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Opening Hours & Audio Files: Clear communication even before answering

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Clear communication starts even before a call is answered. With Opening Hours and Audio Files in Smart Connect, administrators can decide when the business is reachable and what callers hear when they get in touch – during office hours, after hours, holidays or other special days.

What are Opening Hours and Audio Files?

Opening Hours define when the business is considered open or closed in Smart Connect. These settings control how incoming calls are handled at different times of day, during weekends, holidays, or temporary closures.

Audio Files are pre-recorded messages that are played to callers based on the opening hours or call flow setup. Typical examples include:

  • A welcome message during office hours.

  • An after-hours message explaining when the business will reopen.

  • Temporary information, such as holiday hours or service disruptions.

  • Inform about menu selections.

Together, they ensure that callers are never met with silence, and that the message they hear always matches the current situation.

Why use Opening Hours and Audio Files?

These features are especially valuable for businesses that want to appear consistent, reliable, and easy to reach – even when no one is available to answer the phone.

Clear expectations

Customers immediately understand whether the business is open or closed, and when it can expect to get in contact.

Less manual work

Set once, and let it run. No need to remember to open or close for the day.

Professionalism & trust

Clear, structured messages build trust and a good first impression.

Flexibility

Easily adjust for holiday, seasonal hours or other exceptions to the opening hours.

How to use Opening hours and Audio files

Opening Hours and Audio Files are configured by administrators and work together to control how incoming calls are handled at different times. This can be done either in desktop or on the mobile app.

Opening hours in practice

With the Opening Hours module, available in both the desktop interface and the Smart Connect mobile app, you define when and how calls should be handled:

  • Set standard opening hours for your normal business days.
  • Add exceptions for holidays, vacations, or special events.
  • Define states such as open, closed, or lunch, and connect them to relevant audio messages.
  • Copy days to apply a day’s schedule to other days without re-entering it manually.

Opening hours can be reused across call flows, making it easy to apply consistent logic throughout your setup. The mobile app is especially useful for quick updates when you’re away from your desk. Note that managing opening hours through the IVR requires the desktop interface.

For detailed guidance, see the user guides for Opening hours (desktop) and Opening hours (mobile app).

Audio files in practice

The Audio Files module, available in both the desktop interface and the Smart Connect mobile app, gives you several ways to create and manage messages, depending on your needs:

  • Record a new audio file directly in your browser, via telephone, or using your phone’s microphone in the mobile app.
  • Upload an existing audio file if you already have a professionally recorded message.
  • Create a new audio file using text-to-speech (TTS) by simply writing your message and letting Smart Connect generate the audio for you.

You can organise audio files into categories and preview them before use. Assigning them to opening hours is done in the Opening hours module.

For step-by-step instructions, see the user guides for Audio files (desktop) and Audio files (mobile app).

Want to learn more?

Opening Hours and Audio Files are powerful tools for shaping the caller experience and ensuring clear communication – before a call even has been answered.

Explore the user guides below or get in touch to learn how Smart Connect can help your business create a smoother, more professional call flow.

User guides:

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