lives.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal connects to n8n through its public API and webhooks, a common route for agencies integrating their clients. AI for agencies

What is a no-show?

A no-show is an appointment or booking where the customer neither turns up nor lets anyone know. For businesses that run on bookings, such as clinics, hair salons or restaurants, it leaves a gap that can no longer be filled. The usual remedies are reminders beforehand, making rescheduling easy and asking for a deposit when booking.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal sends reminder messages 24 h before to confirm or reschedule and takes the deposit in the chat. Dental clinics

What is the difference between omnichannel and multichannel?

Multichannel means being available on several channels, such as phone, WhatsApp or email. Omnichannel goes a step further: those channels share the customer's information, so a conversation that starts on the phone can carry on over WhatsApp without asking for the same details again. Plenty of tools call themselves multichannel but treat each channel separately.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal brings every channel into a single history per customer: if someone calls and later sends a message, the agent already knows what you discussed. See features

What is a sales pipeline on a kanban board?

A sales pipeline is a way of organising potential customers by where they stand, from first contact to purchase or booking. It is usually shown as a kanban board: one column per stage and one card per customer, which moves from column to column as the conversation progresses towards a sale.

How AkkaSignal does it: In AkkaSignal every conversation on Voice, WhatsApp, Instagram or Email creates a card in the customer pipeline, with six stages and tasks; the agent moves it to Hot when it books an appointment and to Customer when the deposit is paid. See the customer pipeline

What is speech-to-text (STT)?

Speech-to-text, or STT, turns what a person says into written text. In a voice agent it is the first step: without an accurate transcription, the agent cannot properly understand the request. It is also useful for keeping a written record of every call, so you can review it later without listening to the whole recording.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal saves the transcript of every call in the customer's history and sends you a summary on WhatsApp when the call ends. AI voice agent

What is a sub-account or tenant on an agency platform?

A sub-account, or tenant, is the separate space each client has inside a shared platform: their own agents, channels, contacts, calendar and data, kept apart from everyone else's. For an agency, it makes it possible to manage many businesses from a single dashboard without ever mixing one client's information with another's.

How AkkaSignal does it: In AkkaSignal every business is kept separate: Growth includes 10 businesses and Scale includes unlimited businesses. Partner programme

What is text-to-speech (TTS)?

Text-to-speech, or TTS, is the technology that turns written text into spoken audio. In a voice agent it is the final step: the system writes the reply and the TTS engine speaks it aloud. Modern engines imitate human intonation and pauses convincingly, and some of them can use a cloned voice of a real person.

What is a virtual phone system with IVR?

A virtual phone system manages a company's calls from the cloud, with no hardware in the office: call forwarding, opening hours, extensions and voicemail. IVR is its automated voice menu, the classic press 1 for appointments. It works with fixed options, whereas an AI voice agent understands what the caller says in their own words.

How AkkaSignal does it: With AkkaSignal you keep your number: forward it to the agent all the time, only outside opening hours or when the line is busy. AI voice agent

What is latency in an AI voice agent?

Latency is the time between the caller finishing speaking and the voice agent starting to reply. It covers transcribing the audio, generating the answer and turning it into speech. Once it creeps towards a couple of seconds, awkward silences appear and the call stops sounding natural, which quickly makes callers impatient or confused.

How AkkaSignal does it: The AkkaSignal voice agent replies in under a second and can be interrupted: if the caller cuts in, it stops and listens. AI voice agent

What is a webhook?

A webhook is an automatic notification that one application sends to a web address belonging to another as soon as something happens, such as a new appointment, a payment or a newly created contact. The second application finds out instantly, without having to check every few minutes. Webhooks power many no-code integrations between tools.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal sends webhooks for events such as appointments, payments and contacts, so you can connect them to your CRM, n8n, Make or Zapier. See features

What is the WhatsApp Business API?

The WhatsApp Business API, now called the WhatsApp Business Platform, is Meta's official way for companies to send and receive messages from their own software or a provider's. It needs a Meta Business account and approved templates to message a customer first, and it follows whatever rates Meta charges for each type of message.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal connects WhatsApp through Meta's official API or by QR code on every plan; any Meta charges are billed separately depending on use. API or QR: which to choose

What does connecting WhatsApp by QR code mean?

It means linking your WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business account to a piece of software by scanning a QR code with your phone, just as you would to open WhatsApp Web. It is quick, keeps your number and chats and needs no Meta paperwork, but it relies on the phone staying linked and is not meant for bulk messaging.

How AkkaSignal does it: In AkkaSignal you connect WhatsApp by QR code in about 2 minutes, or use Meta's official API if you prefer. AI agent for WhatsApp

What is white-label software?

White-label software is a product that a company resells under its own name, logo, colours and domain, without the end customer ever seeing the original maker's brand. It lets agencies and consultancies offer their own solution without having to build it, and set the prices and terms they charge their clients themselves.

How AkkaSignal does it: AkkaSignal includes white label from the Growth plan (€149/month) and a custom domain on Scale (€299/month). AI for agencies