AI agents and AI assistants

An AI assistant pays off where similar inquiries arrive every day and employees answer them by hand: on the phone, by email, on WhatsApp. B&S builds the assistant around your processes, connects it to your systems and defines when it hands over to a person. Data processing agreements, privacy notices and the disclosure as AI are included in the scope of delivery.

What problem does an AI assistant solve?

Calls come in when nobody is at their desk. Email inquiries wait until someone has time, and the reply is the third version of the same text. Appointments are set up by callback, quotes are not followed up, and anyone with an internal question searches the shared folder or asks the one colleague who knows. An assistant takes over these recurring tasks around the clock, at consistent quality, and hands over to your team as soon as a person is needed.

Which tasks does an AI assistant take on?

Reception and inquiries

The assistant takes calls, emails and WhatsApp messages, clarifies the request, answers questions about opening hours, services, prices and procedures from your approved documents and creates the case in your system. Anything it cannot answer, it forwards with a summary.

Appointment booking

It checks open slots in your calendar, suggests times, books them and confirms by email or message. Rescheduling and cancellations go through the same channel. You set the rules, such as buffer times, lead times and which employee takes which appointments.

Follow-ups

Unanswered quotes, open invoices, missing documents: the assistant follows up on the schedule you set, in your tone, and records the replies. It never sends twice without a reply in between and stops as soon as you or the customer step in.

Internal answers from documents

Employees ask the assistant about manuals, contracts, price lists, process descriptions and templates. It answers from the documents you have approved and points to the passage the answer comes from. This use case has no external contact and is often the simplest way to start.

When does the assistant hand over to a person?

Handover is not an exception but part of the design. Before launch, we define with you the cases in which a person takes over: complaints, legal or financial questions, requests outside the approved documents, noticeable frustration and whenever the caller asks for it. The assistant hands over with a summary, so nobody has to start from scratch. Your team can read every conversation, so you can see where the assistant does well and where it does not.

Which channels and systems is it connected to?

Phone through your existing number or a new one, email through your inbox, WhatsApp through the WhatsApp Business API, plus a chat on your website. On the system side: calendar, CRM, your management system, your online store and Lexware Office, so an inquiry becomes a case right away instead of a note. Which channels are part of the first stage depends on where most inquiries arrive today.

What obligations apply to the operator of an AI assistant?

Three obligations are part of our scope of delivery, because an assistant should not go live without them.

Data processing under Article 28 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Every provider that processes speech or text on your behalf is a data processor. A data processing agreement is signed with each of them, and processing takes place in the EU or on a valid legal basis for transfer.

Information under Article 13 GDPR. The people whose inquiries the assistant processes must be told who is responsible, why the data is processed, how long it is stored and what rights they have. We provide the text for your privacy policy and the notice used in conversations.

Disclosure as AI under Article 50 of the EU AI Act. Since August 2, 2026, people must be informed when they interact with an AI system, unless that is already obvious. The notice is a fixed part of the greeting and the signature. Which other obligations the regulation places on your company is covered under What obligations does the EU AI Act place on an SMB?, and the data protection side under AI assistants and the GDPR.

How does the rollout work?

B&S Ventures from Hannover rolls out assistants in stages. In the free intro call, we clarify which inquiries cost time today and which channel they come through, and give you an initial direction, also free of charge. Then you receive a proposal for the first stage. Once you commission the project, we listen in on calls, read typical emails and collect the documents the assistant is allowed to answer from. Then we build the first stage for one channel and one area of tasks, test it with your real questions and put it into daily use. You listen in, and we make improvements. More channels and tasks follow in stages.

We know these integrations from the systems of our own portfolio companies, which we built ourselves and run every day, including vendor portals with identity verification, internal boards and email systems in several languages. The goal is more time for your team, not fewer people.

What do you need to contribute?

The documents the assistant should answer from, and one person who approves them and keeps them up to date. A list of the questions that come up most often today, with the answers you would give. Decisions on tone, handover rules and availability. Access to the phone system, inbox, calendar and the systems to be connected. And in the first weeks, time to read conversations and tell us where the assistant gets it wrong.

What does an AI assistant cost?

The cost has two parts. The rollout depends on the number of channels, integrations and documents, and it is stated in the proposal after the intro call. Ongoing operation depends on conversation volume, because speech and text providers bill per minute or per message. What to expect per channel is explained under What does an AI phone assistant really cost?

Frequently asked questions about AI assistants

Do callers notice that they are talking to an AI?

Yes, and that is mandatory. Since August 2, 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires that people are informed when they interact with an AI system. The notice is part of the greeting and of the signature of every message. Anyone who wants to speak to a person is transferred.

What happens if the assistant cannot answer a question?

It says so and hands over to a person, with a summary of the conversation. We limit the assistant to the documents you have approved and test it with your typical questions before launch.

Is an AI assistant in customer contact compatible with the GDPR?

Yes, if three things are in place: a data processing agreement under Article 28 GDPR with every provider involved, processing in the EU or on a valid legal basis for transfer, and privacy notices under Article 13 GDPR for the people whose inquiries the assistant processes.

Which AI providers and language models are used?

We decide this per project, depending on channel, language and data protection requirements. We sign a data processing agreement with every provider. Before launch, you learn which providers are involved and where the data is processed.

Can an AI assistant work internally only, without customer contact?

Yes. An internal assistant answers your employees' questions from manuals, contracts, price lists and process descriptions and cites the source. It has no external contact and is often the simplest way to start.

Related services: the management system into which the assistant enters cases, and the consulting if you first want to know which inquiries are worth it.