“AI agent” gets used for a lot of things. For a small business working with Foundry24, it means a piece of software that handles one channel where customers reach you, using answers you have approved, and passes anything else to a person.
This post covers what that looks like day to day, where the limits are, and how you stay in control of what it says.
Foundry24 sets up agents for five jobs. Each one has its own page with more detail.
An agent starts with a conversation about what people ask you and what the right answers are. You tell Foundry24 which hours and services can be booked, which prices it may quote, what it’s allowed to do on its own, and when a person should take over. That becomes the agent’s instructions, and it stays inside them.
The questions an agent handles well are the ones with one right answer that is already written down. Hours, prices you’ve approved, what you do and don’t do, how to get there.
When something changes, the instructions change too. If the hours move, a service gets added, or a question should be answered differently, you email and it gets changed. When you answer an email the inbox agent couldn’t, that answer can go into its instructions so it handles the next one. Changes are part of the monthly fee.
The limits matter as much as the jobs.
An agent doesn’t guess. If the answer isn’t in its instructions, it says so, takes the person’s name and number, and sends you the message. It doesn’t make up prices, and it doesn’t promise times you haven’t approved.
It doesn’t pretend to be a person. On the phone it sounds like a voice assistant, and if a caller asks, it says it is one. What callers care about is that someone picked up and they got an answer or an appointment.
It hands off. When a caller asks for a person, or the question is outside what it knows, it passes the call to you or takes a message.
The follow-up agent doesn’t nag. It checks back as often as you tell it to and stops the moment someone answers, books, or asks it to stop.
Nothing talks to a customer until you’ve seen it work. Every agent is tested with you first.
The inbox agent has the most room for this. You decide which kinds of email it may answer on its own, which it should only draft, and which go straight to a person. It can stay in draft-only mode for as long as you like, writing replies and leaving them for someone to read and send. The quote follow-up agent runs on real quotes with you copied in until you’re comfortable.
The inbox agent also reads only the address you point it at, which can be the shared address alone. Your email stays in your own Google Workspace account.
The agents fit businesses where the person who should answer is busy doing the work. Plumbers, electricians, and HVAC crews who can’t pick up with their hands full. Clinics, salons, and shops where the front desk is one person. Anyone whose inbox has become a second job.
Not every problem needs an agent. A lot of what eats a small business’s week is plain data entry, and automation handles that for less, starting at $199 a month, because plain software is cheaper and doesn’t guess.
An AI agent is from $349 a month on the plans page, with setup included and no contract. How many calls and messages are included is written into your spec, and the number on the spec is the number you pay.
Setup takes a few weeks. It starts with a 30-minute call about where the questions come in and what people ask. Foundry24 writes a one-page spec with the price on it, builds the agent, and tests it with you. The AI agents page has the full list.
No. On the phone it sounds like a voice assistant, and it says it's one if asked.
It says so, takes the person's name and number, and sends you the message. It doesn't make up prices or promise times you haven't approved.
Yes. Every agent is tested with you before it talks to a customer. The inbox agent can run in draft-only mode for as long as you like, so you see what it would have sent before it sends anything.
From $349 a month, setup included. How many calls and messages are included is written into your spec.
AI agents, automation, and websites, built in a few weeks and then maintained for a monthly fee. If something in your week should be software by now, book a call.