calljoy
Google now lets businesses customize CallJoy, the automated telephone customer service agent
Google has announced a notable upgrade to CallJoy, the automated, cloud-based telephone customer service agent first debuted back in May. CallJoy is the handiwork of Area 120, Google's "experimental" off-shoot, so it's not technically a full-fledged Google product yet. But the service is chargeable and available to all businesses across the U.S., so for all intents and purposes this really is an official Google SMB product. Over the past four months, businesses that signed up to CallJoy for $39 per month (per location) were given a virtual phone number that is capable of blocking spam calls; providing basic business information such as opening hours; and serving up analytics, including call recordings with automated transcriptions of each call. The automated agent could also send the caller an SMS link to book an appointment or place an order.