How Google Calendar and Gmail make an AI front desk useful
An AI receptionist is only as good as the calendar and inbox it works with: live availability, buffers, no double bookings, and email drafts you approve.
A receptionist who cannot see your diary can only take messages. The same is true of an AI receptionist. It becomes useful when it works inside the calendar and inbox you already use.
Live availability, not a copy
The receptionist should read your Google Calendar at the moment someone asks for a time, not from a list set up last month. If you blocked out Thursday afternoon an hour ago, a caller should not be offered Thursday afternoon.
Rules that match how you actually work
- Job lengths. A quick consult and a full day job should not be booked into the same size gap.
- Travel buffers. Leave time to drive between jobs, not back to back appointments across town.
- Working hours and days off, including public holidays.
- How far ahead people can book, and how late on the day.
Protection against double bookings
Two callers can ask for the same slot at the same moment. The booking step should check the time is still free when it saves, not just when it was offered, and if it has gone, offer the next one. It should also read the booked time back to the caller, in their time zone, before hanging up.
Email drafts you approve
For email, the safest start is drafts. The assistant reads the enquiry and your past replies, writes a response with the right details, and waits for you to approve it. Once you have seen a few weeks of drafts that need no changes, you can let it send simple replies on its own and keep approving the rest.
Common setup mistakes
- Connecting a personal calendar full of private events. Use the calendar your jobs actually live in, or share only free and busy time.
- Leaving old recurring blocks in place. A weekly block from last year quietly hides slots you now want to fill.
- Forgetting your time zone. If your account or calendar is set to another zone, a caller asking for "two tomorrow" can end up booked at the wrong hour.
- Letting it send emails on day one. Start with drafts, read a couple of weeks of them, then decide what it can send on its own.
What to connect first
- Your calendar, so bookings land where you already look.
- Your business inbox, in draft mode.
- Your phone, by forwarding only the calls you miss.
Where Aroha fits
Aroha connects to Google Calendar for live availability and bookings, drafts email replies you approve, and keeps each customer's calls, emails and bookings in one record.