MOS 2026: From Smart IVR to a Voice AI Assistant

Five days at MOS are behind us. For Novatel, however, the most important part is only just beginning – continuing the concrete conversations we started with visitors, partners and potential customers during the event. At the 58th MOS trade fair in Celje, we wanted to demonstrate one thing above all: modern business communications are no longer simply about a desk phone, a PBX or an internet connection.

Communication is becoming an integral part of the business process. At our stand in Hall L, we therefore presented our solutions through real business challenges: how to answer more calls, reduce missed opportunities, respond to customers faster, relieve employees of repetitive tasks, and maintain reliable communications even when conventional channels are no longer enough.

One of the central themes of our presence at MOS was undoubtedly the evolution of business telephony – from the traditional phone call to Smart IVR, AI Call Handling and, ultimately, the Voice AI Assistant. The days when business telephony meant little more than an analogue phone sitting on a desk and a static connection between two endpoints are long gone. As working practices, mobility and, above all, customer expectations have evolved, so has the role of the phone call.

1. Traditional telephone communication

The basic connection between a caller and an employee. If the right person was available, the conversation could begin. If not, the caller had to try again, leave a message or use another communication channel.

2. IP telephony and mobility

Telephony moved to the cloud. Business numbers, extensions, mobile users, remote offices and employees working from home can now be connected within a single communications environment. For a business, this primarily means greater availability and less dependence on an employee’s physical location.

3. Conversational Smart IVR

The next stage is conversational call routing. Unlike traditional IVR systems based on rigid menus such as “Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Support”, a Conversational Smart IVR allows callers to simply say what they need in their own words. The system understands the caller’s intent and routes the call to the appropriate department, service or person. The business benefit is straightforward: a more natural customer experience, less time spent navigating menus and fewer unnecessary transfers.

4. AI Call Handler

The next step is when AI no longer only understands and routes the call, but actively handles the initial conversation. An AI Call Handler can answer the call, understand why the customer is calling, ask relevant followup questions, collect the necessary information and prepare a structured summary for further processing or a return call. If nobody is available, the call no longer has to become a missed opportunity. At this stage, AI moves from conversational routing to conversational call handling.

5. Voice AI Assistant

The next stage takes conversational AI even further. A Voice AI Assistant can conduct a natural, contextual conversation with the caller, understand their request and provide relevant answers based on the company’s own knowledge base and business rules. It can answer questions, qualify enquiries, collect information, take orders or bookings, trigger business processes and, when required, transfer the conversation to an employee. And it can do so 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The evolution is therefore very clear:

Conversational Smart IVR → AI Call Handler → Voice AI Assistant

From understanding where the call should go, to understanding what the caller needs, to actually handling the conversation and completing business tasks. The telephone is no longer simply a device that rings on somebody’s desk. A phone call is becoming an intelligent entry point into the organisation, connected to knowledge bases, CRM systems, contact centres, calendars, booking systems and other business applications.

What happens to the calls nobody answers? How many calls does your company actually miss?

When call volumes increase, relying on instinct is no longer enough. With Callboard, companies can gain a much clearer overview of their communications: which calls were answered, which were missed, what happened afterwards and where communication bottlenecks occur.

Business telephony therefore provides more than communication itself. It also generates data that can support better business decisions. If you do not know how many calls you are losing, it is equally difficult to know how much potential business is being left on the table.

When a telephone system evolves into a contact center

For organisations handling larger volumes of customer interactions, the next step is the contact centre. Customers no longer expect to communicate with a company exclusively by telephone. They want to use whichever channel is most convenient at that particular moment.

Voice, email, messaging and other communication channels are therefore increasingly being brought together within a common environment.

For businesses, this means better visibility across customer interactions, more efficient workload distribution and the ability to measure response quality. Add AI to that environment, and businesses can automate precisely the type of repetitive work that consumes employees’ time without necessarily requiring their expertise or judgement.

The objective is not to remove people from customer communication. It is to involve people where they can create the greatest value.

Another part of our exhibition space focused on a very different operating environment.

An environment where communication is not merely a business advantage, but an essential component of operational capability. For fire services, civil protection organisations, municipalities, the armed forces, police and other critical services, we presented ASK-EA HQ – Command Centre together with the associated communications solutions.

During an emergency or crisis, it is not enough for information simply to exist. It must be in the right place, at the right time and available to the people who need it to make decisions.

The Command Centre therefore brings together information about incidents, teams and other operational data in an environment designed to provide greater situational awareness and support more effective coordination.

Connectivity where conventional infrastructure is not enough

Satellite connectivity was another important element of our critical communications presentation. At remote locations, during emergency situations or whenever conventional communications infrastructure is unavailable, an alternative connection can be essential.

For Novatel, satellite communications are therefore not simply another standalone technology. Combined with the Command Centre, mobile communications and other systems, they form part of a broader concept: maintaining communications and access to critical information even under challenging conditions.

At first glance, business telephony, the Voice AI Assistant, Callboard, contact centre solutions and the Command Centre may appear to be very different systems.

Yet the underlying business objective is remarkably similar: the right information must reach the right person at the right time.

In a business environment, that may be a new sales enquiry. In a contact centre, it may be a dissatisfied customer waiting for an answer. During an emergency response, it may be a piece of information a commander needs before making the next decision. Technology only creates value when it improves that process. That principle also defines the way we approach the development of new solutions at Novatel.

We do not sell technology for technology’s sake. We improve the way our customers communicate and do business.

Thank you for your visit, your conversations and your trust

Five days at MOS passed remarkably quickly. We would like to sincerely thank all visitors, business partners, existing customers and new contacts who took the time to visit our stand. We particularly appreciate the many meaningful meetings and productive conversations in which we discussed not only our solutions, but more importantly your challenges, your workflows and the opportunities to improve them.

Thank you for your trust.

For us, trust remains the foundation of every long-term business relationship. MOS may be over, but our conversations certainly are not. Over the coming days, we will continue the meetings, demonstrations and discussions we started in Celje and explore concrete opportunities for cooperation. And for those we did not manage to meet at the fair, our door remains open after MOS as well.

Start where every good business relationship begins – with excellent communication.

Choose Novatel.