AI assistant for a small business: chat, voice and limits
An AI assistant can answer FAQ, take a rough order and hand hard cases to a human — 24/7, in several languages. It is not magic: without clear prices and rules it will invent answers. We only wire AI where a scripted flow is not enough.
Good fits
- Hotel or spa FAQ (check-in time, parking, what is included).
- Shop “what is this product?” with a real catalog in context.
- Voice helper for staff (navigation, picking) — we ship this pattern on our own map product WecoMaps and voice sales on RuGoods.
- Support chat that can offer a real Buy button when the guest is ready (as on NeoSIM).
Bad fits (use a normal bot instead)
- Legal or medical advice you must sign off word by word.
- Prices that change hourly without a live feed.
- Anything that must never hallucinate a discount or availability.
What stage one includes
| Piece | Role |
|---|---|
| Knowledge you approve | Hours, prices, policies — facts only |
| Tools | Create order, call staff, open payment |
| Hand-over | Human takes the chat when confidence is low |
| Logs | You see what the assistant said |
Cost
AI features are scoped on top of a website (from about $300), bot or app (from about $1,000). Model API costs are billed by the provider to your key — we do not spend the owner’s product keys on side experiments. Timeline for a focused assistant stage is often 1–2 weeks inside the larger project.
How to order
Describe the three questions staff answer every day on wecomax.com. We say honestly whether AI or a simple menu bot is enough.